2023 Speakers
Aleksandra Cuprys, Chief Legal Officer of Latino Media Network, is an accomplished global legal and compliance executive with extensive experience helping companies grow at all stages across industries, including media, telecommunications, and infrastructure. Over the course of her career, she has acquired expertise leading teams and projects in multinational business environments, with specialization in litigation, deal negotiation, cross-border expansion, regulation, anti-competitive behavior, and business ethics and compliance. Previously, Cuprys served as Global General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Phoenix Tower International, a global wireless infrastructure operator; joining the company during its startup phase, she was instrumental in the company’s growth to over 20 countries and ultimate sale. Prior to PTI, she served in various leadership positions at publicly and privately held global corporations, including Univision Communications, World Fuel Services Corp,, and LATAM Airlines.
Nio “Encendio” Fernandez serves as Director of Latin Formats for Beasley Media Group. He began his radio career in 1996 at WRMD and WMGG in Tampa, where he gained experience in numerous facets of the industry and was the Spanish play-by-play commentator for the Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1999-2002. He has worked in markets from Tampa to Miami and Los Angeles and alongside radio icon and Bill Tanner protege Pio Ferro over the years. Fernandez has been recognized for his excellence in broadcasting by the City of Tampa and the National Latin-American Institute of Journalism, and was awarded the Medallas de Cortez award for Program Director of the Year in 2020.
Eric Garcia is Vice President Multiplatform Sales – New York, V.P Audio Sales – Eastern Region for Televisa | Univision, heading up linear, digital streaming, branded social, and experiential platforms in New York, including ViX, the biggest Spanish-language video streaming platform globally. His responsibilities also include developing revenue strategy for Univision’s Eastern audio markets across all linear and non-linear verticals, including an extensive live events distribution platform. Most recently, he has also taken on the role of station manager for Televisa | Univision’s operations in Washington DC and Philadelphia. Before joining Televisa | Univison, Garcia enjoyed a 13-year career at Spanish Broadcasting System, where he served in various executive positions including VP/GM of WSKQ and WPAT in New York. Garcia started his career at Interep National Radio Sales as an account executive. Eric Garcia has a strict discipline and passion point for the nontraditional space. His hands-on approach to business, open-door policy, and overall passion for continuously evolving and redefining audio as a leader inside the nontraditional revolutionary media space are the things he considers to be most exciting about the industry.
Richard D. Lara has been EVP and General Counsel at Spanish Broadcasting System since 2016. Before joining the company, he counseled domestic and international corporate clients regarding business disputes, including serving as lead litigator in high-stakes trials in both federal and state courts. Lara led and managed numerous outside advisers and bankers, including Fried Frank, in achieving an extraordinarily successful and complex recapitalization for SBS that closed in 2021; this transformative transaction provided the platform for SBS to continue its market-leading growth in radio, television, digital, and live event operations for the U.S. Hispanic audience.
Mike McVay is President of McVay Media Consulting, working globally as a full-service consultant in the areas of content creation, program consultation, syndication, digital delivery, production & imaging, podcasting, and talent coaching. He was most recently the Executive Vice President of Content and Programming for Cumulus Media and Westwood One. McVay is a 40-year programmer with national and local management, ownership, sales, major market programming, and major market on-air experience. He has owned and operated radio stations in multiple markets. He is a partner in Benztown + McVay Media Podcast Network with experience in curating podcasts for Westwood One, NatGeo, and Disney+. He has also developed and launched several highly successful nationally syndicated programs. In his role as a programming consultant he has counted KLAX/Los Angeles, WFID/San Juan, PR, Liberman Broadcasting, and Border Media among his clients. McVay is a 2021 Inductee to the West Virginia Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Frank Montero is a co-managing partner with the law firm of Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth. He focuses on telecommunications, broadcasting, media and technology. Montero’s practice includes FCC regulatory counseling, corporate finance, asset and securities acquisitions, intellectual property, and real estate and commercial transactions. Montero was an appointed member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age, and he has served as the Director of the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities. While at the FCC, Montero worked extensively with industry, trade associations, financing institutions, and governmental agencies to create business opportunities for entrepreneurs, start-ups, and other small businesses in the telecommunications and technology sectors. Before his appointment, Montero was a partner with the Washington communications law firm of Fisher Wayland Cooper Leader & Zaragoza.
