Christopher Turpin has moved into an interim role as chief of staff at NPR, a position created after the departure of President of Operations Loren Mayor in February. In the position, Turpin is overseeing NPR’s development division, liaising with the newsroom and programming, and helping CEO John Lansing manage the operations of the executive team and critical projects. He was previously serving as VP for editorial innovation and special projects.
Dan Ferguson was named SVP of marketing and communications for Public Media Group of Southern California last month. Ferguson previously served as assistant VP of acquisition marketing for AT&T, working on DirecTV Now and mobile entertainment. He was also senior director of marketing for DirecTV and director of affiliate sales and marketing for Starz.
Management
Eric Ferrero was appointed executive director of the Fund for Investigative Journalism. He has previously served in senior communications roles at the Innocence Project, the Open Society Foundations, Planned Parenthood, Amnesty International USA and the American Civil Liberties Union. Ferrero has also worked with investigative reporters at PBS’ Frontline, WBUR, the New Yorker, CBS’ 60 Minutes, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Texas Tribune and the Marshall Project. At FIJ, Ferrero succeeds Sandy Bergo, who retired at the end of 2019 after leading the organization for 10 years. Bergo has since joined the organization’s advisory board.
Development
Deb Dale was hired as chief development officer for Arizona Public Media this month. Dale most recently served as principal of Deb Dale & Associates, a Tuscon-based fundraising and nonprofit management consulting firm. She has also been chief development officer for the Primavera Foundation, corporate and major gifts officer for the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault and CEO of Arizona List, a statewide network supporting Democrats running for office. Dale also spent a decade as a partner in Smith & Dale LLC fundraising consulting and was a founding partner of Décor Solutions LLC, a special event company.
Content
Alyssa Jeong Perry was hired as a producer for NPR’s Code Switch. Perry will be based in Los Angeles. She most recently worked as a health-care reporter for KPCC in Pasadena, Calif. She has also been a reporter and producer for Reveal and KQED in San Francisco.
Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez was hired as a weekend online producer for KQED. He previously served as a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner and has also written for the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Nadege Green left her position as a WLRN reporter. She previously served as a staff writer for the Miami Herald.
Christian Skotte left his position in February as co-director and head of digital of Science Friday, distributed by WNYC. He has since become director of innovation and growth of Grist, a publication focused on the environment. Prior to Science Friday, Skotte was manager of marketing and communications for the Freelancers Union.
Katea Stitt was promoted to program director for WPFW, the Pacifica affiliate in Washington, D.C. She previously served as interim PD.
Sonya Green was named executive director for the International Media Project, which produces the radio program and podcast Making Contact. Green previously served as an engagement reporter and coordinator for the Center for Collaborative Journalism at Mercer University. She has also been a Knight-Wallace fellow at the University of Michigan and held several roles with stations including KOMO in Seattle, KMGH in Denver and KBCS in Bellevue, Wash.
Karel Vega was named radio news managing editor this month at WKAR Public Media in East Lansing, Mich. Vega, previously local All Things Considered host, joined the station in 2017 as a producer. Sophia Saliby will take over All Things Considered this month. She previously worked as a producer for Georgia Public Broadcasting’s All Things Considered. Saliby has also worked as a reporter for WFIU/WTIU in Bloomington, Ind.
Governance
David Blowers was named board chair of Chicago’s WTTW and WFMT for a two-year renewable term effective July 1. Blowers is currently a vice chair and has been on the board since 2002. He is an EVP and president of national services wealth management at Northern Trust, a company he joined in 1982. Blowers will succeed James Mabie, who has been board chair since 2014.
Correction: An earlier version of this column incorrectly said that KBCS is a commercial station. It is noncommercial.
Digital Editor Mike Janssen and Reporter Tyler Falk contributed reporting to this column.
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