Tom Thomas and Terry Clifford, co-CEOs of the Station Resource Group, announced Monday that they will leave the organization when their contract expires at the end of the year.
“As much as we are excited, engaged, and inspired by the next arc of SRG’s work, we have decided that we are ready to move to what comes next for us,” they said in a joint statement.
Thomas and Clifford founded the membership-based public radio organization in 1984. The organization went on to provide support for stations through research, policy work and strategic planning.
Over the years, SRG helped design and launch PRX and Public Media Co. (founded as Public Radio Capital). They also led the Classical Music Rising initiative, which aimed to strengthen the format.
“There will be an implicit reset for SRG in this transition,” Clifford and Thomas said. “It is important to parse not only the ever-emergent critical topics and issues, but also how SRG does its work. We hope for continuity to SRG’s distinctive look-around-the-corner thinking, careful listening, planning, strategizing, consensus building, and focusing on the public as well as our own organizations.”
Prior to starting SRG, Thomas and Clifford were founding executives of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters in 1975.
SRG Board Chair Dave Kansas said that the board, along with Thomas and Clifford, has been working on a succession plan “for the past few years.” Thomas and Clifford will continue to lead the organization if the search continues into 2022, he said.
“We will be working on filling some big shoes,” Kansas said. “But with their support and with the strong help of the SRG board, I am confident we will find the right person to write the next chapter for SRG.”