NPR welcomes the election of several board members, including four Member Directors, two Public Directors and one Non-Board Distribution/Interconnection Committee member.
Debbie Hiott, KUT News, Austin, Texas; Maria O’Mara (incumbent), KUER, Salt Lake City, Utah; Tina Pamintuan (incumbent), St. Louis Public Radio; and Shawn Turner (incumbent), WKAR Public Media, East Lansing, Michigan, were elected as Member Directors of NPR, with three-year terms beginning in November.
Additionally, Joanna Lambert and Catherine Levene were each elected by the board and confirmed by the membership to another three-year term as a Public Director beginning in November. On a separate ballot, Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS) representatives ratified the board’s election of Patricia Cahill to another term as a Non-Board Distribution/Interconnection Committee member beginning in November.
NPR's 23-member board of directors is comprised of 12 Member Directors who are managers of NPR Member stations and are elected to the board by their fellow Member stations, nine Public Directors who are prominent members of the public selected by the board and confirmed by NPR Member stations, the NPR Foundation chair, and the NPR president and CEO.
Biographies:
Debbie Hiott
Debbie Hiott is general manager of KUT News, Austin’s NPR affiliate, and music station KUTX. She also serves as executive director of media operations for the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas. Before that, she spent 28 years at the Austin American-Statesman, where she started as an intern while at Southwest Texas State University and spent her last seven years as executive editor. Hiott served twice as a Pulitzer jury member, is currently on the board of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, the Station Resource Group and served for seven years on the board of the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors. She lives in Northwest Austin with her husband and two children.
Maria O'Mara
Maria O'Mara oversees KUER, Utah's statewide public radio station broadcasting from Salt Lake City, PBS Utah, also licensed by the University of Utah, as the stations' executive director, and 88.3 FM, recently acquired from KCPW’s owner, Wasatch Public Media.
Under O'Mara's leadership, KUER has experienced growth in listenership and fundraising, increased the size of its newsroom, opened two news bureaus in southern Utah and embarked on an ambitious expansion of its terrestrial and digital footprints.
O'Mara's return to KUER in 2017 followed two decades in reporting and news management roles at the Salt Lake Observer, Deseret News and NBC affiliate KSL-TV. The Utah native and U of U alum also worked in external communications positions with the University of Utah and Rocky Mountain Power.
Tina Lacdao Pamintuan
Tina Lacdao Pamintuan is the CEO of St. Louis Public Radio, leading the station's fundraising, operations, programming and editorial teams. This multifaceted role also includes being the liaison for the station's FCC license holder, the University of Missouri, and the station's advisory board, Friends of KWMU, Inc.
Pamintuan was previously the the general manager of KALW in San Francisco, where she founded the nonprofit KALW Public Media and negotiated a long-anticipated legal agreement with the station's license holder to operate the station independently from the city. In New York, she created and directed the audio journalism program at The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY where she taught radio writing and reporting, news magazine production, audio documentary and oral history. In 2011, Pamintuan traveled to the Philippines on an International Center for Journalists' fellowship to report on climate change and biofuel use in rural areas. In 2012, she produced an audio documentary on Occupy Wall Street hosted by Alex Chadwick. She's a former Nieman Visiting Fellow and Scholar-in-Residence at the Tow Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism. In 2015, she organized a seminar on Native American media and community radio for the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard.
She was honored to receive the Philippine American Press Club's 2019 Ocampo-Henry Memorial Award in Radio, but even more delighted when her mother, who always wanted to become a journalist, accepted the award on her behalf.
Pamintuan began her career at National Public Radio after graduating from Georgetown University where she studied philosophy and physics.
Shawn Turner
Shawn Turner is the general manager of WKAR Public Media, based in East Lansing, Michigan. He is also a professor of strategic communication at Michigan State University. Prior to his current position, Turner served in senior positions in government, nonprofit and academic organizations. His previous positions in government include deputy White House press decretary for national security, director of communication for national intelligence at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and deputy press secretary for foreign affairs for the National Security Council (NSC). Turner currently serves as a member of the board of trustees for the German Marshall Fund (GMF) and sits on the executive board of advisors for the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL) at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He previously served on the board of advisors for the National Security Agency (NSA).
Turner's non-governmental experience includes serving as an adjunct professor in the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and as the director of communication at the Center for a New American Security. He is also a former Distinguished Terker Fellow in George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs.
Turner has published numerous articles on national security and authored book chapters on risk communication for national defense, and information-processing and cognitive theories. In 2013, the National Journal named Turner one of Washington, D.C.'s top decision makers. In 2015, he was awarded the Intelligence Community Leadership Award, and in 2016, he was awarded the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award for outstanding career accomplishments and exemplary service to the nation.
