Paula Kerger
President & Chief Executive Officer
Paula A. Kerger is president and chief executive officer of PBS, the nation’s largest non-commercial media organization with more than 350 member stations throughout the country.
Ms. Kerger joined PBS as its sixth president and chief executive in March 2006. Since her arrival, Ms. Kerger has made particularly strong commitments to the arts, news and public affairs, high-quality content for education, diversity, and the use of new technology to bring public media into the lives of all Americans.
Among her accomplishments are Ken Burns’ and Dayton Duncan’s fall 2009 12-hour documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea; the debut of such acclaimed children’s programs as The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, Dinosaur Train, 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; the new PBS ARTS website; and comprehensive online sites for parents and caregivers -- PBS Parents -- and for educators -- PBS Teachers.
For the 2009-2010 season, PBS programs were honored with 31 Emmys -- 15 Daytime Emmys, seven Primetime Emmys, six News and Documentary Emmys, two Emmys for Business and Financial Reporting and a Technology & Engineering Emmy; six George Foster Peabody awards; three IDA Documentary awards; three Writers Guild of America awards; two Academy Award nominations (for documentary features); and 21 Parents’ Choice awards -- nine for television, six for websites, five for mobile apps and one for DVDs.
PBS’s critically praised online video portals for general audiences (PBS Video) and children (PBS Kids and PBS Kids Go!) as well as innovative digital partnerships with such companies as iTunes, YouTube, Microsoft’s Xbox, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Comcast’s On Demand service ensure that PBS programming is accessible across multiple platforms 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. For the past four 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 WLIW21 New York, where her ultimate position was executive vice president and chief operating officer. 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 director of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and 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.
John Wilson
Senior Vice President & Chief TV Programming Executive
John Wilson oversees all PBS TV Programming services. His responsibilities include the National Program Service, children's 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. 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. During that period, he produced programs that aired nationally on PBS as well as hundreds of hours of live, local programming.
Beth Hoppe
Vice President, Programming, General Audience
Beth Hoppe is thrilled to be back in public television as VP General Audience Programming at PBS. She comes to PBS from Discovery where she developed and produced science projects for Discovery Studios, including Human Nature with Dan Riskin and The Crossing, an animated series on the future. Prior to Discovery, Beth was President and CEO of Optomen Productions (USA), a Soho, New York-based television production company known for science, reality and factual programming. With Beth in the role of Executive Producer, Optomen produced numerous programs and series for Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, PBS, and the Food Network. Productions included Monsters Inside Me for Animal Planet, the Emmy-nominated Evolve for The History Channel, Mars: The Quest for Life and Are We Alone? for Discovery and Science Channel and Most Evil for Discovery and I.D.
Before joining Optomen, Beth spent many years in public television. She was Thirteen/WNET’s Executive Producer of PBS’s ground-breaking Frontier House and Colonial House, both of which were nominated for primetime Emmys, and while Director of Science Programs at Thirteen/WNET, two projects, DNA and The Secret Life of the Brain, won the Emmy award for Outstanding Science Program. Working with Channel 4 in the UK, she created the long running strand Secrets of the Dead, and oversaw numerous productions and co-productions including 1900 House, Savage Seas, Savage Earth, Savage Planet, and Innovation. At WGBH she was series producer of NOVA, and directed and produced several episodes of the series including Great Moments from NOVA with Bill Cosby, and Avalanche!. Beth got her start in production at New Hampshire Public Television where she directed and edited New Hampshire Journal, floor managed Granite State Challenge, and ran camera for many productions including UNH Wildccat Hockey.
Beth has served two terms on the Steering Committee of the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers, appeared on panels at RealScreen and the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, served as a jury member for the Japan Prize and has been a judge of the News and Documentary Emmy Awards. She also has served on National Science Foundation grant review panels and has privately reviewed grants for other organizations, including the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Donald H. Thoms
Vice President, Programming, General Audience
Donald Thoms, is the Vice President of Programing for the Public Television Service {PBS}.Donald is responsible for over seeing editorial development and production for programs in the Arts, Performance, Drama, Lifestyle and Cultural areas. Donald also works with Independent producers, and programs and projects surrounding diversity.
