Leaps of Faith

Long ago, Tini Sevak resolved “to live a life of ‘no regrets’ and to take ‘leaps of faith’ when the opportunities present themselves. I don’t ever want to look back and ask, ‘What if…?’” 

Those convictions have influenced Sevak’s life and her career – most recently as vice president of Audiences & Data at CNN International Commercial. Having grown up in Niskayuna, she was familiar with the University at Albany through “family friends who taught there, cross-country races in high school, and Giants training camp.” Though Albany was on her “short list” for undergraduate study, she took “a leap of faith” and attended Boston University’s Questrom School of Management, where she earned a B.S. in business administration.  

Graduate school drew Sevak back to Albany. She enrolled at the University, completing master’s studies in economics and “spending some quality time with my mother as an adult before heading out into the ‘working world.’” Inspired by the late Professor Jogindar Uppal, she wanted to earn a doctorate, then teach or work as a stock analyst. 

But after graduation, “the economics department put forth my name and made the introduction to the hiring manager at Mindshare in New York City,” Sevak recalls.  She spent 10 years there, “starting out as an analytics manager running econometric models for companies like Nextel, Sprint, Motorola, BP, and Kraft Foods,” before leaping to London, where she joined Mindshare’s worldwide team as a director of Business Planning. The move brought Sevak the opportunity “to do something different and unexpected to take control of both my career and my personal life.” There, she met her wife of two years and “better half,” Kate Wordford.  

Sevak, who later worked with media agency Starcom, joined CNN International Commercial in 2018. Her global team, the Audiences & Data Group, “sits at the heart of CNNIC,” she explains. “Through a mix of audience insights, analytics and intelligence, and data innovation and solutions, the group ensures measurable and actionable insights drive client campaigns, as well as the commercial strategy of CNN International.” 

Sevak travels frequently for business, visiting her Hong Kong-, Paris-, and Miami-based team members and “externally communicating CNNIC’s market-leading capabilities around our data and audience capabilities.” A headliner at DMexico, Festival of Marketing, and Marketing Week Live, the data-industry leader has addressed the U.N. World Trade Organization Tourism Tech Adventures Summit in Bahrain, the Arab Media Forum in Dubai, and the Online Marketing Rockstars (OMR) conference in Hamburg. Her commitments through year’s end include events in New Delhi, India; Costa Rica; and Johannesburg. 

An avid runner, Sevak credits UAlbany for “re-igniting my passion” for the sport, “which taught me the importance of discipline, endurance, patience, and never giving up.” She joined the Albany Running Exchange (ARE), led by Josh Merlis, and ran the first of several half-marathons. Sevak has since completed a marathon and is training for an ultra-marathon.