Lucia Ballas-Traynor
SVP, Gerneral Manager - MTV Tr3s
Lucia Ballas-Traynor is Senior Vice President and General Manager of MTV Tr3́s, the most-widely distributed TV network dedicated to superserving today’s bicultural Latino youth. Prior to joining MTV Tr3́s, Lucia worked for IDT Corporation where she served as Senior Vice President of Hispanic Marketing and was responsible for formulating Hispanic marketing strategies for their Telecom division.
A Hispanic marketing veteran, Lucia started her career in Hispanic television 18 years ago at Univision where she held a succession of positions. In 1989, she embarked on a new career path, working as advertising sales executive for Univision’s Más Magazine. In 1994 she joined Galavision as ad sales director and in 1999 was appointed General Manager, assuming responsibility for all of the network’s operations.
During Lucia’s tenure, Galavision’s distribution nearly doubled and the profile of the network’s audience grew amongst the coveted 18-34 year old demographic, making it one of the most popular Hispanic networks in the United States for teens and young adults. Under her leadership, the network pioneered original, U.S.-produced hit programming for the younger Hispanic demographic, which resulted in unprecedented ratings gains among these underserved segments. Lucia’s maverick approach at Galavision has been widely credited in helping establish the Spanish television network and placing it on the cable TV landscape.
She has been named a “Media All Star” by Adweek’s Marketing y Medios, one of The Hollywood Reporter’s “Latino Power 50,” a top “Women in Music” by Billboard Magazine, one of the “25 Most Powerful Hispanic Women in the Entertainment Industry” by The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard, and one of “10 Women to Watch” by Multichannel News Magazine.
Lucia was born in Chile and came to the U.S. with her parents in mid 1970s. She earned her BA from New York University. She and her husband Michael and live in New Rochelle, New York with their two children Carolina and Michael.