Prior to re-joining PBS, Thoms, who is a seasoned broadcaster and executive, was President of ThomsMediaGroup LLC, a multi media, multi-platform consulting organization. In this role, Thoms worked with clients, both commercial, cable and public television in the areas of television production, acquisition, program development, on line content, talent development, and casting.
Thoms is a multi-award winning producer, director, journalist, and executive producer. He has overseen the production of thousand of hours of television content and managed staffs and major budgets for Maryland Public Television, PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and Discovery Communications, where he helped launch Discovery Health Channel. Thoms has also worked in the areas of Diversity and Multi cultural affairs during his entire career. Donald can be seen throughout the year as an on-air talent for public television’s fundraising drives.
Thoms has served as Vice President of Talent Development and Diversity for Discovery Communications. In this role, Thoms managed the efforts to locate and cast on-screen talent for the networks of Discovery, including developing diverse talents for on air.
Donald joined Discovery in 1999 as Head of production for the newly launched Discovery Health Channel. He oversaw the day-to-day operations of the production team and was responsible for a wide array of original and co-productions. In addition, he steered the strategic planning, management, and execution of all content, as well as managed parallel production plans among television, online, new media, and other businesses.
During Thoms’ time with Discovery Health Channel, the network saw double-digit growth in ad sales revenue and ratings and many of the network’s most successful projects, both daytime and primetime, were grown under Thoms: National Body Challenge, Dr. G: Medical Examiner, You: The Owner's Manual, Mystery Diagnosis, Lifeline, Super Surgery, and Birthday Live!
Before joining Discovery, Thoms served as Vice President of Program Management at PBS where he was responsible for overseeing the packaging and delivery of PBS’s programming services. In addition, Thoms developed and evaluated programming projects, served as Special Projects executive, as well as helped to develop on-air promotional initiatives for key programs. While at PBS, Thoms was the face and contact for independent and minority producers coming to public television. He created PBS’s INDEPENDENT LENS, still in production, which features the works of independent filmmakers. While at PBS, Donald served as its EEO officer.
For many years Donald Thoms produced, directed and oversaw regional television production and Community Outreach at Maryland Public Television (MPT). Donald, named one of the 25 people who had the most impact on MPT’s history and success, created and had oversight of countless hours of programming-from the arts and outdoors programs to hard news and documentaries.
A native of Baltimore, Thoms serves as a Board of Trustee for CENTERSTAGE, the state theater of Maryland, and is the former President of CINE, the 53-year-old organization that recognizes excellence in film and video making.
Kathryn Lo
Director, Program Development, Independent Film & PBS Plus
Kathryn Lo is responsible for program evaluation, development and acquisitions. She curates Independent Lens, the weekly Emmy® Award-winning anthology showcase for independent film produced in collaboration with the Independent Television Service (ITVS). She also oversees PBS Plus, a syndicated programming service of specials and series in a variety of genres. Ms. Lo supports the film and documentary community and PBS member stations as they develop and submit programs for consideration. In addition, she works alongside the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and member station WGBH to identify and nurture new talent for public media during the annual CPB/PBS Producers Academy. Before coming to PBS, Ms. Lo worked as a journalist in print and radio, and served as program director for a public radio station in Los Angeles. Her previous work includes co-producing two seasons of a short documentary series which aired on PBS.
Linda Simensky
Vice President, Children’s Programming, PBS
As Vice President of Children's Programming for PBS, Linda Simensky collaborates with producers, co-production partners and distributors throughout development, production, post-production and broadcast for existing and new series including Curious George, Super Why!, Dinosaur Train, The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, Sid the Science Kid, Martha Speaks, WordGirl, The Electric Company, and Wild Kratts.
Prior to joining PBS, Simensky was Senior Vice President of Original Animation for Cartoon Network, where she oversaw the development and series production of The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Courage the Cowardly Dog and other major projects. Simensky began her career with a nine-year tenure at Nickelodeon, where she helped build the animation department and launch such popular series as Rugrats, Doug and The Ren & Stimpy Show.
Simensky is a past-president of ASIFA-East, and the founder of New York chapter of Women in Animation. She has lectured at numerous colleges and animation festivals, and has taught courses in animation at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She has written for numerous animation publications and has had several essays published in books including "Nickelodeon Nation" and "The Children's Television Community."
Simensky holds a BA in Communications & History from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA in Media Ecology from New York University.
