VP Rashid willing to go the distance for Comcast customers

Banner Staff

For Zakee Rashid, it all started with a question.

A lifelong boxing fan, each Friday night Rashid would travel from his hometown of East Cleveland, Ohio, to nearby Cleveland Heights to visit a buddy that had cable, and they’d hang out and watch the weekly fights broadcast on ESPN.

“One Friday, I was sitting there and it just kind of occurred to me,” said Rashid. “‘Why don’t we have cable in East Cleveland?’”

It was a question East Cleveland residents wouldn’t have to ask again.

Rashid left Cuyahoga Community College to follow his entrepreneurial interests, partnering with Al Quarles and former Cleveland Browns football players Ben Davis and Tom Darden to establish East Cleveland’s first cable system, Telecable Broadcasting of America (TBA), in 1978.

Nearly 30 years later, Rashid is still a fan of the fights. He’s also still in the cable business, currently serving as the vice president in charge of Comcast’s cable systems in the South Shore, Cape Cod and the Islands — a position in which he is responsible for overseeing and managing cable, phone and Internet services for more than 320,000 local customers.

Asked if the responsibility of managing services for such a large number of customers ever becomes daunting, Rashid deflects the praise to his “excellent staff of highly trained professionals.”

“All of us together — and over 400 employees — manage our business on an everyday basis,” he said.

But even with such a well-trained staff, Rashid’s phone is always ringing — even while watching his beloved Cleveland Cavaliers make their first-ever march to the NBA Finals.

“I have a Blackberry, so I’m almost never really out of touch,” said Rashid with a laugh. “It’s a 24/7 job, but it’s my life, and I enjoy every minute of it.”

Rashid’s rise at Comcast began in 2000, when he accepted a position as government and corporate affairs manager in the company’s Flint, Mich., offices.

“I decided Comcast would be a really great opportunity, and it’s the best thing that I ever did in terms of a business career,” he said.

His timing couldn’t have been better. Rashid joined Comcast at the outset of a period of rapid growth that made it the largest cable company and second-largest Internet service provider in the United States. In 2001, Comcast announced plans to acquire AT&T Broadband, the telecommunications company’s cable TV service, for $44.5 billion. When the acquisition was finalized in 2002, Comcast’s customer base had ballooned to 22 million subscribers.

After taking the position in Flint, Rashid was nominated to a class in “Comcast University,” a professional development program that gives internal talents the opportunity to grow their careers within the company. Rashid’s class, the General Manager Leadership Development Program, gave participants what he called “a full crash session in Comcast management style, philosophy and the way we do business.”

“At the time, they selected people who were in management positions that they felt had the potential to lead other Comcast organizations,” said Rashid. “I guess I must have done pretty well, because they promoted me to vice president and general manager of the Cleveland systems,” which he managed from 2002 through 2006. That’s when he was tapped to come to the East Coast to assume responsibility for nearly 90,000 new Massachusetts customers following Comcast’s acquisition of Adelphia Communications Corporation, then the country’s fifth-largest cable television company.

But despite the challenges of delivering services to new customer populations and the high-stakes task of making sure the corporation’s growth goes smoothly, Rashid relishes the opportunity to work for a demanding company like Comcast.

“We look for your best everyday, and you’re rewarded for your commitment and contributions to the company,” said Rashid. “I have a lot of flexibility in terms of how I carry out my role. My decisions are respected, and I’m given the freedom to make those decisions — and the responsibility of living with the consequences.”

After more than 25 years in the cable industry, what keeps Rashid committed is the constantly changing nature of the business.

“When you think about how far cable has come in my time in the business … ‘State of the art’ when I started was, like, 36 channels. We’ve got more than that in our basic service now,” said Rashid. “Comcast is not just a cable company anymore. We’re constantly branching out into new areas, trying different things, and learning new techniques to make sure that we’re giving world-class service to our customers.”

That message — the importance of delivering excellent service to every one of Comcast’s 24.2 million video customers, 12.1 high-speed Internet customers and 3 million digital voice customers across America — was reinforced during a recent talk Rashid had with Ralph Roberts, who founded Comcast in 1963.

“It sounds kind of corny for me to be sitting here saying there’s 60,000 of us that have that same attitude, but it’s the truth,” Rashid said. “Every one of them that I’ve met is positive, enthusiastic and possessed of a sense of pride about the business we’re in.”

The enthusiasm is palpable in talking to Rashid. It comes across when he speaks about the numerous career opportunities available at Comcast — “While some industries are falling by the wayside, this company is a beacon, and we’re growing,” he said.

And recent trends indicate a serious commitment to diversity as Comcast grows — 26 percent of the external hires for the Comcast division encompassing Massachusetts were people of color in 2006, up from 17 percent in 2005, according to the company.

Rashid’s excitement also extends to the company’s standing as an industry leader: “I mean it when I say this: We are the best at what we do.”

It’s the approach to service that Rashid embodies that makes Comcast more than just a cable company.

“I try to look at each situation as if it was my wife, mother, or my family member that we’re servicing,” he said. “When you take that approach to it, it’s really easy to get in the habit of doing it.”