*Paula Kerger
President & Chief Executive Officer
Paula A. Kerger is president and chief executive officer of PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, the nation’s largest non-commercial media organization with 356 member stations throughout the country.

Ms. Kerger joined PBS as its sixth president and chief executive in March 2006. Since her arrival, Ms. Kerger’s commitment to high-quality content, education, diversity, and the use of new technology to bring public service media into the lives of all Americans has resulted in a broad range of initiatives. Among her accomplishments are Ken Burns’ and Lynn Novick’s “The War,” which earned the highest rating of any PBS series in the last 10 years; the debut of such acclaimed children’s programs as “Curious George” (the number one show for children ages 2-5 since 2006), “Word World,” “Super Why!,” “Martha Speaks,” and “Sid the Science Kid”; new primetime science and arts series; and comprehensive online sites for parents and caregivers -- PBS Parents -- and for educators -- PBS Teachers. In the past year, PBS programs have been honored with 33 Emmys, including ten News and Documentary Emmys and nine Primetime Emmys; eight George Foster Peabody awards; and one Academy Award (for best animated short film). Innovative partnerships with such companies as iTunes, YouTube, Microsoft’s Xbox, Netflix, Amazon’s Video on Demand, Hulu, and Vuze ensure that PBS programming is accessible across more than one platform and, increasingly, to a global audience.

In addition to leading PBS, Ms. Kerger is president of the PBS Foundation, an independent organization that raises private sector funding for PBS, and a director of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. For the past three years, the Hollywood Reporter has included Ms. Kerger in the “Women in Entertainment Power 100,” an annual survey of the nation’s top women executives in media. In 2005, she was named to the Women’s Forum, an organization of 300 leading women in New York’s arts and business scenes. In 2008, Ms. Kerger received the Woman of Achievement Award from Women in Development, New York.

Prior to joining PBS, Ms. Kerger served for more than a decade at Educational Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), the parent company of Thirteen/WNET and WLIW New York, where her ultimate position was executive vice president and COO. Her tenure boasts many achievements, including WNET’s completion in 1997 of the largest successful endowment campaign ever undertaken by a public television station.

Ms. Kerger received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Baltimore, where she serves on the Merrick School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council. In addition, she is a member of the board of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. Ms. Kerger and her husband Joseph Kerger live in Washington, D.C.

*Michael Jones
Chief Operating Officer
Michael D. Jones joined PBS staff in January 2009 as Chief Operating Officer. Working closely with PBS President and CEO, Paula Kerger, Mr. Jones is charged with ensuring that all PBS services and activities are strategically aligned with the organization’s vision and mission and that resources are allocated effectively to meet financial objectives, system priorities and marketplace challenges and opportunities.

Prior to joining PBS, Mr. Jones was most recently senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer (CAO) of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA, formerly NASD - the National Association of Securities Dealers), the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. He was also a member of the organization’s management committee and served as president of the NASD Foundation.

Mr. Jones, an attorney and a former deputy public affairs counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission, was responsible for all NASD day-to-day internal operations and business affairs, reporting directly to the chairman and chief executive. In his role as CAO, Mr. Jones provided strategic and operational oversight of the NASD real estate, internal audit, purchasing, conferences, corporate travel, telecommunications, and affinity groups worldwide.

In addition, his management responsibilities included direct oversight of human resources, corporate communications, and government affairs, and he established the Office of Individual Investor Services, Strategic Planning and Economic Research. He was also a member of the NASD’s strategic team examining corporate governance issues.

During his tenure at the NASD, Mr. Jones’ responsibilities have spanned business operations, policy matters and support services. He assisted in the implementation of limit order rules, helped restore individual investor confidence in the NASD, and reorganized NASD departments while simultaneously creating and implementing cost-saving measures. He also had a leadership role in restructuring the internal operations of NASD subsidiaries, the Nasdaq Stock Market and the American Stock Exchange (Amex), following his involvement in complex aspects of the negotiations for the demutualization of Nasdaq and the acquisition of the Amex. He also led the NASD, Nasdaq, and American Stock Exchange negotiations with the City and State of New York.

Prior to joining NASD in 1996, Mr. Jones was deputy director/counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Public Affairs, Policy Evaluation and Research. In that position, he provided counsel on legislative and regulatory matters and served as a spokesperson for the SEC.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Jones served two U.S. Senators -- Senators Bill Bradley of New Jersey and Edward Brooke of Massachusetts -- and also served as the spokesperson and political advisor for Presidential candidate John Anderson, Congressman from Illinois.

For the Anderson presidential campaign, Mr. Jones developed a national field organization that increased candidate name recognition, built positive relationships with the traveling press corps, and achieved recognition as surrogate for the candidate, appearing on radio and television and at editorial boards. Representative Anderson’s campaign was recognized as one of the most successful ever mounted by a third-party candidate.

During his career, Mr. Jones also served as a public affairs counselor with one of the nation’s largest public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller, and as national director of public relations for the March of Dimes national headquarters. He was also previously a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Hayes & White, where he specialized in communications, corporate, and general litigation law.

