Laura Ross was elected board chair for CPB Thursday. She joined the board in 2018 and had served as vice chair since 2020.
A retired attorney, Ross’ experience includes “the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, MFY Legal Services, eight years as Chief of Staff to the Attorney General of the State of New York, and subsequently Legislative Counsel to a New York State Senator,” according to CPB. She has also been on the boards of the WNET Group and New York Public Radio.
Ruby Calvert, who joined CPB’s board in 2018, was elected vice chair. She previously worked as president of the Wyoming PBS Foundation and was also GM and director of programming for the state network.
Previous board chair Bruce Ramer received a Lifetime Achievement Award from CPB Wednesday for his contributions to public media. Ramer, a partner at Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown and Passman in Los Angeles, joined the board in 2008 and previously served as vice chair from 2016–18. He was elected chair in October 2018, a position he also held from 2010–12. His current term ends in 2024.
NPR named Wailin Wong, Darian Woods and Adrian Ma co-hosts for the podcast The Indicator from Planet Money.
Wong joined NPR as a fill-in host last year and later became a fill-in reporter. She previously worked as a producer and host for podcasts led by Basecamp, a software company.
Woods first joined NPR as an intern in 2015 and became a reporter and producer for The Indicator in 2018. He previously worked as a senior analyst for New Zealand’s treasury department.
Ma, who has freelanced for The Indicator since 2016, became a reporter for the program last year. He previously worked as a business reporter for WBUR in Boston and was also a business reporter for Ideastream in Cleveland.
“Wailin, Darian, and Adrian are a talented trio with unique work histories — from backgrounds in pure economics to business journalism and the legal industry to the intersection of technology and the economy,” said Kate Concannon, supervising senior editor of The Indicator, in a news release. “These diverse backgrounds complement each other and will contribute to our continued growth and service to our audience.”
NPR hired two international correspondents.
Aya Batrawy became a Middle East correspondent based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She previously worked for the Associated Press for 11 years, first as a Middle East editor and later as a correspondent. She has also been a correspondent for the German-based Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency and also freelanced for Voice of America, PRI’s The World and NPR’s Cairo Bureau.
Emmanuel Akinwotu will be a West Africa correspondent based in Lagos, Nigeria. He previously worked as a West Africa correspondent for The Guardian, where he covered the popularity of cryptocurrencies in Nigeria and the rise of drill rap in Ghana as well as political, economic and climate crises. Before The Guardian, he was a correspondent for Agence France-Presse and was a freelance reporter for The New York Times.
Both correspondents start their jobs next month. The hires were announced in a memo by Chief International Editor Didi Schanche.
Technology
Stu Rushfield became technical director for NPR’s All Things Considered. Rushfield, who first joined NPR in 1994, stepped back from his role as technical director for Weekend Edition last year.
Human Resources
Tomicka Delgado was hired as senior director of human resources for Nashville Public Television. Delgado previously worked as HR director for Automated Health Systems in Nashville and also worked in the HR department for DCI Donor Services.
Content
Jim Braude, host of the GBH public affairs program Greater Boston, will leave the show at the end of the year. Braude, who has hosted the program since 2015, will continue to co-host GBH’s Boston Public Radio with Margery Eagen. “This was his decision and we are thrilled to know he will continue to co-host Boston Public Radio with Margery going forward,” Pam Johnston, GM at GBH News, said in a statement. “As to what happens next with Greater Boston, we are looking at a variety of options right now and are committed to continuing to offer our audience the local news they depend on from GBH News. We look forward to sharing our plans later this year.”
Lesley James was hired as assistant PD for KXT, a Triple A music station in Dallas. James most recently worked as a Saturday anchor for The SoCal Sound in Los Angeles. She has also been a PD and music director for commercial station WWCD in Columbus, Ohio.
Krystnell Storr was hired as science and equity editor for the documentary series Nova, produced by GBH in Boston. In the newly created position, Storr will work with co-EPs Julia Cort and Chris Schmidt, helping to develop programs “with a particular focus on cultural and historical accuracy, the diversity of stories and scientists featured, and the inclusion of the perspectives of historically excluded groups most affected by the science NOVA covers,” according to a news release. Storr previously worked as an associate editor for Scholastic, where she managed a social-emotional learning and health-care magazine for high schoolers.
Amy Felegy was hired as an associate digital producer for MPR News at Minnesota Public Radio. “Fired up to join this brilliant team + head out to the Moorhead station. Onward!” she said on Twitter. Felegy previously worked as a reporter for the Chaska Herald.
Cathleen Cusachs was hired as social media manager of children’s media for GBH in Boston. “I come from a family of teachers, so children’s media is very close to my heart,” she said on Twitter. Cusachs previously worked on the social media teams for newspapers under the Hearst Connecticut Media Group and The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.
Anastasia Tsioulcas, a culture correspondent for NPR, became a contributing critic for the New York Times. “I’m so grateful to both orgs for making this unusual arrangement possible,” she said on Twitter. Tsioulcas joined NPR in 2011 as a reporter covering music.
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Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Laura Ross previously worked as corporation counsel for the city of New York’s Mobilization for Justice advocacy organization. According to CPB, her experience includes “the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, MFY Legal Services, eight years as Chief of Staff to the Attorney General of the State of New York, and subsequently Legislative Counsel to a New York State Senator.”