New Members Will Be Seated at the October 30th Board Meeting in Boston, MA
ARLINGTON, VA, September 11, 2007 - Paula Kerger, PBS President and CEO, announced the names of the PBS Board members who were elected to three-year terms by PBS member stations in a nationwide vote that took place in August. Newly elected members include DeAnne Hamilton, General Manager, WKAR/East Lansing, MI; John King, President and CEO, Vermont Public Television; and Allen Weatherly, Executive Director, Arkansas Educational Television Network. Elected to a second three-year term are Peter Frid, CEO and General Manager, New Hampshire Public Television; Ted A. Garcia, General Manager and CEO, KNME/Albuquerque; and Jennifer Lawson, General Manager, Howard University Television, WHUT/Washington, DC. New members will be seated at the October 30th board meeting in Boston, MA.
"PBS is very fortunate to have so many excellent station leaders guiding and governing this public media enterprise," said Ms. Kerger. "As a membership organization, it is critically important that we have the ability to draw upon the counsel and wisdom of outstanding professionals across the country. I look forward to working closely with these directors as they bring their perspectives and strengths to our exceptional Board of Directors."
The PBS Board of Directors is responsible for governing and setting policy for PBS. The board comprises 27 members: 14 professional members who are member station leaders; 12 general directors who are representatives of the general public; and the PBS president. Board members serve without pay.
The membership of PBS elects the professional members. The general directors are elected by the board, which also appoints the president and chief executive officer.
New Directors
DeAnne Hamilton
General Manager of WKAR and Director of Michigan State University's (MSU's) Broadcasting Services. Ms. Hamilton manages all operations of WKAR Radio and Television, including WKAR digital, two non-commercial cable television channels, and Interactive Video Services (IVS), which supports university instructional and research programs by connecting faculty and learners through the use of advanced technologies and streaming services on wkar.org. "Broadcasting Services" offers lifelong learning to the community through Talking Book Readings and community outreach. Prior to joining MSU in January 2004, Ms. Hamilton was vice-president and station manager of KQED Public Television in San Francisco. She joined KQED in 1990 as a senior producer. Ms. Hamilton quickly moved into the position of associate director of news and current affairs and in 1991 became executive producer of production. She was named vice president and television station manager in 1999 and oversaw the daily operations of programming, national and local production, creative services, audience services and other related activities at KQED. She began her broadcast career at KATU-TV (ABC)-Portland, Oregon, and continued on to KPIX-TV (CBS)-San Francisco prior to joining KQED-TV. Ms. Hamilton currently serves as the chair of the University Licensee Association and secretary of the Michigan Association of Public Broadcasters. She serves on the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) Board of Trustees, the Affinity Group Coalition, the NETA Board of Directors and the Mid-Michigan Chapter of the American Red Cross. She previously served on the board of Pacific Islanders in Communications.
John King
President and CEO of Vermont Public Television, Vermont's Statewide Public Broadcasting Network and PBS member station, since 1998. He holds the same position for the Public Television Association of Quebec, the Canadian affiliate organization for Vermont Public Television, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Mr. King joined Vermont Public Television in 1987 as the chief financial officer and was promoted to vice president, finance and administration in 1990 and to senior vice president and chief operating officer in 1995. He serves on many public broadcasting boards and task forces and is the former chair of the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) and the past chair of the Public Broadcasting Management Association (PBMA). Mr. King is a member of The Organization of State Broadcasting Executives (OSBE), the Affinity Group Coalition and APTS. He currently serves on the PBS Task Force for Corporate Support and the CPB CSG Review Panel. He has previously worked on the CPB Future Fund Advisory Panel and the CPB Digital Innovation Panel. Mr. King is Chair of the Vermont Television Broadcasters Collocation Association, a member of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Assembly of Overseers, The United Way of Chittenden County Business Unit and The Vermont Business Roundtable. He holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Johnson State College; and an Associate's Degree in Business Administration from Champlain College.
Allen Weatherly
Executive Director of AETN, Arkansas Educational Telecommunications Network. Mr. Weatherly has been with AETN since 1993, seven years as Deputy Director, before taking his current position in January 2001. AETN serves Arkansas from studios in Conway, Arkansas, and six transmitters located throughout the state. During his tenure, AETN has expanded education services, including video streamed lessons and video free to every school in the state, a comprehensive professional development Web site and training program available free to Arkansas teachers and funded by the Arkansas Department of Education. AETN has also created an innovative Web-based World War II oral history archive for Arkansas, recently bringing 47 Arkansas World War II veterans to Washington for a tribute tour, and has accelerated Arkansas programming efforts, including a popular performance series and four full-time digital channels, one devoted exclusively to educational professional development. Mr. Weatherly is involved in leadership positions with OSBE, NETA and the AGC and is active with PBS, APTS and CPB. He is also the executive director and a board member of the AETN Foundation. Prior to AETN, Mr. Weatherly worked with Ozarks Public Television (Springfield, Missouri) from 1980 to 1993, progressing from development associate to senior vice president/director of broadcasting. In Arkansas, he serves on the Governor's Cabinet and is a board member of the Arkansas Leadership Academy. He serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Central Arkansas and teaches at least one broadcast management course each semester. A former newspaper columnist in Missouri and Arkansas, Mr. Weatherly is a graduate of Missouri State University (Springfield, Missouri), with a degree in history.
