NPR hires Nadine Zylstra as CCO
NPR has hired Pinterest executive Nadine Zylstra as CCO, the network announced Monday.
Zylstra will join NPR July 6, according to an NPR spokesperson.
At Pinterest, Zylstra is global head of programming and original content. She was also global head of YouTube Originals and head of kids and learning originals at the streaming company.
Zylstra also has experience in public media. She is a PBS SoCal board member and worked for Sesame Workshop for more than 11 years, most recently as VP of production and programming and supervising producer.
“I feel like I have been in training for this role my whole career,” Zylstra said in an an NPR press release. “At Sesame Street, I learned how content can change the way people understand the world around them. At YouTube I learned to put the user at the center of the storytelling. Finally, at Pinterest I learned that there is a business to build around positivity. I am humbled by the work NPR journalists and storytellers do and eager to learn all the ways in which I can help move our mission forward.”
“Nadine brings an extraordinarily rare blend of creative foresight, business acumen, and deep personal commitment to mission-driven storytelling,” said NPR CEO Katherine Maher in the release. “She is the right leader at the right time to ensure NPR’s journalism and cultural programming find new ways of serving and enlivening American discourse.”
Zylstra’s hiring comes amid much change in NPR’s newsroom. The network reduced newsroom staff through buyouts and layoffs announced last month. Maher also announced a reorganization that integrated desks and beats and reintegrated the Culture Desk into the newsroom.
Zylstra will oversee leaders of the newsroom and NPR’s music and podcast departments but will “not be involved in news decisions,” media correspondent David Folkenflik reported.
NPR revived its CCO role under CEO John Lansing in 2022. Edith Chapin, who left NPR last year, most recently held the role on an interim basis. Prior to her appointment, NPR had not had a CCO since the departure of Kinsey Wilson in 2014.
