Margaret Drain was named executive producer of American Experience in 1997. Under her leadership, the series won three Primetime Emmy Awards, one for Scottsboro: An American Tragedy (2000) and two for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series (1998 and 1999); four George Foster Peabody Awards (for The Presidents, Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern, America 1900, and Riding the Rails); and the Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in News & Information for two consecutive years.

Drain is currently Vice President of National Programming at WGBH Boston, with oversight of the many celebrated WGBH programs seen nationally on PBS, including Frontline, Nova, Antiques Roadshow, Mystery!, and ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre, as well as American Experience. She is also responsible for developing new programs and forging new co-production relationships.

Prior to joining American Experience, Drain worked at CBS Reports on the prime-time series, The Defense of the United States, which won the duPont-Columbia Award, then as producer for CBS News's "West 57th." Drain worked at Thirteen/WNET with Bill Moyers, and with Fred Friendly at The Ford Foundation's Department of Communication. She was executive producer for Driving Passion, a four-part documentary series on America's love affair with the automobile that aired on Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) in 1995 and was awarded a CINE Golden Eagle.

A native of Cincinnati, Drain is a graduate of Columbia University's School of Journalism.