Mr. Jones received his bachelor’s degree from Boston College where he was selected as a Scholar of the College. He then entered Boston College School of Law, where he earned his juris doctor. He is a member of the Bars of the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Active in community affairs, Mr. Jones has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Boston College and is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Boston College Law School. He was also a board member of JumpStart and President of the Alliance for Investor Education.

*Katherine Lauderdale
Senior Vice President, General Counsel; Corporate Secretary
Ms. Lauderdale is the chief legal officer of PBS and manages the Office of the General Counsel, which includes the Legal and Business Affairs departments, as well as the Corporate Secretary's Office and Legislative and Regulatory Affairs. The Legal Department is responsible for providing a wide range of services with respect to intellectual property, litigation, regulatory, labor, corporate and other legal matters. The Business Affairs Department, among other things, negotiates content agreements for PBS programming services. Prior to joining PBS in June of 2002, Ms. Lauderdale was Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and General Counsel at WTTW in Chicago, where she served in various legal, business and business affairs capacities for nearly 20 years. Ms. Lauderdale is a graduate of New York University Law School and began her legal career as an associate at the Chicago law firm of Schiff, Hardin & Waite.

*John McCoskey
Chief Technology Officer
As PBS’s Chief Technology Officer, John McCoskey is responsible for providing leadership, management and technical oversight for all technology strategy, development, operations and infrastructure for PBS, with a team of 120 technology, operations and IT employees.

Prior to PBS, Mr. McCoskey served as Vice President, Product Development for Comcast Media Center. Other professional experience includes serving as the Chief Technology Officer of Brief Original Broadcasts (BOB); Senior Vice President, Technology and CTO at Discovery Communications; as well as positions at GTE Spacenet and Communications Satellite Corporation. He currently serves on the boards of PBS Enterprises and National Datacast, Inc.

Mr. McCoskey holds two M.S. degrees from Johns Hopkins, one in Management and one in Computer Science. He also earned a Bachelor of Science from Bucknell University in Electrical Engineering. He is an inventor with multiple utility patents related to technology and media.

*Chris DeCesaris
Controller; Assistant Treasurer
As PBS Controller and Assistant Treasurer, Mr. DeCesaris is responsible for managing all banking and investment transactions, coordinating PBS's annual financial statement audit, managing the work flow of the accounting department, and directing the preparation of quarterly financial statements and analyses.

Mr. DeCesaris initially joined PBS in December 2003 as Director of Internal Audit. Prior to that, he served as an Assurance Manager at Grant Thornton, LLP. As a member of Grant Thornton's Not-for-Profit Solutions Group, Mr. DeCesaris managed nearly 30 not-for-profit audit engagements. He joined Grant Thornton in 1995.

Mr. DeCesaris holds a BS in Accounting from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Maryland and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

*Mary L. Plantamura
Associate General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary
Ms. Plantamura joined PBS in January 2005 as project manager for the Editorial Standards Review Committee, joined the Office of the General Counsel in December 2005, and was appointed Assistant Corporate Secretary in October 2006. Prior to joining PBS, she practiced broadcast law in the Washington, DC office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, representing radio and television clients before the FCC on regulatory compliance issues, policy matters, and station transactions. Ms. Plantamura has a B.A. in Classics from the College of the Holy Cross and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School.

Joyce Herring
Senior Vice President, Station Services
As Senior Vice President, Station Services, Ms. Herring’s principle responsibility is to represent the perspective of PBS member stations in the ongoing management and strategic direction of PBS. Her portfolio includes managing the Development, Station Services and Conference Services departments and acting as a liaison with the PBS Board’s Station Services Committee on the station policies and procedures that govern the relationship between PBS and its member stations. Ms. Herring is also a primary representative for PBS with other national public television organizations.

A public broadcasting veteran, Ms. Herring joined PBS in 2007 from KACV-TV/FM in Amarillo, Texas where she had served as General Manger for nearly 20 yeas. In that position, Ms. Herring oversaw the station’s legal proceeding with the Federal Communications Commission over their analog license and worked extensively to establish their financial campaign and operational design. She also developed and implemented strategies for their digital conversion and capital campaign. Among her other major accomplishments is the coordination of $20 million in-state funding for digital conversion activities of 14 stations in Texas

Ms. Herring holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a Master of Arts from University of Texas, Austin. Ms. Herring has done additional graduatework at Texas Tech University and West Texas State University.

Pat Hunter
Senior Vice President, Programming Services
Ms. Hunter is responsible for overseeing all of the operations of the Programming Services division, including oversight of over $180 million of programming and administrative funds. She is responsible for programming communications, including the production of live monthly teleconferences and the annual PBS Showcase conference. She acts as liaison to the Content Policy Committee of the PBS Board and, in that capacity, she is responsible for the annual evaluation of PBS Programming Services. Departments under her control include: Program Operations, charged with advising member stations about scheduling feeds, flags, captioning, etc.; Program Management, which works closely with producers to ensure programs meet PBS delivery guidelines; Project Management, which was created to maximize the value of high-priority programming projects by guiding them through the process — from commission through broadcast - so that each receives maximum exposure; and Program Underwriting Policy which establishes and enforces rules that govern underwriting spots on public television programs. Two additional departments - PBS Research and Program Data & Analysis - were recently placed under her supervision. Before coming to PBS, Ms. Hunter spent more than 17 years at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting where she held positions in finance, contract administration, and programming.

