Kim Martin

Executive Coach, Career Strategist & Speaker, Achieve Your Career Potential

About This Expert

In 2008, Kim Martin made two decisions that would forever impact her career journey. She advocated for a new leadership opportunity to influence an underperforming media business, and she hired an executive
coach. Later that year, she was selected as WE tv’s new EVP and General Manager. Over the next 11 years, she built and led a team that reimagined the network, led it to profitability, and established WE tv as a top three women’s network.

Today, Kim draws upon this watershed experience as the founder and CEO of Ascendancy Group. She launched this consultancy in 2017 to give women the kind of coaching that helped transform her career. From executive brand development, career transition, and professional growth strategy to communication
and decision making—and even a personal perspective on work-life balance, she has been a trusted advisor to corporate clients and a confidante to executive women across industries and time zones.

The architect of an executive career that has taken her from top sales leadership roles, to P&L accountability for a multimillion-dollar business, to leading strategy for a multibillion-dollar media company, Kim has ushered companies into new phases of brand relevance, consumer engagement, operational agility, and award-winning execution. She eagerly puts her first-hand expertise to work in navigating clients
through times of complexity, ambiguity, change, and growth.

A thought leader in the areas of executive leadership, change management, and women in the C-suite, Kim is sought out as a speaker for various industry and corporate events. She was named one of the top 30 most powerful women in cable by Cablefax for five consecutive years and is a Multichannel News Wonder
Woman.

In 2015, after serving for two years as a strategic advisor to the CEO of AMC Networks, Kim was recruited to join the Meredith Corporation as the Chief Strategy Officer, then as the Chief Brand Officer with influence across the enterprise’s 26 legacy and digital media brands. She led the way in contemporizing their brands—a strategic initiative that yielded increased engagement across young female consumers and
elevated annual revenue.

Earlier in her career, Kim joined Discovery Communications as one of the first 35 employees, eventually rising to Senior Vice President of Affiliate Sales & Marketing, North America. She was a member of the executive leadership team that transformed this entrepreneurial company into a global leader in nonfiction media. In a global business market where companies seek forward-thinking executives and professionals to keep them at the forefront of innovation and operational excellence, Kim is recognized as a champion for women. Her ability to relate to other women as an executive leader, spouse, mother, daughter, and friend is at the heart of this connection. While at WE tv, she was the driving force behind AMC Network’s first
public affairs initiative, WE Empowers Women.

Kim served on the Women in Cable and Telecommunications’ (WICT) national board of directors for several years, including as the treasurer. She is also a graduate of WICT’s Executive Summit at Stanford University and Betsy Magness Leadership Institute—a leadership development program whose alumnae have “been
actively involved in transforming their companies and the industry at the executive level.” She presently serves on the Foundation Board of Trustees for Georgia College and State University and is an advisor to Tone Networks, a micro-learning digital platform and content offering for women.

Kim holds an M.B.A. from Georgia State University and a B.S. in political science from Georgia College and State University. A small-town-turned-big-city gal, Kim is married to an artsy New England guy. Together, they are the parents of two accomplished young women and enjoy their New York City access to great food,
walks through Central Park, lots of indie films and a renewed commitment to health and wellness.