The Master Builder

摘要

National Geograph- ic Channel Presi- dent Laureen Ong spent 15 years working in sports TV. There was just one problem: She hated sports. "I used to joke that it must have been my punishment for a previous life," she says. "It was a business for me. I liked what I was doing at the time, but it just wasn't my passion." Luckily, passion returned. The Madon-na-esque master of career reinvention now holds a post that suits her well. An avid biker—she and her husband routinely wake at 5:30 a.m. to ride 15 miles—and a devotee of all things outdoors, including hiking, tennis and skiing, Ong has built the Nat Geo channel's staff from nonexistent into a fighting force of 120. She has also led the channel to steady ratings growth in its nearly five years on the air—it is currently 52 million subscribers strong. And last year Nat Geo, two-thirds owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., posted the biggest audience growth of any ad-supported cable channel: an impressive 66%.