ALEXANDRIA, VA - February 1, 2001 - Longtime business development executive Judy Harris, currently senior vice president and general manager of consumer and educational products for Discovery Communications, has been named executive vice president of PBS Businesses at the Public Broadcasting Service, announced PBS president and CEO Pat Mitchell today. Ms. Harris, whose expertise ranges from marketing and e-commerce strategy to product and business development, will begin work on March 1, 2001.
"Growing new and traditional sources of revenue is as important as reinventing programming in today's dynamic marketplace," said Ms. Mitchell. "We are fortunate that such a superlative executive will lead our efforts on behalf of member stations to enhance public television's economic strength in this highly competitive environment."
In this newly created position, Ms. Harris will oversee all of PBS's content-related revenue-generating enterprises, including program business affairs, PBS VIDEO, licensing and merchandising, e-commerce, PBS Interactive business development and corporate sponsorship. She will report to Ms. Mitchell.
"As a longtime devotee of PBS programming, I am delighted to join Pat Mitchell's management team," said Ms. Harris, who served on the board of directors of PBS member station WLVT/Bethlehem, PA, in 1998-99. "I look forward to working with my new colleagues at PBS and its member stations to help secure the resources they need to serve the public in the digital age."
Ms. Harris, who joined Discovery Communications, Inc. in 1999, is responsible for spearheading Discovery's domestic and international efforts in the sales and marketing of home videos, books, merchandise licensing and educational products. In addition, she oversees Discovery's product development functions worldwide and manages the development of strategic alliances and new business initiatives as they relate to consumer products. Ms. Harris also works closely with various Discovery divisions - including its stable of networks, online, catalog groups and Discovery Channel Stores - in order to fully leverage the opportunities available for consumer and educational product growth across all distribution channels.
Prior to her tenure at Discovery, Ms. Harris spent 14 years at Binney & Smith (Crayola brand), a division of Hallmark, where she rose from product manager to vice president, corporate development, and became the first female corporate officer in the 1,100-employee company's history. At Binney & Smith, Ms. Harris successfully led a number of cross-divisional new business efforts while managing market research, strategic alliances, global product development, licensing and Internet/e-commerce initiatives for the firm.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Harris worked at Esselte Letraset (graphic arts materials division of Esselte Pendalflex) in a sales and marketing role, at Norcliff-Thayer (a division of Revlon) in sales management and at Strawbridge Clothier in a variety of retail management positions.
A native Pennsylvanian, Ms. Harris earned her bachelor's degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia. She lives in Maryland with her husband and son.