Executive Team

Charles Humbard

Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer

Charles “Charley” Humbard is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of UP Entertainment, the parent company of UPtv (the television home for uplifting entertainment), UP Faith & Family (America’s favorite streaming service for families) and AspireTV (the leading network for Black and urban lifestyle programming). Since the network’s inception on October 30, 2004, he has led the overall business strategy and mission to entertain, uplift and inspire viewers. UP Entertainment reaches audiences across a multitude of platforms including traditional cable, OTT, SVOD and digital properties. UPtv, which is carried on every major cable and satellite provider in the U.S., was the fastest growing entertainment network in 2^nd quarter in 2020.  It also grew 18 slots compared to competitors, proving that UPtv is more relevant and valuable than ever as the network focuses on becoming a movie destination and safe haven for viewers. UP Faith & Family, one of the industry’s first streaming subscription services, has also grown exponentially this year and is the leader in the faith entertainment category.

Prior to founding UP Entertainment, Charley served as a senior executive at Discovery Networks, responsible for the development and launch of seven digital cable network brands. Additionally, Charley was a founding member of Discovery International Networks charged with launching the Discovery Channel Networks in 140 countries and creating operations facilities on three continents.

After 40 years in the media industry, Charley remains committed to making a positive impact through quality entertainment. UP Entertainment’s pro-social initiative “UPlift Someone” reminds others that simple acts of kindness can make a difference. As part of this initiative, UP has produced viral videos showing acts of kindness that have generated in excess of 200 million views and was ranked a top 10 in all of YouTube.

Charley has been recognized for exceptional programming through various awards including a Peabody Award, an Emmy® and numerous Promax Awards. He has been named to the “CableFAX 100” each year from 2008 through 2015 in recognition of his industry leadership. In 2017, Charley was the recipient of the southeast EMMY^® Governors’ Award for Lifetime achievement and was also selected as one of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “Most Admired CEOs” in 2018. Additionally, Charley is a 2019 graduate of EO Entrepreneurial Master’s Program (3 years) at MIT and the EO @ Wharton Executive Financial and Operations program in 2019.

Son of the country’s first television minister, Charley began his career writing and recording music and performing on television for the Rex Humbard Worldwide Ministries. He attended Belmont College in Nashville, Tennessee, where he studied music business and marketing.

Reta Peery

Chief Administration and Operations Officer, General Counsel

Reta Peery is Chief Administrative & Operations Officer at UPtv. In addition to her current role as General Counsel and oversight of People Solutions for both UPtv and its sister network AspireTV, Peery will now be responsible for ensuring company-wide development and adherence to strategies and timely revision to them as needed to meet changing business challenges, efficient and effective communications across company departments, the promotion of operational efficiencies and innovative processes, and daily operational oversight as directed by the CEO. She is a key team member behind UPtv’s major original programming expansion, including original movies and series, co-production relationships with U.S. and Canadian content production partners and the company’s UP Faith & Family subscription-video-on-demand offering.

Peery spent 14 years at Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., handling work for virtually every Turner group and division during the advent of rapid growth for the Turner nets. Her last seven years at Turner were spent as VP/Deputy General Counsel for Cartoon Network, where she played an instrumental role in establishing Cartoon Network’s in-house production unit, Cartoon Network Studios.  She also spent close to nine years in various roles for The Weather Channel, Inc., including VP/Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. Prior to moving to an in-house role, Peery was an attorney at the law firm of Alston and Bird, focusing primarily on intellectual property and antitrust litigation, and also fulfilled a Federal judicial clerkship in the United States District Court, Middle District of Georgia. She earned a B.A. degree from The University of Alabama and a Juris Doctor degree from The University of Georgia School of Law.

Peery is married to fellow attorney Briggs Peery and is the proud mother of two. Her daughter, Eleanor, is an Integrated Marketing Coordinator at The New Yorker, and son Cooper is a student at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, studying Film and Television Production.