Jay Meyers is president and CEO of Broadcast, Management and Technology. BMTllc has advised many of the large media lenders and well-known PE firms in the media space, as well as broadcasters both domestically and internationally, and provides expert witness, trust, and receivership services in the broadcasting space. Meyers was also CEO of Adelante Media Group, which specialized in Spanish-language programming, and served on the board of R Communications, which owned radio stations on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border. Earlier in his career he was a senior vice president at both Jacor Communications and Clear Channel Radio and president/COO of Sherman Broadcasting Co. Under the BMTllc banner, on an outsourced basis, Meyers provided services as CEO of BCA Radio of San Diego, which owned the U.S. rights to three Mexican-licensed radio stations, and currently is CEO of Horizon Broadcasting of Florida.
Otto Padron is president and CEO of Meruelo Media. His mass-media experience, leadership skills, and vision have been key to the transformative expansion of Meruelo Media. Before leading the Meruelo team, Padron was senior vice president of programming for Univision Television Network, the leading Spanish-language network in the U.S. Padron is the only executive to have successfully headed programming for both major U.S. Spanish-language networks, Univision and Telemundo. As a shaping member of these powerhouse brands, he skillfully blended solution-based ideas with a value-oriented management style driven by bottom-line results. During his 20-plus-year tenure programming these competitive networks, Padron developed a keen understanding of relevant entertainment formats and has established a reputation for delivering winning results through production excellence and flawless execution.
Bob Perry is an international consultant specializing in increasing the ratings for radio stations that target the Hispanic audience, in both Spanish and English formats. He has programmed and consulted 60+ top-rated radio stations in 20+ different markets throughout the United States and Mexico. In addition to clients throughout the U.S., Perry is the programming consultant for Mexico’s largest broadcasting company, Grupo Acir, based in Mexico City, which consistently has the top-rated stations in markets throughout Mexico. Perry has an extensive background in market research including market perceptual studies, online music testing, weekly callout research, and audience focus groups. His biggest enjoyment is finding and teaching the future programming and air talent superstars of the radio industry.
Albert Rodriguez is president and chief operating officer of Spanish Broadcasting System. He joined the company in 1999 and has been COO since 2012; he added the president title in 2021. In this expanded role, he is responsible for managing operations and overseeing the future growth and financial performance of the company’s radio, TV, digital, and experiential businesses and market-leading brands. Over the years Rodriguez has been chief revenue officer of the television segment and general manager of the Miami television market. He has also served as general sales manager for the Miami radio market.
Jesus Salas, a 20-year broadcasting veteran, is EVP/programming and multi-platform coordinator for Spanish Broadcasting System. Salas began his career as an air personality and got his first programming job at age 19. In 1997 he was named PD for WSKQ-FM & WPAT-FM/New York. Salas also held a post as senior PD with XM Satellite Radio. While at XM, he spearheaded a successful national marketing campaign to grow the Hispanic subscriber base. In his current post with SBS, Salas oversees stations in the top U.S. Hispanic markets of New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, and Puerto Rico.
Larry Walke joined the National Association of Broadcasters in October 2001 as associate general counsel. While at NAB, Walke has focused on safeguarding broadcasters’ spectrum, radio policy, emergency preparedness, cybersecurity, and the emergency alert system, equal employment opportunity, accessibility of broadcasting, and advertising issues including political broadcasting, among other broadcasting policies and regulations. Walke began his legal career at the FCC, where he worked on a broad range of broadcast and cable television policy issues before moving to a large DC-based law firm where he represented competitive local and long-distance telecommunications companies. He later moved to a competitive local telecom carrier as regulatory counsel before joining NAB.
