Ebonne L. Ruffins became Vice President of Local Media Development (LMD) at Comcast in March of 2016. Her team’s mission is to provide Comcast with a local business advantage through technologies and programming that reach customers down to the neighborhood level. Ebonne leads the company-wide strategy, creative vision, and technical execution of LMD’s broad portfolio of assets, which include: public, educational, and governmental (PEG) programming; Project Open Voice; EveryBlock digital platform and map app; Stringwire live streaming app; Comcast Newsmakers national and regional news platform; and the award-winning commemorative programming initiative, Voices of the Civil Rights Movement.
Before taking the helm of Comcast’s LMD team, Ebonne led diversity media communications for Comcast Corporation, overseeing national diversity advertising; print, radio, and online collateral communications; national surveys; and executive multimedia consulting. During her four-year tenure on the Corporate Diversity & Inclusion team, Ebonne developed Comcast’s first-ever mandatory employee diversity training module; launched Comcast NBCUniversal’s public diversity report and digital platform; and produced Comcast’s first ever Diversity Summit in December of 2015.
Prior to joining Comcast in 2011, Ebonne was an English and Spanish producer for the internationally acclaimed television series, CNN Heroes. At CNN, Ebonne produced award-winning multilingual stories on “ordinary people with an extraordinary impact” in 19 cities across five continents.
Ebonne began her career as an on-air reporter for WCAX TV, a CBS affiliate in Burlington, Vermont. She was also a reporter/producer for NPR in Washington, D.C., and a CNN Fellow and contributor for CNN’s Washington, D.C. Bureau. She also served as a co-producer for the award-winning intergenerational documentary, Life’s Essentials with Ruby Dee, released in 2014.
Currently, Ebonne is an Executive Board member and National Board member of the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC). Since 1999, Ebonne has served as co-founder and volunteer for the Mother-Daughter Senior Decorating Service, LLC, a residential decorating service for senior citizens and people with disabilities at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Rehabilitation and Care (PCRC).
Ebonne is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law and the Medill Graduate School of Journalism. She is also a proud alumna of Spelman College.