Philip Manwaring

Chief Financial Officer and Chief Technology Officer

Philip Manwaring is Chief Financial Officer & Chief Technology Officer at UPtv. In addition to his oversight of Finance, Accounting and Research, he oversees UPtv’s consumer facing technology areas including setting a long-term technology vision for the company, development and management of innovative business technology tools and communication systems, technology driven revenue innovations, and strategic technology partnerships and acquisitions. Since coming to UPtv in 2008, Manwaring has significantly contributed to the growth of the network, including responsibility for launching the gMovies streaming service (now known as UP Faith & Family) and leading the long-term financial planning, analysis and goal setting for the company. For his work in the industry, he received the 2009 CableFax Digital Hotlist Award.

Prior to UPtv, Manwaring served as the Chief Technology Officer with Integrity Media, the world’s largest independent gospel music label. He received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern Queensland and his Master’s degree in Business Administration from Duke University.

Lisa Fischer

EVP, Advertising Sales

Lisa Fischer is Executive Vice President, Advertising Sales, for UPtv and Aspire, responsible for overseeing all sales operations for the two networks from UPtv’s New York office. The 20+ year sales veteran joined UPtv and Aspire in January 2014. She was selected as Cablefax’s Salesperson of the Year in the National Sales category in 2017 and was named one of Cablefax’s Most Powerful Women in 2018.

Fischer joined UPtv and Aspire from ION Media Networks, where she was Senior Vice President, Network Advertising Sales since 2010. In that role, she was responsible for all of the network’s sales efforts.

Before joining ION, Fischer spent 12 years at Discovery Communications, most recently as Senior Vice President of Sales. During her four years in that position, she led sales on multiple networks including Discovery Health, Animal Planet, Fit TV, Discovery Kids and Investigation Discovery. She also launched ad sales operations for OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.

During her first six years at Discovery, Fischer served as Vice President, Advertising Sales, eastern region after joining the company as an account executive.

From 1988-1998, Fischer was an account executive at USA Network and Syfy Channel.

Before joining the cable industry, she was network supervisor at Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt; and network buyer at Young & Rubicam.

Fischer is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and is married with two girls.

Hal Rosenberg

EVP, Content Distribution and Affiliate Marketing

For more than 30 years, Hal Rosenberg has served with distinction in the cable/satellite television industry.  As the EVP, Content Distribution & Marketing for UP Entertainment, Rosenberg manages the department responsible for the distribution strategy, licensing and affiliate marketing for UPtv and AspireTV. He also oversees international program sales and the operation and distribution of the company’s popular SVOD service, UP Faith & Family.

Prior to joining UP Entertainment in 2013, Rosenberg served in a variety of advisory and management roles for media companies, including AMC Networks, The Documentary Channel and Veria Living.

Rosenberg is the former SVP, Affiliate Sales & Marketing for CBS Sports Network, and SVP, Affiliate Sales for Scripps Networks Interactive, where he led the affiliate sales organization responsible for the distribution of HGTV, Food Network, GAC, DIY and Fine Living.  Prior to Scripps, Rosenberg spent 19 years in many key roles at Showtime Networks, including VP/GM, Account VP, Regional Director and National Sales Manager, Special Markets, among others.

Rosenberg holds a B.A., Journalism from Long Island University and an M.A., Telecommunication from Michigan State University.

Rex E. Humbard, III

Executive Vice President – Production, Operations & IT

Rex Humbard is an award-winning television executive with unique experience spanning nearly 30 years in entertainment, retail, Internet and sports programming. In his current role as Executive Vice President of Production, Operations and IT, he is responsible for managing the day-to-day on-air operations for both UPtv and AspireTV. Rex also oversees all production facilities and personnel as well as IT support for both networks.

Prior to joining the network, Rex was a Managing Partner and Executive Producer at Advanced Media, LLC. In this role, he directed all production activities for the company and conceptualized show proposals in conjunction with programming partners.