Elected to a Second Term
Peter Frid
Peter Frid is chief executive officer and general manager of New Hampshire Public Television serving New Hampshire, portions of Maine, northeastern Massachusetts and eastern Vermont. Prior to joining NHPTV, Mr. Frid was president and general manager of KEDT- FM & TV and KVRT-FM in Corpus Christi, Texas; president and general manager of KTOO-FM & TV in Juneau, Alaska; acting president and general manager/director of Broadcasting, WLIW-TV, Long Island, New York; and held a number of production positions and director of programming at WSBE-TV, Providence, Rhode Island. He currently serves as professional vice chair and is a member of the Station Services and Executive committees on the PBS Board. He also served as chair of the Education Committee and chair of the DFI Task Force. Mr. Frid currently serves as chair of the NETA Board and has served as co-chair of the Organization of State Broadcast Executives (OSBE) and has been a panelist on several CPB and other advisory committees to the industry. He is active in the New Hampshire community, serving as a member of the Business and Industry Association Board of Directors (New Hampshire's State Chamber of Commerce), member of the Board of the NH Association of Broadcasters, Trustee of Riverwoods CCRC, member of the DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center Assembly of Overseers, past president of Great Bay Rowing and former chair of the New Hampshire Travel Council Board.
Ted A. Garcia
General manager and ceo of KNME-TV, licensed to the University of New Mexico and Albuquerque Public Schools, serving northern and central New Mexico. His career spans more that 37 years in non-commercial and commercial broadcasting. Under Mr. Garcia's leadership, KNME became the first digital broadcast operation in New Mexico in 2001, as well as a digital duopoly when a second digital channel, KNMD, signed on in 2004. Prior to joining KNME in 2001, Mr. Garcia was the executive vp and coo of KETC in St. Louis, Missouri. He joined KETC in 1981 as director of operations, becoming vp of operations in 1983 and SVP in 1992. Prior to working within the public television arena, Mr. Garcia held numerous creative and management positions with the Television Stations Division of CBS. Mr. Garcia has served as a consultant for the Department of Defense for American Forces Radio & Television Services and for Ana G. Mendez University, Puerto Rico, assisting that institution in the implementation of digital broadcasting and distance learning. His community engagements include the Albuquerque Museum Foundation Board, the Heart Hospital of New Mexico Foundation Board, New Mexico Commission for Public Broadcasting, New Mexico Tourism Commission and numerous local, regional and national governance assignments with the American Red Cross. He has served as the chair of NETA and PMN, as a representative to the Affinity Group Coalition and is currently a member of the Board of National Datacast, Inc., where he serves on the Compensation Committee, Customer Relations & Business Committee and chairs the Nominating & Governance Committee. Mr. Garcia served on the PBS President/CEO Search Committee and currently serves on the Station Services Committee, the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee and is chair of the Interconnection Committee. He holds a BS degree from Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville).
Jennifer Lawson General manager of Howard University Television - WHUT, Washington, DC, since June 2004. Ms. Lawson has more than 20 years experience in public broadcasting. In 2007, she co-produced "Security Versus Liberty: The Other War" for AMERICA AT A CROSSROADS and in 2001, she co-produced AFRICA, an award-winning nine-hour television series in association with WNET and National Geographic Television. From 1996-2004, she was also an executive consultant with WETA, CPB, CBS, Maryland Public Television, PBS, the Minority Consortia and KERA Dallas/Ft. Worth. From 1989 to 1995, Ms. Lawson was executive vice president, programming and promotion services, PBS. She was public television's first chief programming executive and her staff was responsible for the scheduling and promotional strategies that resulted in two of PBS' most successful series: Ken Burns' THE CIVIL WAR and BASEBALL. She developed several highly regarded children's series, including BARNEY & FRIENDS and WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN SANDIEGO? Before joining PBS, she was director of the Television Program Fund at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Prior to CPB, she was ceo of The Film Fund, a New York foundation supporting independent filmmakers. The Hollywood Reporter named Ms. Lawson one of the "Power 50," or 50 most influential women in entertainment in 1994, and Entertainment Weekly recognized her in 1990 as one of "the 101 Most Influential People in Entertainment." Ms. Lawson holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in film from Columbia University, New York. She is chair of the board of American Public Television (APT), a member of the Senior Advisory Board, Washington Women in Film and Video and a charter member of the Community Advisory Board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
About PBS
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