Welcome back to the VOE Podcast! In our latest episode, we dive into the importance of human capital investment and effective human resources management with Amy Blair (MBA 1998)—senior vice president and chief people officer for Liberty Global, a world leader in converged broadband, video and mobile communications services. Blair shares the interconnectedness of her human resources career in the cable and telecommunications industry with the Daniels College of Business's emphasis on ethics and values-based business education.
The VOE Podcast is an extension of Voices of Experience, the signature speaker series at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business. Keep tuning in each month for more business insights from Daniels’ alumni voices of experience.
Transcript
Kristal Griffith:
Hello, and welcome to the VOE Podcast.
Jake Jensen:
An extension of Voices of Experience.
Amber D'Angelo:
The signature speaker series at the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business. We're your hosts.
Kristal Griffith:
Kristal Griffith.
Jake Jensen:
Jake Jensen.
Amber D'Angelo:
And I'm Amber D'Angelo from the Daniels office of communications and marketing. We'll be unpacking topics at the intersection of business and the public good with CEOs and other business leaders from the Daniels community. Let's dive in.

Hi everyone, we're back this month to continue our discussion on labor, employment and people management with Amy Blair. Amy is the senior vice president and chief people officer for Liberty Global, one of the world's leading converged video, broadband and communications companies. Liberty Global's consolidated businesses generate annual revenue of more than seven billion dollars and its joint ventures in the U.K. and the Netherlands have a combined annual revenue of more than 17 billion dollars. Amy graduated from the Daniels College of Business in 1998 with her MBA. Welcome to the VOE Podcast, Amy, thanks for joining us today.
Amy Blair:
Yes, thank you very much for having me.
Amber D'Angelo:
So, Amy, I was looking at Liberty Global's statistics and they're quite impressive. Your 36,000 employees connect over 85 million subscribers across Europe and the U.K. with next generation services over advanced fiber and 5G networks. And over the last 10 years, Liberty Global has done approximately 300 deals valued at an aggregate of 130 billion euros. That's a lot of work and a lot of people to pull together into one cohesive workforce. Leading such a large global human resources function, can you tell us about some of the highlights and in particular, the challenges?
Amy Blair:
So, I guess if I step back for context, for those that are listening to this, the industry in which we operate has gone through incredible transformation over the last 30 years that I've worked at Liberty Global. Just look at how far the cable industry has come since the days of the Cable Cowboys to where we are now, which are real leaders in our industry. And if I look at Liberty Global, our own growth has mirrored that transformation, evolving many, many times, and it continues to do so.
Amy Blair:
Over the last three decades, we've grown from a small startup cable company to now a world leader in converged broadband, video and mobile communication services like you just said. We've operated all over the world, all over the Asia Pacific region and Latin America and throughout Europe, over the years. Today, we operate in eight countries and most of our workforce is in Europe.
Amy Blair:
So for me personally, it's been amazing to have a front row seat and witness such innovation and transformation. So to your question about the highlights and the challenges of leading an HR function. First, I can start by saying that there have been many highlights and there have been many challenges in the last three decades. I can tell you without hesitation that leading an HR function is difficult in a business that never changes,