ARLINGTON, VA; September 30, 2020– PBS recently announced the election of Afsaneh Beschloss to serve as Chairman of the Board for the PBS Foundation, the national fundraising arm of PBS.
The PBS Foundation ensures the sustainability and viability of PBS at the national level by securing major gifts and grants to support its infrastructure and to help producers create timely and trustworthy content. Beschloss joined the PBS Foundation Board in 2016 and has served as a member of the PBS Board of Directors since 2012.
Throughout her service on the Foundation Board, Beschloss has provided strategic guidance that has led to new sources of funding. Her experience across several nonprofit boards will continue to guide the Foundation’s growth as it engages philanthropists in its mission to support PBS.
As founder and CEO of RockCreek, a global investment firm, she brings extensive knowledge of financial policy and leadership to the Board. Before founding RockCreek, Beschloss served as Managing Director and Partner at the Carlyle Group, as well as Treasurer and Chief Investment Officer of the World Bank after a career investing and driving policy with regard to clean energy. In various capacities during her career, she has provided financial policy to central banks, finance ministries, sovereign funds, public financial institutions and regulatory agencies.
Beschloss also offers her expertise to the boards of the American Red Cross, the National Geographic Society, Georgetown University, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the World Resources Institute. This year, she was named as a “Great Immigrant and Great American” honoree by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
“Afsaneh is an accomplished leader whose extensive experience and business savvy, combined with her unwavering commitment to the essential mission of public television, make her the perfect choice to chair the PBS Foundation Board of Directors,” said Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS.
Beschloss succeeds Mary G. F. Bitterman, who joined the PBS Foundation Board in 2005 and had served as Foundation Board Chair since 2009. Bitterman helped establish the PBS Endowment Fund and grown the Foundation into a robust operation that raised a record-setting $51 million last year. She will continue to serve as Chair Emerita. Bitterman is President of The Bernard Osher Foundation, a philanthropic organization that supports higher education and the arts.
Bitterman’s leadership and background in public media greatly served the PBS Foundation during its formative years, as she set standards and expectations that have led to its fundraising success. She was previously President of KQED, the primary PBS affiliate in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has served as Executive Director of the Hawaii Public Broadcasting Authority, Director of the Voice of America, and Director of the East-West Center’s Institute of Culture and Communication. She has produced several documentaries for public television and has written on telecommunications development and the role of media in developing societies.
About the PBS Foundation
As the national fundraising arm for PBS, the PBS Foundation offers a way for philanthropists to make impactful gifts to support public television at the national level. The PBS Foundation ensures the sustainability and viability of PBS at the national level by seeking and securing significant grants and gifts to help fund PBS’s key priorities, including helping children succeed by providing free quality educational resources and strengthening communities by delivering trusted and inspiring programming. The Foundation has partnered with member stations to identify, cultivate and solicit prospects, as well as steward donors, as a means of helping the entire system evolve and grow. In the last ten years, the PBS Foundation has raised close to $300 million for content, infrastructure, capacity-building, and educational initiatives. The PBS Foundation also continues to build the PBS Endowment Fund, which represents an important step toward securing the financial future of PBS and member stations.
– PBS –
CONTACT:
Eric Bartheld, PBS Foundation