Meyer, Miron, Zaslav are Mirror Awards luncheon co-chairs

Ron Meyer, president and chief operating officer of Universal Studios; Robert Miron, retired chairman of Advance/Newhouse Communications; and David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery Communications will serve as co-chairs of the fifth annual Mirror Awards luncheon June 7.

Ron Meyer

Ron Meyer is the president and chief operating officer of Universal Studios.

Prior to joining Universal Studios, Meyer was the president of Creative Artists Agency Inc., which he founded with four fellow agents. Over the years, they built the company into the pre-eminent talent agency, representing many of the industry’s most influential and talented people, and later expanding its range of services to include consulting with leading American and international corporations. In 2007, Meyer was the recipient of the Producer’s Guild of America Milestone Award for his contributions to the entertainment industry.

Meyer, one of the inaugural co-chairs of the first Mirror Awards, is a frequent visitor to the Newhouse School. He was instrumental in helping the University launch the LA Semester (lasemester.syr.edu), which gives students the opportunity to spend a semester in Los Angeles, learning from leaders in the entertainment industry. Meyer served in the United States Marine Corps and holds an honorary degree from Syracuse University.

Robert Miron

Robert Miron is the retired chairman of Advance/Newhouse Communications. A graduate of Syracuse University and a member of the Newhouse Advisory Board and the SU Board of Trustees, Miron worked for Newhouse in various capacities within the radio, television and cable fields, and was named chairman of Newhouse cable television interests in 1974.

He served on the boards of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (including twice as chair); Walter Kaitz Foundation; and the Cable Center, and on the executive committees of C-SPAN (as chair) and CableLabs. He is currently on the Board of Directors of Discovery Communications Inc.

He received the New York State Cable Television Association Chairman’s Award; the National Cable Television Association President’s Award and Distinguished Vanguard Award for Leadership; the Cable Television Public Affairs Association President’s Award; and CTAM’s Grand TAM Award. He was elected to the Cable Television Hall of Fame and inducted into Broadcasting & Cable’s Hall of Fame.

David Zaslav

As president and CEO of Discovery Communications, David Zaslav sets the strategy and oversees all operations for the world’s No. 1 nonfiction media company. Discovery Communications’ 100-plus TV networks reach more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in over 180 countries, and its websites attract nearly 40 million combined unique visitors per month.

Zaslav has served in the position since 2007 and has directed a strategic effort to clarify and strengthen Discovery’s world-class brands, highlighted by a partnership with Oprah Winfrey to launch OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network and joint ventures with Hasbro to launch The Hub, a children’s television network, and Sony and Imax to launch the first 24/7 3D television network. In addition, Zaslav has driven Discovery’s digital media strategy through the acquisitions of HowStuffWorks.com and Treehugger.com.

Prior to joining Discovery, Zaslav had a distinguished career at NBCUniversal, where he was instrumental in developing and launching CNBC and also played a role in the creation of MSNBC. He was previously an attorney with the New York firm of LeBouef, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae.

Zaslav, a longtime friend of the Newhouse School, participated in the school’s inaugural Monetizing Online Business (M.O.B.) Conference (mobconference.syr.edu) last spring.

The Mirror Awards, established by the Newhouse School in 2006, honor the reporters, editors and teams of writers who hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit. The luncheon will be held Tuesday, June 7, from 11:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at The Plaza Hotel, Fifth Avenue at Central Park South, New York City.

For more information, see mirrorawards.com or contact Jean Brooks at (315) 443-5711 or mirror@syr.edu. For press inquiries, contact Wendy Loughlin at (315) 443-2785 or wsloughl@syr.edu.