Comings and goings: Former CPB exec launches consultancy, NPR reporters leave after workforce reduction …

Kathy Merritt, former EVP and COO for CPB, became principal of Merritt Strategies, a consultancy.

Merritt first joined CPB in 2005 and left in 2013 to become an executive at Public Radio International. She returned to CPB in 2017 and worked there until January while the corporation wound down its operations due to the rescission of federal funding for public media.

“I want to help public media stations not just survive this moment but thrive in the next era,” she said on LinkedIn. “I’m excited to work with colleagues across the system — on governance, leadership, collaboration, strategic project management, editorial integrity, and more. Public media is more vital today than ever, and this anniversary of the rescission is a reminder: our mission endures because communities believe in it. Let’s commit to building the next era of public service together.”

Two NPR journalists announced their departures from the organization.

Martin Kaste, a correspondent for the National Desk, said on LinkedIn that he accepted a buyout. 

Kaste was based in Seattle and covered law enforcement and privacy. He joined NPR in 2000 as a South America correspondent and started the National Desk role in 2005.

“NPR’s buyout offer gives me the chance to think about what I want to do next. I have a few ideas, but I also want to do a little exploring before committing to anything,” he said. “Thanks to all of you who’ve been colleagues, sources and friends over the years.”

Alana Wise, a National Desk reporter for the race and identity team, said her position was cut.

“Last week was bittersweet for me,” she said on Linkedin. “I was fortunate enough to celebrate a birthday, but the next day, I also had to come to terms with the fact that my time at NPR was officially done.”

Wise joined NPR in 2020 as a politics reporter and started the National Desk role in 2022.

Renee Shaw, director of public affairs and host for Kentucky Educational Television, will retire at the end of July.

Shaw joined the Lexington station in 1997 as a reporter and associate producer. She is currently host of Kentucky Tonight and Kentucky Edition and a moderator for KET Forums as well as election coverage.

“For nearly three decades, KET has been my professional home and offered me such rich opportunities. To sit across from governors, lawmakers, artists, educators and everyday Kentuckians has been a privilege,” Shaw said in a news release. “I have always believed that if the last thing I did becomes the last thing I did, it had better be the best thing I did. As I look back on this journey, my heart is full of gratitude for the viewers who trusted me, the colleagues who inspired me, and the Commonwealth that allowed me to tell its stories.”

Management

Hans Copeland was named president and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Student Media Corporation. The RMSMC, an independent nonprofit that partners with Colorado State University, manages several media outlets, including KCSU, a student-run radio station. Copeland most recently worked as a producer for National Public Media. He has also been an audio engineer for NPR and an intern and full-time reporter for KCUR in Kansas City, Mo. He was GM of KCSU from 2016–22.

Kyle Pace was promoted to director of product for Local Public, a subsidiary of Cascade PBS in Seattle. He joined the Seattle station in 2022 as a product manager. Local Public CEO Kevin Colligan said on LinkedIn that Pace is “brilliant, innovative and a tenacious problem-solver.”

Content

Jeffery Leon joined NPR as a senior editor of editorial review. Leon most recently worked as a web editor for WTOP in Washington, D.C. He has also been a legal reporter for Bloomberg and a content creator for DC Bar. “For years, it has been a goal of mine to work here (really, my first application to the company was fresh out of college over a decade ago — whew!),” he said on LinkedIn.

Alan Montecillo will leave his role in September as senior editor of The Bay, a podcast produced by KQED in San Francisco. Montecillo joined KQED in 2019 as an editor of The Bay and was promoted in 2022. “My partner, Tonya Peshel, is starting a Ph.D program in Astrophysics at Washington University in St. Louis, and I’m so proud and excited to move there with her,” he said on LinkedIn. “… I’ll be hitting the open job market for the first time in a decade. So … hello!”

Jenny Brundin, an education reporter, is retiring from Colorado Public Radio. “I am off to engage in madcap adventures around the world — not too old for a backpack!” she said on Instagram. Brundin joined Colorado Public Radio in 2011 and previously worked as a news director and reporter for KUER in Salt Lake City. In her Instagram post, she said she’ll get into “maybe a little miming, a little clowning, a lot of dancing in Denver. My heart will always be with education. I will continue to volunteer, especially in adult ESL and literacy.”

Rachel Iacovone left her position as Puerto Rican communities reporter for Connecticut Public. Iacovone joined the station last year and was recently hired as a host for City Cast in Nashville. “I’m returning to the only place in the continental U.S. that truly feels like home: Nashville, Tennessee. I’m joining another women-led journalism team and returning to hosting — this time for the podcast and newsletter that’s kept me in the loop (and ever entertained) in my year away,” she said on Linkedin.

Jala Everett, a former reporting fellow for the investigative series Frontline, produced by GBH in Boston, became an associate producer for the CBS News podcast 48 Hours: Case by Case. “I grew up watching 48 Hours, so joining this team is truly a dream come true,” she said on LinkedIn. “I couldn’t be more excited to work alongside such a talented team and help bring this show to life.”

Jeff Burke, a digital product manager for audio and video for GBH in Boston, announced on LinkedIn that his last day at the station will be Friday due to budget constraints. “This is almost exactly 9 years of working with the best colleagues you can imagine. It also, most likely, marks the end of my time in public media — the 5 years previous at NPR,” he wrote. “I’ve never worked with such [an] amazingly talented and wonderful group of people.” Burke joined GBH in 2017.

Jonathan Øverby is retiring as host and EP of the Wisconsin Public Radio music program The Road to Higher Ground. Øverby has hosted and produced the program since 1994 and guided it through several formats, including a talk show, a live music program, a variety show and, most recently, a weekly showcase of world music. Before joining WPR, Øverby produced and hosted a weekly gospel music program for WORT in Madison, Wis. Following his retirement, he will step up his work as an international lecturer, conductor, ethnomusicologist and cultural ambassador.

Fellowship

Glynn Washington, co-founder and host of Snap Judgement for KQED in San Francisco, was named to the inaugural class of the Aspen Institute’s Michael D. Eisner Arts and Culture Fellowship. Fellows will gather four times for weeklong seminars to engage in moderated conversations about how the participating arts and cultural leaders can help improve the world. Washington has led Snap Judgment Studios since 2010 and teaches media studies at San Quentin State Prison. “I’m honored to be part of this inaugural cohort,” Washington said in a KQED news release. “But more than that, I’m hungry for the exchange. Every artist I know is wrestling with the same question: what do we create in a time like this? What can our work challenge, reveal, heal, or make impossible to ignore?”

Frontline, the investigative series produced by GBH in Boston, named two university students as journalism fellows for its 2026–27 cycle.

• Aminah Jenkins, a recent graduate from the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri, will be a reporting fellow. Jenkins previously worked as a part-time multimedia editor for Vox Magazine in Missouri. She was also an anchor and reporter for KBIA in Columbia, Mo., and a Korva Coleman journalism intern for KMUW in Wichita, Kan.
• Alonso Vidal, a recent graduate of the Columbia Journalism School, will be a Tow Journalism Fellow. Vidal previously worked as a reporting fellow for the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and was also a civic reporting fellow at City Bureau. Last year, he was a community reporter at La Voz del Paseo Boricua, a bilingual hyperlocal news outlet, as part of the Medill Local News Accelerator.

Send news of “comings and goings” to people@current.org