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Feature: Congratulations, Margaret Gaillard
One of Cable’s Rising Stars
By Sally Kinsman

It’s always exciting to recognize the achievements of a star in the cable industry, especially when that star is someone I’ve known for 17 years. This year, Communications Technology, Women in Cable and Telecommunications (WICT) and the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) have chosen Margaret Gaillard as the winner of the 2000 Women in Technology Award.

Margaret Gaillard has demonstrated outstanding personal and professional growth and has made significant contributions to the industry. Currently the director of technical operations for AT&T Broadband, she describes herself as "determined and a source for others to come to when they can’t get things done." Others describe her as extremely intelligent, hard working, direct and to the point—someone who fights for what she believes in. She has the skills to get people to work together and solve problems.

Digital champion

Gaillard joined TCI (now AT&T Broadband) in 1996 as project engineer to launch digital television. The digital headend was her primary responsibility, although she also developed budgets, training programs, requirements for pre-packed headends and operational procedures for warehouse, installation and product launches. Gaillard also coordinated all transponder programming.

"This allowed for consistency across the company to roll out 500 digital headends in one year," she says.

In her current position as director of technical operations, Gaillard is responsible for all technical operations concerning headends and focuses on delivery of digital signals from source to home. She currently is working on enhanced digital services that include video-on-demand (VOD), e-mail and Internet access over television.

Her responsibilities also include remote and keyboard design and development for these new services, as well as legacy digital.

"It seems odd to refer to digital TV as legacy, because so many other MSOs are launching the services for the first time," Gaillard says. "But to me, it’s old technology." Gaillard continues to do some training, such as bringing in regional engineers during the launch of new products.

"Margaret is a key player when launching new products at our company," says Gaillard’s boss, Tom Lambrecht, vice president of ITV for AT&T Broadband. "She is the liaison between engineering and the local systems, taking deployments from a white board to the customer, watching out for the customer’s best interests. She is in an engineering role and has broken through any issues with her being a woman, gaining respect from all levels of the AT&T Broadband engineering staff because of her strengths. I can’t say enough about her work ethic and her ability to be a team player."

Her early years

So how did this digital guru get her start?

Gaillard grew up in southeast Iowa, where her father taught high school history and government, and her mother was the deputy auditor for the county. She has two brothers and one sister.

Her love of things technical began early in life. In school, for instance, her favorite subjects were chemistry and industrial arts, unusual for a young girl.

"However, I could not enroll in the industrial arts program in junior high school because it was only open to boys," Gaillard remembers. "I had to settle for home economics."

She was finally allowed to enter the industrial arts program in high school and had to fight educators to get into the industrial arts program at North East Missouri State University. There, she became one of the first women to receive an associate of arts of degree in industrial arts.

"The teachers resented me for being in the typically male program, and it wasn’t always a pleasant experience for me," Gaillard recalls. Getting into the program, however, taught her that if she were determined, she could achieve whatever she wanted. That insight has helped shape and mold her since then, she says. In 1996, Gaillard received a bachelor of science in business management from the University of Maryland.

Gaillard also credits some of her success in the male-dominated world of cable to the fact that she grew up with two older brothers. "I learned to be one of the guys and to have a thick skin," she says. "I’ve been in the male work environment for so long that I can hold my own, and frankly don’t think about it very much."

Starting out in cable

After completing college in 1981, Gaillard moved to New Mexico to look for work. When she received no job offers, she headed north to Colorado. There, she submitted a resume to ATC (now Time Warner Cable), but again came up empty-handed.

"I started back to New Mexico when the timing chain broke on my car, cracking the engine," Gaillard remembers. But like with many life-changing events, fate had its way. "As I waited for the car to be fixed, ATC called and offered me a job as drafter in their corporate design department."

Gaillard says her biggest blunder in cable happened at ATC when she sent plat maps out for enlargement. These maps were used as the base for adding strand and design information.

"I put one too many zeros on the enlargement instructions and the returned order took two people to carry," she recalls.

Gaillard left ATC in 1983, where she reached the level of drafting supervisor, to start her own business called Butler Drafting Services. She provided contract drafting services to various multiple system operators (MSOs), including Jones Intercable, United Cable, and my design consulting firm in Denver, Kinsman Design Associates.

I was very impressed with Gaillard’s work ethic and competence, and used her company’s services until Gaillard joined United Cable in 1985 as a designer and drafter, where she stayed until 1989. Gaillard says she enjoyed having her own business. But the cable world, particularly the MSOs in Denver, were offering great learning and advancement opportunities, especially for women in technical positions.