Robert M. Lippincott
Senior Vice President, Education
Mr. Lippincott is responsible for the development and implementation of effective public media educational services for PBS, local public television stations, students, teachers and parents. His tasks include strategic and operational planning, securing new financial resources and leveraging new technologies to expand PBS’ education services.

Before joining PBS, he served as senior vice president of product development for Discovery Education, the newest division of Discovery Communications, Inc., responsible for the digital video streaming, online and hard copy products developed for the home and school markets. Throughout his career, he has held a wide variety of leadership positions in schools and businesses building and applying media and communications technology to education. He has been a classroom teacher, a member of the faculty of Harvard University, Graduate School of Education and a pioneer in multimedia and internet design for K-12 audiences.

Mr. Lippincott holds a Bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College in Literature and a Master’s degree in Educational Technology from Harvard University.

Lesli Rotenberg
Senior Vice President, Children's Media and PBS Brand Management
Ms. Rotenberg leads PBS KIDS Next Generation Media, an initiative defining the role PBS will play in the changing digital children's media landscape. Most immediately prescribed by this initiative was the new hosted preschool multi-platform destination that launched in September 2006. Additionally, Ms. Rotenberg continues to oversee the strategic positioning of primetime and children's programming, online content and education services across a growing number of media platforms. She is responsible for building and extending the brand equity of PBS and PBS KIDS, the most trusted media brands in the U.S., and meeting the strategic communications needs of PBS and its 355 member stations. Her responsibilities include national oversight of PBS' creative services including on-air and print production, advertising strategy, media planning, and station professional development. Ms. Rotenberg was named one of the nation's top 15 "Women to Watch" by Advertising Age in 2001.

She was also named one of the top 30 Brand Builders by Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and Promax/BDA. In 2004, Television Week and Promax/BDA selected the PBS "Be More" campaign as one of the top 10 Campaigns of Distinction. Ms. Rotenberg has received numerous advertising and promotion honors including the 2003 Emmy for Best Commercial, the 2004 CINE Special Jury Award for Best On-Air Promo, 20 CINE Golden Eagle awards, 24 Promax/BDA Awards, four CTAM Awards, and three Telly Awards. Prior to joining PBS in November 2000, Ms. Rotenberg was Vice President, Marketing, at Animal Planet, and a marketing executive at Discovery for 10 years.

Andrew L. Russell
Senior Vice President, PBS Ventures
Andrew Russell joined PBS in February 2007 as SVP, PBS Ventures. Mr. Russell directs the revenue-generating activities for PBS’s content and distribution to support the mission of public broadcasting. He also oversees partnerships, program video sales, corporate underwriting and on-line sponsorship, Shop PBS, licensing and merchandising. Prior to joining PBS, Mr. Russell served at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) as Senior Vice President, Media, since 2000, where he led the CPB’s strategy, programming, services and new ventures efforts as related to public television and radio. He managed the implementation of major initiatives, planning and evaluation of content and services for broadcasting and other distribution technologies, with a special focus on digital and new media. Prior to joining the CPB, Mr. Russell spent four years at Accenture in Washington, D.C., as a Manager and then Senior Manager, advising senior management and boards of U.S. and international media, communications and high technology clients. Mr. Russell was at CPB from 1990-1996, ultimately as Director, System and Station Development and was previously at Price Waterhouse Coopers in Strategic Management Services. He earned an MBA at Stanford University, a Masters of Public Affairs at Princeton University and a BA in Economics at University of California, Davis.

Jason Seiken
Senior Vice President, Interactive
Mr. Seiken oversees PBS’ award-winning new media content and services, including pbs.org, pbskids.org, pbskidsgo.org, pbsparents.org, as well as emerging broadband and mobile delivery platforms. He is responsible for implementation of both short and long-range strategies for new and existing digital media platforms in collaboration with member stations and a wide range of outside producers and contributors. Prior to PBS, he was based in London, where he led content development for AOL’s businesses in the UK, France, and Germany as Vice President, Content and Programming for AOL Europe. In addition, Mr. Seiken was the founding Executive Editor of washingtonpost.com, responsible for leading the creation of one of the premier newspaper Web sites in the world.

John Wilson
Senior Vice President & Chief TV Programming Executive
Mr. Wilson oversees all PBS Programming services. In the division of responsibilities, he oversees children's and primetime programming, fundraising and syndicated programming, and scheduling. Mr. Wilson is based at PBS headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. He joined PBS in 1994 as director of program scheduling. In 2005, Mr. Wilson participated in the launch of an innovative partnership between PBS and the Comcast Corporation. PBS Kids Sprout, a 24-hour digital cable channel and video-on-demand service, brings together some of the best-known and well-respected shows in children's programming. His television career began at PBS member station KAET in Phoenix, where he held a variety of positions in production and programming, including program director.


January 2009