ALEXANDRIA, Va., October 31, 2001 - Rex D. Adams, professor of business administration and former dean at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and a longtime executive with Mobil Corporation, was elected chairman of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Board of Directors today at a meeting of the board in Alexandria, Virginia. Susan Howarth, president and chief executive officer of WCET/Cincinnati was elected professional vice chairman and Alberto Ibargüen, publisher of The Miami Herald, was elected lay vice chairman. In an August election, the PBS membership voted into office three lay directors and six professional directors, all of whom began their terms with today's meeting.
The PBS Board of Directors is responsible for governing and setting policy for the Public Broadcasting Service and is comprised of 35 members: 17 PBS station managers, 11 lay members, 6 general directors and the PBS president. Board members serve without pay.
Mr. Adams succeeds Colin G. Campbell, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, a position he assumed in July 2000, after serving as president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund for nearly 12 years. Mr. Campbell joined the board in 1994 as a general director, became its vice chair in 1996 and was elected chairman in 1997. He is the former chairman of the board's Executive and Finance committees and has served on the Compensation and Nominating Committees as well.
"Colin Campbell has been an invaluable counselor and friend," said Pat Mitchell, PBS president and chief executive officer. "PBS and member stations have benefited greatly from his committed and informed leadership over the past seven years, extending his term one year to assist in the transition of new leadership at PBS. I'd also like to welcome our incoming chairman, Rex Adams, whose contributions to public television over the years are immeasurable. With his singular dedication to our mission and wide-ranging expertise in business affairs, Rex is the perfect individual to lead the PBS board, and I look forward to building on our strong working relationship."
A professor of business administration at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, as well as its former dean, Mr. Adams enjoyed a long and distinguished career with Mobil Corporation. Joining the company in 1965, he rose quickly through the ranks, and was ultimately appointed executive vice president for administration, a position he held from 1988 until 1996.
Mr. Adams chairs the board for the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and serves as a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, the Vera Institute of Justice, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and as a director of the Allegheny Corporation and AMVESCAP PLC.~ He is a former trustee of Duke University and Virginia Union University, and a Fuqua board member.
Elected as a PBS general director in 1998, Mr. Adams has served as vice chairman of the board since 1999. He also leads the PBS Executive and Compensation Committees and the Program Pricing Formula Review Subcommittee, serves on the Finance and Nominating Committees and the Investment Subcommittee, and has worked with the New Technologies, Education and Business Committees.
Professional vice chair Susan Howarth is the president and chief executive officer of WCET/ Cincinnati. The executive director of the Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN) from 1989-2000, her career in public television began with a student internship at Connecticut Public Television in 1975. She went on to serve as program director for KOZK/Springfield from 1979-1981, director of programming for WUFT/Gainesville from 1981-1986, program manager for WNED-WNEQ/Buffalo from 1986-1988 and associate director for AETN from 1988-1989.
Ms. Howarth previously served on the PBS Board from 1993-1999 and currently leads the Membership Committee and serves on the Executive, Programming Policy and Compensation Committees. She has served on the Interconnection Committee and chaired the Program Access Task Force and was a member of the PBS CEO Search Committee in 1999-2000. Ms. Howarth has been a member of OSBE, the Organization of State Broadcasting Executives, serving as the organization's co-chair in 2000. She also served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) and is a member of the leadership team for Cincinnati CAN, the community task force set up to address the recent civil disturbances.
Before assuming the post of publisher of The Miami Herald, lay vice chairman Alberto Ibargüen was publisher of El Nuevo Herald and vice president/international operations of The Miami Herald.~ Mr. Ibargüen had previously served as executive vice president for operations at Newsday and New York Newsday, and as senior vice president for finance and administration at The Hartford Courant.~ Earlier, he practiced law in Hartford, Connecticut, where he was director of the Connecticut Elections Commission and deputy general counsel of Connecticut National Bank.~ He is former chairman of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, a director of the InterAmerican Press Association, The Committee to Protect Journalists and The Freedom Forum's Newseum and a trustee of the University of Miami.
Mr. Ibargüen was elected to the PBS Board in 1997 as a general director. He is the chair of the Finance Committee and serves on the Executive, Nominating and Compensation Committees.~ Mr. Ibargüen has also served on the Programming Policy, Business and New Technologies Committees.
Professional Directors elected to three-year terms:
- Tom Axtell, General manager, KLVX Communications Group, Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Jeff Clarke (incumbent), chief executive officer and general manager, KUHT/HoustonPBS, Houston, Texas.
- Susan Howarth, president and chief executive officer, WCET, Cincinnati, Ohio.
- Deborah Onslow, president and general manager, WMHT Educational Telecommunications, Albany/Schenectady, New York.
- Mel Rogers (incumbent), president and general manager, KOCE TV, Orange County, California.
- Lloyd Wright (incumbent), president and chief executive officer, WFYI TelePlex, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Lay Directors elected to four-year terms:
- George R. Ariyoshi (incumbent), of counsel, Watanabe, Ing & Kawashima; representing Hawaii Public Television Foundation, Honolulu, Hawaii.
- Charles Childers, former president, major accounts, Nortel Networks Corporation; representing KERA, Dallas, Texas.
- Richard W. Riley, former U.S. Secretary of Education; representing SCETV, Columbia, South Carolina.
General Directors elected to four-year terms:
- Rex D. Adams (incumbent), former dean of the Fuqua School of Business and currently professor of business administration at Duke University.
- Nancy Hicks Maynard (incumbent), president, Maynard Partners, New York, New York.
PBS, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation's 349 public television stations. Serving more than 90 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.
- PBS -
Jan McNamara
PBS
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