Prior to his civilian career, Turner served 21 years in the Marine Corps. He received his B.A. degree in communication studies from Texas State University and an M.A. degree in communication from George Mason University.
Joanna Lambert
Joanna Lambert is the chief operating officer of Olo, Inc. She has over 25 years of executive leadership experience bringing consumer-centric, digital products to market at scale across the financial services and media landscape.
A transformational leader with a proven track record in growing new businesses, she has transformed and reengineered existing enterprises, managed large global teams and built partnerships in the banking, retail, telco, publishing, social media and technology industries. Her expertise spans strategy, product development, business development, marketing, communications and mergers and acquisition.
Prior to joining Olo, Lambert was president and general manager of Yahoo Consumer, where she oversaw the P&L for the consumer business, including Yahoo (Mail, Sports, Finance, News, Life, Entertainment), TechCrunch, Makers, RYOT and AOL. She led a global team serving Yahoo's 900 million monthly active users across content, product, subscriptions, commerce and customer service.
Previously, she was the vice president of consumer financial services at PayPal where she led efforts to democratize financial services and make the management and movement of money more effective and affordable for billions of financially underserved people around the world. Prior to PayPal, Lambert was the senior vice president of product development and operations at American Express, where she was charged with developing and managing product, user experience and operational excellence for a group focused on developing next-generation banking solutions.
Lambert holds a Bachelor of Business from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. She serves on the National Public Radio board of directors, and is the vice chair of the board of PENCIL, a NYC-based non-profit supporting public schools.
Catherine Levene
Catherine Levene is an experienced CEO/executive/entrepreneur/advisor/board member and executive with more than 25 years in the digital and traditional media and commerce sectors. She has a proven track record of operating success, recruiting and building world class teams at organizations of all sizes — from start-ups to growth companies — and driving digital transformation and sustained growth at larger corporate companies. Her expertise includes strategy, sales, marketing, business development, product development and finance. She has extensive experience working with boards and CEOs to establish strategy, recruit teams, implement business plans and direct M&A activities.
Most recently, Levene was president of the National Media Group at Meredith Corporation, where she oversaw the company's 40+ iconic brands including PEOPLE, Allrecipes, Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, TRAVEL&LEISURE, REAL SIMPLE and Magnolia Journal. She joined the company in 2019 as chief strategy officer. Later that year, she was named chief digital officer, responsible for the digital P&L of the company's iconic brands. In late 2020, she was named president of Meredith's National Media Group adding the print and licensing businesses to her management portfolio and making history as the company's first female corporate officer. As president, she led the National Media Group through a period of unprecedented digital expansion, revenue growth and diversification, and strategic application of first-party data and consumer insights. Prior to Meredith's sale to IAC's DotDash in December 2021, the National Media Group reached nearly 190 million unduplicated American consumers every month across digital, print, social platforms, video, audio and connected home assistants.
Prior to Meredith, Levene was the co-founder and CEO of Artspace Marketplace, an online marketplace for discovering, learning about and buying fine art from world-class artists. The company was sold to Phaidon, Inc, in 2014. Prior to this, Levene was the COO at DailyCandy, one of the first digital media companies focused on women (sold to Comcast) and before this, she held numerous executive positions at New York Times Digital from 1998-2005.
Levene holds an MBA from the Harvard University Business School and dual undergraduate degrees in history and business from the University of Pennsylvania and The Wharton School. She was formerly a board member of Rent the Runway (IPO), Purch (sold to Future) where she was on the audit committee, Business.com (sold to Centerfield Media) TheFind (sold to Facebook) and is an active advisory board member of theSkimm. During her time at Meredith, she sat on the executive committee of the board of Digital Content Next (DCN), the trade organization dedicated to serving the unique and diverse needs of high-quality digital content companies that manage trusted, direct relationships with consumers and marketers.
About NPR:
NPR's rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling connects with millions of Americans every day — on the air, online and in person. NPR strives to create a more informed public — one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures. With a nationwide network of award-winning journalists and 16 international bureaus, NPR and its Member organizations are never far from where a story is unfolding. Listeners can find NPR by tuning in to their local Member stations (npr.org/stations), downloading the NPR App or asking Alexa to "Play NPR." Additionally, listeners on Alexa will also be able to tune in to NPR's live coverage. Just tell Alexa to “ask NPR to play special coverage.” The NPR mobile app brings together the best of the NPR Network from around the world and right in your community — live radio, podcasts, the latest local and national news and more — available wherever you are and whenever you want. Get more information at npr.org/about and by following NPR Extra on Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram.
About the NPR board of directors:
The NPR board of directors is responsible for the governance of our 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. The board sets the policies and overall direction for NPR management, monitors the performance of NPR and provides financial oversight.
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