Percy Kirk, Marilyn Burrows and David Blau Appointed to New System Leadership Roles

ATLANTA, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Cox Communications, Inc. today tapped David Bialis as its new senior vice president for its Western division and announced other new leadership appointments that position the company for continued strong growth and competitive excellence.

In making the announcement, Cox's Chief Operating Officer Leo Brennan said, "as Cox's new COO, a primary focus is the development and positioning of leaders who will inspire our employees and help us to flawlessly execute our business strategy in increasingly competitive markets. The Cox leaders we today assign new responsibilities have proven themselves through years of dedicated service and progressive responsibilities. Most importantly, they deliver results."

In his new role, Bialis will be responsible for leading the company's Western division and field services organization, replacing the retiring Claus Kroeger in overseeing nearly 3.3 million customer relationships. Bialis' focus will continue to be on the strong and urgent response to competition which has been a hallmark of his success in his prior role as vice president and general manager of Cox's Oklahoma system, a role he's held since 1992.

Bialis expertly led the consolidation of acquired cable systems in Oklahoma which grew Cox's Oklahoma interests from a base of 125,000 basic video customers to a 500,000 subscriber cable mega-system. He also helped lead Cox's success in commercial services where his team included the highest revenue-generating Cox Business unit in the company.

Bialis began his career with Cox when he joined Cox Santa Barbara in 1984. He later served as division business operations director at Atlanta headquarters in 1990 and then as the chief financial officer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution (a sister company to Cox Communications) from 1991-1992. Bialis is a graduate of the University of Southern California where he earned a bachelor's degree in Accounting and Finance.

Percy Kirk has been named senior vice president and general manager of Cox Oklahoma, replacing Bialis. A nine-year veteran of Cox, Kirk most recently served as the senior vice president and general manager of Cox Omaha where he managed the strategic operations for the Omaha metropolitan area and Sun Valley, Idaho. Employee development will be a major focus for Kirk in Oklahoma as he leads this large operating system to continued strategic and competitive excellence. Notably, the Oklahoma system will be the home for Cox's "Wireless Center of Excellence," a special squad of customer care representatives who will deliver outstanding customer service nationwide as Cox enters the wireless marketplace later in 2009.

Kirk's career at Cox includes service as vice president of network operations for Cox Arizona and as vice president of operations for Cox Kansas. Prior to joining Cox, Kirk held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility with Multimedia Cablevision. Kirk earned a bachelor's degree from Wichita State University and a master's degree from Friends University in Wichita.

Marilyn Burrows has been named senior vice president and general manager of Cox Las Vegas. Burrows joined Cox in 2004 from Time Warner Cable's National Division in Denver where she was vice president, online services. In addition, Burrows served as a founding member and senior vice president of business development and marketing for Callahan Associates International, LLC in Denver and Bonn, Germany. Burrows spent 13 years with US WEST in various strategy, planning, marketing and product development roles before serving as managing director and vice president of business development for Europe and Latin America out of the US WEST international offices in London.

In her most recent role, Burrows served as vice president and general manager of Cox Roanoke. In that capacity, her team was the first Cox system to launch VoIP digital telephone service in 2004. Members of her Roanoke team have also partnered with Cox teams in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, Virginia as a part of "Team Virginia" to fully integrate billing and technical support call center functions. And recently, Burrows was tapped to lead a 2008 standardization effort dubbed "Know the Customer." Addressing customer contact management and retention and loyalty, this initiative crossed both functional boundaries and all 18 of Cox's markets. Burrows earned her bachelor's degree and her MBA from the University of Nebraska.

Finally, David Blau has been named senior vice president and general manager of Cox's operations in Omaha, Nebraska. Most recently, Blau served as vice president and general manager of Cox Business & Hospitality Network in Las Vegas and interim general manager for the entire Las Vegas cable system post Leo Brennan's departure to fulfill the chief operations officer role at Cox's headquarters in Atlanta.

Blau was appointed vice president of business operations for the Las Vegas market in 2002 and was promoted to vice president and general manager of Cox Business and Hospitality Network in 2004. Cox Business offers full-service, facilities-based communications solutions which include high-speed Internet, voice and long distance services as well as dedicated data and video transport services for small to large-sized business. Hospitality Network provides state-of-the-art video-on-demand and interactive television services as well as wired and wireless data and voice solutions to the world's largest gaming hotels and resorts.

Blau joined Cox Communications in 1997 as a senior financial analyst and was later promoted to manager of investment planning where he helped lead the company's strategic growth initiatives including acquiring over two million customers in several strategic acquisitions, as well as system trades that substantially furthered Cox's clustering strategy. In 1999, he was promoted to director of business operations for the company's central division where he helped lead the integration of several newly acquired markets into the company's operations. Blau holds a bachelor of science and master of accounting degrees, both from the University of Florida.

In summarizing these appointments, Brennan said, "Cox has a legacy of great leaders such as Claus Kroeger whose retirement we celebrate in May. Each of us appointed to new roles has terrific predecessors to inspire us. Bialis, Kirk, Burrows and Blau have each demonstrated their ability to successfully execute on our business strategy in highly dynamic and competitive marketplaces, and each brings unique skills and insight to their news roles."

About Cox Communications:

Cox Communications is a multi-service broadband communications and entertainment company with more than 6.2 million total residential and commercial customers. The third-largest cable television company in the United States, Cox offers an array of advanced digital video, high-speed Internet and telephony services over its own nationwide IP network, as well as integrated wireless services. Cox Business is a full-service, facilities-based provider of communications solutions for commercial customers, providing high-speed Internet, voice and long distance services, as well as data and video transport services for small to large-sized businesses. Cox Media offers national and local cable advertising in traditional spot and new media formats, along with promotional opportunities and production services. Cox Communications wholly owns and operates the Travel Channel.

More information about the services of Cox Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at www.cox.com/espanol, www.coxbusiness.com y www.coxmedia.com.

SOURCE: Cox Communications, Inc.

Web site: http://www.cox.com/
http://www.coxbusiness.com/
http://www.coxmedia.com/

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