NPR appointed two new board members.
Margaret Low, CEO for WBUR in Boston, was elected by the board at an April 12 meeting and will serve as a member director for a term expiring in November 2025. She was seated May 3, taking the seat previously held by Joe O’Connor, who stepped down as CEO of WFAE in Charlotte, N.C., earlier this year.
Low started at WBUR in 2020 after working as an SVP for The Atlantic and as president of the publication’s events branch, AtlanticLive. She also worked for NPR from 1989–2014 as a senior producer for All Things Considered, director of satellite radio, VP of programming and SVP for news.
“It’s a privilege to be on the NPR Board,” said Low in a news release. “I’ve devoted my entire professional life to journalism in the public interest. This work has never been for the faint of heart. Now it’s even harder. We must see around corners, find new ways to connect with audiences and make ends meet. I hope I can make a difference for NPR and Member Stations at this critical juncture — so that we can all thrive for decades to come.”
Milena Alberti-Perez was elected to the board as a public director.
Alberti-Perez was elected by unanimous written consent April 17 for a term expiring in November 2025. She was seated May 3rd. Carlos Alvarez, chair and CEO for the Gambrinus Co., a craft brewer, did not run for a second term.
Alberti-Perez most recently worked as CFO of Getty Images. She was also CFO for MediaMath and for Penguin Random House.
Denise R. Freeman was hired as SVP and chief human resources officer for WETA in Washington, D.C.
Freeman joins the station June 1. She succeeds Julie Brown, who left WETA in January after eight months on the job to become executive partner of business services at Gartner.
Freeman most recently held the Executive Director, Human Resource & Diversity position at JASA, an agency that serves older adults in New York. She also worked for Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, Outten & Golden LLC and Crowell & Moring LLP.
Ideastream Public Media in Cleveland announced three hires.
Marz Anderson joined the organization as a radio announcer/operator. Anderson most recently worked as a reporter and multimedia journalist for WETM, a commercial TV station in Elmira, N.Y. Nick Zopolis was also hired as an announcer/operator. Zopolis previously worked as a host for commercial stations in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio.
Steven Langel became a health reporter and producer. He most recently worked as bureau chief of the Columbus Jewish News. He has also been a staff writer for Roll Call and an associate editor for Inside Washington Publishers.
Arizona Public Media announced managerial changes.
Pat Callahan, membership director, left the Tucson station last month. Callahan joined the organization in 2008 during the brand transition from KUAT Communications Group to Arizona Public Media. Before AZPM, Callahan worked for KQED in San Francisco; KERA in Dallas; KVIE in Sacramento, Calif.; and WETA in Washington, D.C.
Succeeding Callahan is Marsha Reardon. Reardon joined AZPM last year as director of membership and audience services. Prior to AZPM, she worked in the donor and alumni giving departments at the University of Texas at Austin.
Ed Kesterson, radio PD, will leave the organization at the end of May. Kesterson joined AZPM in 1985 when it was the University of Arizona Bureau of TV, Radio, and Film. Nicole Cox, radio operations manager, will be interim radio PD until a permanent successor is named.
Administration
Maddie Walton joined Public Media Women in Leadership as an administrative assistant. Walton is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Diego State University and is projected to graduate in May 2024.
Governance
The Public Media Business Association elected three public media executives to its board of directors to serve three-year terms. The new board members are Arthur Boulet, director of finance and administration for WYSO in Yellow Springs, Ohio; Robert Muszynski, director of finance and administration for WMFE in Orlando, Fla.; and Tabitha Safdi, CCO for South Carolina ETV.
Fellowships
Araceli Gómez-Aldana, a reporter and weekend anchor for WBEZ in Chicago, was selected for a 2023 John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship. As part of the fellowship, which starts in September and runs to June 2024, she will be based at Stanford University “to explore and test practical solutions to urgent and systemic problems facing journalism,” according to a news release. JSK fellows receive a stipend of $95,000 and additional benefits. Ricardo Sandoval-Palos, the public editor for PBS, and Fresh Air co-host Tonya Mosley served on the committee that selected the fellows.
Two public media journalists are among the 24 global reporters chosen by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism for a year of study at Harvard University, where they will work on projects ranging from the climate crisis to artificial intelligence. The class of 2024 includes Cristela Guerra, senior arts and culture reporter for WBUR in Boston, who will pursue stories about immigration and her Panamanian heritage; and Ilya Marritz, a New York–based reporter who covers Donald Trump’s legal matters for NPR, who will study authoritarianism, disinformation and misinformation around the world.
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