New growth opportunities

Jones Intercable hired Gaillard as manager of design and drafting in 1989. Before bringing her on board, Jones used the department primarily for extensions, and it contracted out most large design projects. Gaillard’s job was to build a design and drafting staff and bring all functions in-house. Coincidentally, the job at Jones became available when the department manager, Pam Nobles, the 1996 Women in Technology award recipient, moved on to other opportunities within Jones.

Gaillard operated the department as a separate business to ensure cost effectiveness when developing budgets and tracking all operating expenses. She hired and trained five associates, determined network architectures and vendor selection, and monitored plant construction.

Fiber was just making its entrance in the cable industry. "I helped formulate fiber and RF deployment at Jones Intercable, and proposed cable phone specifications and digital video distribution," Gaillard explains.

She also developed technical training skills and taught classes to employees, including basic cable design, advanced design and a vendor-of-the-month program. "All departments had the opportunity to gain detailed technical knowledge of various new and existing vendor products," she says.

Gaillard also conducted technical and professional training programs for other companies, including New Brunswick Telecom and Northern Telecom.

Roger Seefeldt, president of Telecommunications Architects, a headend system integration firm in Denver, was Gaillard’s boss at the time.

"She was a fun, energetic type of person, with a strong work ethic and good leadership skills," Seefeldt recalls. "Margaret was willing to take on the responsibilities to find alternative solutions, and then present them to the group. One of her attributes was being able to translate technically related issues to other business associates so they made sense to the group."

Industry involvement

Gaillard has been a member of SCTE since 1989 and an active member of the SCTE standards subcommittees, notably design, construction and fiber. She also has been a presenter at various SCTE seminars.

A member of WICT, Gaillard is a frequent presenter at the Rocky Mountain WICT Chapter technology workshop, and conducts analog and digital training.

"My portion of the workshop takes about one day, during which I also include field trips to local headends or the DMC (Digital Media Center at AT&T Broadband)," she explains.

Courtney Cowgill, president of WICT’s Rocky Mountain chapter, is a big fan of Gaillard’s. "Margaret is a wonderful person and supporter of women and WICT," Cowgill says. "Margaret firmly believes that all women must become familiar with all forms of technology. Every time Margaret teaches at the Rocky Mountain WICT technology workshop, she is rated the best presenter. She takes technology that appears too intimidating and complicated for the nontechnical attendee and makes it easy to understand."

Gaillard has also found time to be involved in P.E.O., a philanthropic and educational organization, where she has been treasurer and active in several committees.

Still, Gaillard says she regrets not being more involved with the SCTE and WICT.

"During the rollout of 500 digital headends at AT&T, I had to delay any outside involvement to get the job done. Maybe now is the time to become more involved," she says.

Personal life

Gaillard has been married to husband Michael for 15 years. She describes him as "a house-husband who does all the things I hate to do." She says she’s been fortunate to achieve professional success, work in a dream job, and to be able to support both of them. They have a three-year-old Basset hound named George.

"With a husband and a dog, who needs kids?" she asks.

Gaillard’s outside interests while growing up included hanging out at motorcross tracks and riding motorcycles, although she never raced.

"I was too much of a kamikaze and would take things to the edge," she says. She eventually gave up skiing for this very reason.

Gaillard does, however, own an ATV, with her husband’s blessing. "It has four wheels and should be safe," she jokes.

The couple owns 85 acres in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, located between Cripple Creek and Canyon City, where she usually drives her ATV. The property came with a log cabin although Michael recently completed an addition, doing much of the construction while Gaillard was working in Denver. She describes the cabin as her retreat from work, although she admits to taking her cell phone with her.

"I would like to thank my husband for all the support he has given me over the years," she says. "I promise to spend more time with him when I retire. My personal goal is to retire before the age of 50 and be a Wal-Mart greeter. The job requires no decisions, is low stress, and has a benefits package."

A tribute

Margaret Gaillard has been a rising star within the technical cable TV community for nearly 20 years.

"Although my job is fast-paced and high stress, I enjoy every minute of it," she exclaims. "I get paid to play with new technologies and solve problems. It’s a dream job."

Gaillard is a woman who provides a clear message that anyone in cable can enjoy their job and that there are always opportunities for women to succeed. I have known Margaret personally for 17 years and she truly is an inspiration, a technical leader, and a nice, funny lady.

Please join me in congratulating Margaret Gaillard, a great role model and very deserving candidate, as this year’s Women in Technology award winner.

Sally Kinsman is TNS program manager for Motorola Broadband Communications Sector and was the recipient of the 1999 Women in Technology Award.

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