Phebe Novakovic: General Dynamics CEO

Phebe Novakovic received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She took up her undergraduate degree at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Phebe is of Serbian descent. 

She was employed at the Central Intelligence Agency then worked for the United States Department of Defense from 1997 to 2001. Then on the same year upon leaving the Department of Defense, Phebe joined General Dynamics. 

Phebe was Director of Strategic Planning and Development from March 2001 to May 2002 then became Staff Vice President of General Dynamics Corporation from May 2002 to October 2002. Phebe served as Vice President of Strategic Planning from October 2002 to June 30, 2005. She was then appointed as Senior Vice President for Planning & Development at General Dynamics Corporation and General Dynamics Land Systems Inc. from July 2005 to May 1, 2010. 

Phebe was promoted to Executive Vice President of General Dynamics Marine System, Inc. from May 1, 2010, to May 2012. She received another promotion on May 2, 2012, becoming President and Chief Operation Officer until December 2012. Then on January 1, 2013,  Phebe was elected to her current position as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Dynamics.

Brian L. Roberts: Taking It To The Next Level

Brian L. Roberts was born on June 28, 1959 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and also currently resides there. His father Ralph J. Roberts co-founded cable provider Comcast Corporation. Brian only had one job in mind and this was to work for his father’s company.  He obtained his Bachelor of Science from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1981.

Brian was appointed president of Comcast in 1990. He became CEO in 2002 and chairman in 2004. Along the way he built Comcast into the largest cable-television operator in the U.S. The firm is the owner and manager of NBCUniversal, which operates 30 news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts.

Aside from this Comcast is majority owner of Comcast-Spectator, which as major stakes in the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team and the Wells Fargo Center, a large multipurpose arena in Philadelphia.

Brian has been active outside of Comcast. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) where he served as Chairman for two consecutive terms from 2005 to 2007 and from 1995 to 1996 a time when the landmark deregulatory 1996 Telecommunications Act became law.

Brian is Director Emeritus of CableLabs, which is the research and development consortium for the cable industry; he served three terms as Chairman. He is a member of the CEO only, Business Roundtable, an organization based in Washington, D.C.  Brian also served on the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

His leadership skills have been recognized in business and in the industry.  In 2009, Institutional Investor magazine named him one of America’s top CEOs for the sixth year in a row. In 2011, he and his father were inducted into Babson College’s Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame. In 2012, Fortune Magazine recognized Brian as “Businessperson of the Year.

Brian is an exceptional business executive who brought Comcast to the next level.