General Directors Selected and Professional Directors Seated at October MeetingDonald A. Baer, Tom Axtell and Molly Corbett Broad Elected Board Chair, Professional Vice-Chair and General Vice-Chair
ARLINGTON, VA, October 29, 2015 -Following the close of the first Board meeting of FY 2016, Paula Kerger, PBS President and Chief Executive Officer, announced the results of the recent PBS Board elections. Build-A-Bear Workshop Founder Maxine Clark and IW Group Founder, Chairman and Chief Connectivity Officer Bill Imada were elected as new General Directors. Rock Creek Group Founder & CEO Afsaneh Beschloss, Continental Consultant Group Principal Robert Sachs, and Texas Tribune Editor-in-Chief, CEO and co-founder Evan Smith were re-elected to serve second terms as General Directors. Board officers were also elected. Burson-Marsteller Worldwide Chair & CEO Donald A. Baer and American Council on Education President Molly Corbett Broad were re-elected as Board Chair and General Vice-Chair, respectively, and General Manager, Vegas PBS Tom Axtell was selected as the new Professional Vice Chair of the Board.
In addition, Mississippi Public Broadcasting Executive Director Ronnie Agnew, WUCF/Orlando General Manager Polly Anderson, KPBS/San Diego General Manager Tom Karlo, KCPT/Kansas City President & CEO Kliff Kuehl, South Carolina ETV President & CEO Linda O'Bryon, and WSKG/Binghamton General Manager Brian Sickora were seated at their first Board meeting since being elected as Professional Directors in August. Mr. Agnew, Ms. Anderson and Mr. Kuehl are first-time directors. Mr. Karlo, Ms. O'Bryon and Mr. Sickora are beginning their second terms.
PBS is tremendously fortunate to have such a dedicated and talented group of professionals to guide our enterprise, said Ms. Kerger. As the PBS system builds on the outstanding success we've achieved collectively by promoting innovation, expanding community impact and making content of consequence available to all Americans, the PBS Board and its officers play a vital role in setting our course and working at both the local and national level to move public media forward. I am so grateful to each member of the Board for their expertise, leadership and commitment to our mission.
The 27-person PBS Board includes both Professional Directors, who are station leaders, and General Directors, who serve as lay members of the Board, as well as the PBS President. The PBS Board of Directors is responsible for governing and setting policy for PBS. General and Professional Directors of the PBS Board are elected to three-year terms and serve without pay.
PBS member stations elect the Professional Directors. The General Directors are elected by the entire Board, as are the PBS President and the Board officers.
Biographical Information
Ronnie Agnew (Newly Elected Professional Director)
Ronnie Agnew joined Mississippi Public Broadcasting in August 2011 as the agency's executive director after a career in the newspaper industry spanning nearly three decades. At MPB, a state licensee, Mr. Agnew has oversight of radio and television programming and the agency's legislative, education and digital initiatives.
During his time at MPB, Mr. Agnew has successfully overseen the launch of new shows that further the agency's mission of delivering strong content across all platforms, focusing on issues affecting Mississippi, with an emphasis on early-childhood education, dropout prevent and healthcare. Before joining MPB, Mr. Agnew served as executive editor of The Clarion-Ledger, the state's largest newspaper. Under his leadership, The Clarion-Ledger won dozens of awards for investigative reporting and was among the Gannett Co. Inc.'s most decorated newspapers nationally for coverage of civil rights issues.
From his long stint in newspapers, Mr. Agnew has brought a sense of urgency to MPB that has led to strong legislative support and an aggressive schedule of new initiatives, including more than 20 hours of local radio programming each week, several new television productions, and an expanded news department. MPB's education department has broadened its reach as well, implementing Ready To Learn, American Graduate and Between the Lions curricula into school districts throughout Mississippi.
Mr. Agnew is also active in national journalism circles. He has judged the Pulitzer Prize four times, and is a former diversity chairman for the American Society of News Editors. Mr. Agnew also served six years on the board of directors of the Associated Press Media Editors. He is the recipient of four President's Rings, which recognized the best editors in the Gannett Co. Inc. He is the recipient of the Silver Em Award, one of the highest recognitions for journalism excellence awarded by the University of Mississippi. He is also in Ole Miss's Alumni Hall of Fame.
Mr. Agnew has been elected to leadership positions on several national public broadcasting boards. In addition to PBS, Mr. Agnew serves on the board of the Association of Public Television Stations and the executive committee of the National Educational Telecommunications Association, and is a member of the Organization of State Broadcasting Executives.
Mr. Agnew is passionate about helping student journalists and those interested in media careers. He served as an adjunct communications professor at Belhaven University in Jackson. He is advisory board chairman for the journalism program at Jackson State University. He is also on the journalism advisory boards for the University of Southern Mississippi and the Meek School of Journalism at Ole Miss. In addition to his commitment to journalism, Mr. Agnew serves on many community boards, including being the immediate past chairman of the Mississippi Council on Economic Education. He was named by blackmississippi.com as one of the most i
