NPR announced the result of recent elections for its board of directors.
The four member directors who will serve three-year terms are Debbie Hiott, GM of KUT Public Media in Austin, Texas; Maria O’Mara, executive director of PBS Utah; Tina Pamintuan, CEO of St. Louis Public Radio; and Shawn Turner, GM of WKAR Public Media in East Lansing, Mich.
The public directors who were elected to serve three-year terms are Joanna Lambert, COO of Olo, a software company that designs programs for restaurants; and Catherine Levene, former president of Meredith’s national media group. Lambert first joined the board in 2022 to complete a vacant unexpired term that expires in November. Levene first joined the board for a two-year term in 2022.
On a separate ballot, Public Radio Satellite System representatives ratified the board’s election of Patricia Cahill, a former station leader and CPB board member, to another term as a non-board distribution/interconnection committee member beginning in November 2024.
Lori Townsend was promoted from news director to chief editor and SVP of journalism for Alaska Public Media.
Townsend joined the station in 2003 as a reporter and host for Alaska News Nightly. She has also been host of the radio program Talk of Alaska and the TV show Alaska Insight.
Townsend will help lead the new Alaska Desk statewide reporting initiative backed by CPB. She will also continue to lead health news coverage funded by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant.
Tony Marcano was hired as managing editor of the California Newsroom, a collaboration among NPR and member stations.
Marcano succeeds Adriene Hill, who left public media in February to become EP of daily news for Crooked Media.
Marcano, who most recently worked as interim managing editor during the search, previously worked as managing editor for LAist. He has also held editorial positions with NPR, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Technology
Joan DiMicco announced on LinkedIn that she left her role as executive director of product and audience insights for WBUR in Boston to become an adjunct professor at Boston University. DiMicco joined the station in 2018 as executive director of its business innovation lab. “I have decided to step down from the organization to take a pause, try out university teaching, and plan out my next career chapter,” she wrote. “I come away from it all so grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the success of one of the most respected and beloved public media organizations in this country. … My parting message to WBUR colleagues included a reminder to never forget the role public radio plays in the lives of our listeners.”
Audience
Debbie Bartels is leaving her role as an audience engagement associate for WAMU in Washington, D.C., to join the undergraduate academic advising team at American University, the station’s licensee. Before working for WAMU, she was an educator with the Smithsonian, where she designed and taught learning programs.
Content
Lily Jamali announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she left her position as senior reporter with American Public Media’s Marketplace to join the BBC as North America technology correspondent. She joined APM in 2021 after working as a co-host and correspondent for The California Report, produced by KQED in San Francisco.
Owen Henderson joined Spokane Public Radio in Washington as a Morning Edition host. He succeeds Doug Nadvornick, who will now solely focus on his duties as news director and PD. Henderson most recently worked for Illinois Public Media, first as an intern in 2021 and later as host and producer of 217 Today and host of Weekend Edition.
Send news of “comings and goings” to [email protected]