Fireside Chat with Comcast

Jennifer Smardo serves as the Senor Vice President of the Network Implementation team at Comcast. Ms. Smardo is responsible for the oversight of design, implementation, and operations supporting the construction of Comcast Fiber and Coax networks.

The team is also responsible for strategic program management of key technical initiatives and large program deployments. The team collaborates cross-functionally within HQ and with divisional construction and engineering teams to provide strategic guidance, operations support, and business intelligence insights.

A 30-year veteran of the communications industry, Ms. Smardo began her career as a receptionist in the Central Division office of TCI.

Ms. Smardo is a member of Women in Cable and the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers and serves on the SCTE board as Treasurer. She is a graduate of various industry leadership programs including the WICT Rocky Mountain Leadership Institute Program, WICT Rising Leaders Program, Betsy Magness Leadership Institute, the Comcast Women’s Executive Leadership Program, and the SCTE-Tuck Executive Leadership Program. In 2023, she was inducted into the Cable Pioneers.

As the Vice President of Advanced Engineering in the West Division, Bryan leads 5 functions of CORE Networking, ISP Engineering, Network Maintenance, Video, and Platform Engineering that serve the West Division Regions in support of growth and reliability. 

Prior to this role, Bryan served as the Regional Vice President of Engineering in the Mountain West Region, overseeing Construction and Network Operations covering Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Idaho, and Arizona.  In this role, he led a team of 450+ highly skilled professionals in the Engineering organization.  His achievements included strategic change transformation, achieving exceptional workplace and motivation scores, and consistently delivering high production of construction miles.  Bryan is a leader in organizational health excellence and has played a crucial role in broadband growth in residential, commercial, and network reliability across the five states.

Previously, Bryan held the position of Area Vice President of Technical Operations in Salt Lake City, Utah.  He was responsible for directing over 300 field technicians and supporting various functions across the state.  His accomplishments included earning the 2019 system of the year award and being recognized as the top Area Vice President in the region in 2019.  Utah is a special place for Bryan, as his career started there as a frontline technician for TCI in 1999.  Bryan has held other positions throughout the Region, West Division and HQ.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunications Business Administration from Weber State University in 2007.

Missy Wood has held various roles within the telecommunications and cable industry over the past 23 years.

Currently, as the Sr. Director Strategic Program Delivery within the Comcast CONNECT team, Missy is leading strategy across field operations teams, connecting tool development with operational requirements driving clarity towards execution excellence as new technology is implemented.

Missy first began her Comcast career as a project coordinator at AT&T working on back office systems to automate work orders for telephony.

Missy has held active roles on the The WICT Network board for 10+ years and was nominated as a “Woman to Watch in 2009” at the Rocky Mountain chapter’s yearly Walk of Fame. She is currently serving as the VP for The WICT Network Rocky Mountain chapter.

TiaMarie Bradford is a seasoned professional with over 12 years of dedicated service at Comcast Business, currently serving as the Order Management APS Supervisor in Service Delivery.

In this role, she oversees four crucial groups, each responsible for managing distinct aspects of the company’s operations. These include Legacy APS, which handles advanced voice products; Orion OPE, the newest platform; End to End Hospitality, focused on advanced video services; and Ops Pod, a specialized team catering to state agencies and government offices for CalNet and SoTX, among others.

TiaMarie’s journey with Comcast Business began on the frontline, where she started as an agent scheduling installations.