Before co-founding Advanced Media, Rex assumed the position of Senior Vice President of Production & Operations at Seals Communications Corporation, where he led the production group responsible for 250 hours of original programming annually.

He also spent several years at the Home Shopping Network as Vice President of Broadcast where he oversaw the network’s full service post production facility and supervised the Broadcast Production and Engineering Divisions of the electronic retailing company.

Rex has produced and directed many high profile sports television programs, including the Olympic Winter Games and the Olympic Summer Games, the Goodwill Games, the Pan Am Games, as well as many other studio and location based events. During his eight-year tenure at Turner Sports, he also produced and directed NBA and NFL programming.

Rex holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Telecommunication with an emphasis on Broadcast Production from the University of Florida. He is married and has 3 children.

Melissa M. Ingram

Senior Vice President – Multicultural Networks and Strategy

Melissa M. Ingram is Senior Vice President of Multicultural Networks and Strategy at UP Entertainment. She oversees the day-to-day management and oversight of AspireTV (premier destination for Black and urban lifestyle programming) and Cine Romántico (U.S. Spanish-language free ad-supported

streaming movie channel dedicated entirely to romance movies). Ingram is responsible for driving the growth and success of AspireTV, Cine Romántico and other multicultural brands from UP Entertainment across all distribution platforms. As a member of the Executive Team, she provides guidance and develops strategies on how to best serve multicultural audiences for all UP Entertainment brands and champion a winning work environment for the company’s diverse employee base.

Under Ingram’s leadership, AspireTV has emerged as a premium lifestyle content brand that serves a fast-growing, dynamic audience of black millennials with the promise #SeeYourselfHere. That promise is supported by hit shows like the cooking series Butter + Brown, executive produced by Issa Rae, the interview special Idols, Icons + Influencers, hosted by comedian Chris Spencer, design series Unboxed with Nikki Chu and the network’s expanding web and social footprint.

Ingram joined AspireTV in August 2012 as Senior Counsel, Business and Legal Affairs, and was promoted to Senior Director of Business Affairs and Development in December 2014. In her role as Senior Director, Ingram was successful in executing partnerships with the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (WHI-HBCUs) and launching an unprecedented partnership with the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and its member schools to produce original programming, highlighting the rich legacy and history of HBCUs and their students.

Ingram also oversaw AspireTV’s official designation as a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)—the first and only national cable television network to receive this certification. She continues to serve as the network’s liaison with the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council (GMSDC). In 2013, Ingram was selected as one of Multichannel News’ 40 under 40 industry executives and was also honored in 2016, 2017 and 2018 as one of Cablefax’s “Most Influential Minorities in Cable.” She was also named to the “Who’s Who in Black Atlanta” list in 2017 and was selected to the Cablefax “Most Powerful Women” list in 2018. In addition, Ingram will be honored with the WICT SE 2018 Horizon Award for Woman to Watch as well as being the first female recipient of the 2018 SYNERGY Award by the African American Film Critics Association.

Ingram joined AspireTV from its sister-network UPtv, where she was Senior Counsel of Business and Legal Affairs, serving as lead counsel and negotiator for programming acquisition agreements. While at UPtv in 2011, Ingram was awarded a scholarship from the Walter Kaitz Foundation and was selected to attend the Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) Rising Leaders Program in San Diego, California.

Before joining UPtv in 2008, Ingram was an associate lawyer with an Atlanta-based boutique entertainment firm, The Carter Law Firm, PC where she handled various entertainment contracts. She began her career in 2004 as an associate lawyer in the Labor and Employment group at Alston & Bird, LLP in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ingram earned a Juris Doctorate (J.D) from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English, magna cum laude, from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Ingram is a former board member of the Southeast Board of Directors for WICT and is a proud member of one of the nation’s oldest volunteer service organizations, The Links, Incorporated.