By: Betsy Vereckey

When Ashley Hovey T’14 applied to Tuck, she wrote her admissions essay about a career goal of wanting to run a movie studio one day. Looking back now, as the chief digital officer at The CW Network, she realizes that she wasn’t too far off.

“I’m closer to that than I ever thought I’d be,” she says. “My job is really fun.” As someone who brings content to millions of users, Hovey spends a lot of her time thinking about how to personalize viewing experiences for individuals. A self-described lover of data and analytics, Hovey believes that you have to measure and track success and stay open to what artificial intelligence can offer your organization.

“There was a moment where people worried that AI would take everyone’s jobs, but that’s not what we’re seeing,” Hovey says. “We’re seeing that it’s actually helping us figure out things that were hard or tedious.” 

For example, Hovey’s team is using AI to create smarter metadata (the information used to describe movies and shows) to improve recommendations for people so that they can spend less time scrolling and find exactly what they want to watch—faster.

A San Diego native, Hovey earned a bachelor’s degree in classical languages from Pomona College. She chose Tuck partly because of the school’s core curriculum, which she says cultivates community. “I felt like having a more shared experience was going to benefit me more than having a more specialized experience,” says Hovey, who also wanted to gain international experience and work in strategy or finance after graduation.

While at Tuck, she did an internship with British Telecom in London that turned into a full-time job. Tuck’s strategy and negotiations courses came in handy when she took a position at Comcast, managing the integration of several M&A transactions and designing an advertising technology strategy to boost U.S. TV ad dollars. However, she found that a subsequent senior director role at Roku gave her the chance to shine by giving her the chance to take more ownership in her work.

“When you go from a big company like Comcast to a smaller company like Roku, you’re going to have more opportunities,” she says. 

Fortunately, Hovey happened to be at the right place at the right time when the company became wildly popular. “Sometimes, you get lucky, although by the time the opportunity came for me, I was ready for it.” 

Even though she’s back on the West Coast now, Hovey makes an effort to return to Hanover for each reunion. Looking back on her admissions essay, Hovey says that she wouldn’t say no if she were offered the opportunity to run a movie studio, although what’s more important to her is the ability to run with an idea from start to finish.

“I think the criteria that really matters to me is having agency. A job title does less for me than the actual ability to build something,” she says. “That’s one thing I’ve learned about myself—I want to build it.”

Q+A

BEST ADVICE I EVER GOT AT TUCK:
“Don’t be intimidated.”

FIRST JOB AFTER TUCK:
British Telecom in London

WHAT I’M READING:
Demon Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver

This story originally appeared in print in the Winter 2025 issue of Tuck Today magazine.