Current Advisory Group

Pat Aufderheide is University Professor in the School of Communication at American University and the founder of the Center for Media & Social Impact (originally the Center for Social Media). She is the author of several books, including Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction, Communication Policy and the Public Interest and, with Peter Jaszi, Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright. She serves on the board of directors of the Independent Television Service.

Dr. William F. Baker directs the Bernard L. Schwartz Center for Media, Public Policy, & Education at Fordham University. He is President Emeritus of WNET, New York City’s PBS station, and before that was President of Westinghouse Television and Group W Communications, where he helped launch the Discovery Channel, the Disney Channel and numerous other cable channels. He is the author of three acclaimed books on management: The World’s Your Stage, Every Leader Is an Artist and Leading with Kindness.

Carlos Barrionuevo, Principal at Oveo Solutions LLC, provides public and private media companies with successful approaches to growing revenue and services. Previously, he was Senior Director of Business Development at NPR, focused on building partnerships and new businesses including NPR Music and National Public Media. Prior to NPR, Barrionuevo was at the Tribune Co. on the management team of Tribune Interactive and as c.o.o. of Blackvoices.com.

David Brugger has been active in public media since 1961 at stations in Pittsburgh, New York City, Iowa and Florida; as senior vice president at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; and as president and a board member for the Association of Public Television Stations. He has visited over 400 stations and has testified to legislators on the state and federal level. Brugger was recognized with CPB’s Ralph Lowell Award for outstanding contributions to public television in 2000.

Bill Buzenberg has been a journalist and newsroom leader for more than 40 years. Most recently, he was the executive director of the Washington, D.C.–based Center for Public Integrity, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism in 2014. He was head of NPR News for seven years and head of news for Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media for nine years. He now resides in Seattle, serves on a number of media boards, helps nonprofits attract support from foundations, and serves as a consultant and strategic advisor for Yes! Magazine.

June Fox. (Photo: Greater Public)

June Fox is the new General Manager of C89.5/KNHC Seattle, a professionally led, noncommercial electronic dance music station which also teaches students of Seattle Public Schools the craft of broadcasting. She served as Vice President of Station and Business Relations for Greater Public; Development Director for KGOU, Norman, Okla.; and General Manager and Program Director for WKHS, Worton, Md. She was also a Producer and Feature Writer for the Voice of America in Washington, D.C., and an on-air talent for several commercial stations in Maryland.

Jon Funabiki is Professor of Journalism and founding Executive Director of Renaissance Journalism at San Francisco State University. Previously, he was Deputy Director of the Ford Foundation’s Media, Arts & Culture Unit; founding Director of the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism; and a reporter and editor with The San Diego Union, specializing in U.S.–Asia political and economic affairs.

David Haas is vice chair of the Wyncote Foundation, founded in 2009, which funds in a variety of areas, including public media and journalism (and Current). Since 1982 he has served on the board of the William Penn Foundation, founded in 1945, which focuses its grantmaking in the Greater Philadelphia region and is currently among the 40 largest U.S. foundations. Haas has chaired the board of Media Impact Funders, a network of grantmakers working to expand the scope and effectiveness of media funding nationally, since 2002. Currently he serves on the board of Philadelphia Media Network, which owns the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com. From 1989–1997, he ran the Philadelphia Independent Film/Video Association.

Joy Thomas Moore is President of JWS Media Consulting, a company she founded in 2005 following 15 years at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. There she directed the Foundation’s presence in the public media space. In her own firm, she continues working with foundations and nonprofits in helping to deepen their impact in the communities they serve. She also co–executive producing a documentary and community engagement project that will air on POV in spring 2016.

Jeffrey Rutenbeck is Dean of the American University School of Communication, where Current is based. Since joining AU in June of 2012, Jeff has launched Game Lab, a hub for research and development of social impact games, and a new investigative journalism practicum. He was the founding dean of the Division of Communication and Creative Media at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., where he oversaw growing programs in game design, game art and animation, public relations, broadcast and streaming media, and emergent media (MFA).

Bill Siemering is president of Developing Radio Partners, which works with local radio stations in developing countries to enrich their programming on climate change. Siemering wrote the original mission statement for NPR and became the network’s first director of programming and, with the staff, developed All Things Considered. He was also a news executive and producer/reporter at Minnesota Public Radio, WHYY and WBFO.