ALEXANDRIA, Va. - April 6, 2001 ÷ Laura Nichols, a long-time communications director and spokesperson for House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, has been named senior vice president, corporate communications and public affairs, of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
In her new role, Ms. Nichols will oversee corporate media relations, publications, speechwriting, government relations, online and education public relations, viewer services and special events. She will begin work at PBS on May 8.
"I am delighted that Laura will bring her many talents to PBS," said PBS President and CEO Pat Mitchell. "She possesses the communications skills and Capitol Hill savvy we need to convey the value of our mission to key audiences and decision-makers."
For the past eight years, Ms. Nichols has been an advisor, strategist and spokesperson for Rep. Gephardt, first as press secretary to the Majority Leader and later as communications director to the Minority Leader. In those roles, she was responsible for developing and managing communications strategies on a wide variety of policy issues for the entire Democratic Caucus.
Previously, Ms. Nichols was press secretary to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and handled all media relations for the 1992 Democratic National Convention. She has also served as press secretary to former Representative Vic Fazio and as press secretary in several states in the 1988 Richard Gephardt for President campaign. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri.
PBS, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation's 347 public television stations. Serving nearly 100 million people each week, PBS enriches the lives of all Americans through quality programs and education services on noncommercial television, the Internet and other media. More information about PBS is available at PBS.org.
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PBS
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PBS
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