NPR Welcomes New Board Elections

NPR welcomes the election of new board members, including four Member Directors, four Public Directors and one Non-Board Distribution/Interconnection Committee member.

Scott Finn, Vermont Public, Stephen George, Louisville Public Media, Myrna Johnson, Iowa Public Radio (incumbent), and Erika Pulley-Hayes, WAMU, Washington, D.C. (incumbent) were elected as Member Directors of NPR, with three-year terms beginning in November 2023.

In addition to the Member Director election, the Membership confirmed the Board’s elections of Scott Donaton, media, marketing, and creative executive, to complete a vacant unexpired term that expires in November 2025, Matthew Barzun, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Sweden and Owner and Publisher of Louisville Magazine, and LeRoy Kim, Managing Director, Allen & Company, to their initial three-year terms as Public Directors, both beginning in November 2023, and Judith Segura, Lead Thermal Architect, Apple, Inc., to her second three-year term as a Public Director, beginning in November 2023.

On a separate ballot, Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS), representatives ratified the Board’s election of Mollie Kabler to a second three-year term as a Non-Board Distribution/Interconnection Committee member beginning in November 2023.

NPR’s 23-member Board of Directors is comprised of 12 Member Directors who are managers of NPR Member stations and are elected to the Board by their fellow Member stations, 9 Public Directors who are prominent members of the public selected by the Board and confirmed by NPR Member stations, the NPR Foundation Chair, and the NPR President & CEO.

Biographies

Matthew Barzun is a media entrepreneur, author, and former diplomat. He currently serves as chair and publisher of Tortoise Media, the London-based online news service he co-founded with the former Director of BBC News. He is also owner and publisher of Louisville Magazine. His book about organizations, The Power of Giving Away Power, was published by Penguin/Portfolio in 2021. Previously, Matthew served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom (2013 to 2017) and to Sweden (2009 to 2011). Earlier in his career, he was closely involved in the pioneer stage of the internet publishing business, serving in executive roles at CNET. Matthew serves on the board of the National Constitution Center and has served on the boards of corporations and many non-profit organizations focused on education, civics, and interfaith relations, including the local NPR affiliate, Louisville Public Media. Matthew grew up in Lincoln, Massachusetts and resides in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, Brooke, and, occasionally, their three college-aged children. He is a graduate of Harvard College.

Scott Donaton is an experienced brand and growth marketer, creative leader and content producer who has dedicated his career to tapping the power of storytelling to grow brands and transform businesses.

He most recently served as Hulu’s Head of Marketing, overseeing a team of 250 marketers responsible for marketing strategy, subscriber acquisition, engagement & retention, brand marketing, creative, social, paid media, partnerships and consumer insights & analytics. He joined Hulu in 2019 as VP-Head of Creative, where he launched and built Greenhouse, an award-winning in-house agency that produced campaigns for the Hulu brand and content. He also introduced the streaming industry’s first branded entertainment unit to drive incremental revenue and innovative advertising formats.

Prior to Hulu, Donaton served as the Global Chief Creative & Content Officer at Digitas and a member of its Executive Leadership Team, leading the agency’s worldwide creative practice including its campaign, branded content, experience design and production capabilities. Donaton also served as Head of Content for The Americas for Digitas parent Publicis Media.

Before joining Digitas, Donaton was Global Chief Content Officer at Interpublic Group’s UM and head of UM Studios, where he led a team of award-winning content strategists and producers who developed creative programs and innovative experiences for clients including Chrysler, Coca-Cola, J&J, BMW and Sony. Prior to UM, Donaton founded Ensemble, an Interpublic-funded content studio, where he served as CEO from 2009 till 2013.

As a media executive, Donaton served as publisher of Entertainment Weekly and before that publisher of Advertising Age. A longtime journalist, he also served as editor of Ad Age for more than a decade after rising through its editorial ranks as a reporter, bureau chief and executive editor.

Donaton coined the phrase "Madison & Vine" and is the author of an acclaimed book by the same name. The book helped launch the branded-content revolution by declaring the entertainment and advertising industries need to converge to survive.

Donaton has won numerous awards, including from the Producers Guild of America, Cannes Lions, Clios, D&AD and London International Advertising Awards. He was inducted into the AAF’s prestigious Advertising Hall of Achievement. Donaton served as president of the Entertainment jury at Cannes in 2013 and 2019. He is also known for his industry thought-leadership, which has been published in numerous media outlets including Fast Company, Adweek, Huffington Post, Business Insider, Ad Age and MediaPost.

Scott Finn is president and CEO of Vermont Public Radio.

He grew up in rural Iowa, where public TV and radio were a crucial window to the larger world. Finn and his four siblings became their family’s first generation to graduate from college, thanks to the three "publics" - public school, public library and public media.

Finn’s personal mission is to bring the power of public media to people of all backgrounds. He believes public media is for everyone, and this inclusiveness makes our service unique and invaluable.

After college, he worked as a sixth-grade teacher, a community organizer in a place called Big Ugly Creek, WV and director of a non-profit family literacy program, before he went to University of Missouri to learn how to become a journalist.

Finn spent a decade as a reporter, first at a family-owned newspaper, The Charleston Gazette and then at West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Public media has been his home ever since. Later, he worked as news director at WUSF in Tampa before returning to run WVPB.

Five years ago, he was fortunate enough to be hired to run an amazing public radio station in a beautiful state, Vermont Public Radio. Since then, the station merged with Vermont PBS to become Vermont Public, which is dedicated to reaching a broader and more diverse audience on all platforms.

In 2018, Finn became CEO of Vermont Public Radio, where he helped lead the successful effort to merge VPR and Vermont PBS into Vermont Public. The new organization is dedicated to reaching a broader and more diverse audience on all platforms through stories that bring people together.

LeRoy Kim is a Managing Director of Allen & Company LLC. He joined Allen & Company LLC in 1995 and prior to that, started his career at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Kim has served as a financial advisor to many well-known corporations in the fields of technology, media, sports, healthcare services and consumer products. Mr. Kim was formerly the President of the Board of The Door, which serves up to 11,000 youth annually across New York City and operates Broome Street Academy, a NYC charter high school, and was a founding Board member of Venture for America. He was a Board member of The Sleepy Hollow Country Club, and is currently on the Finance Committee of Board of The MidOcean Club.

LeRoy graduated from Princeton University in 1993 with an A.B. in Economics. He was a member of the Princeton University Swimming and Diving Team, where he earned NCAA Division I All-American honors and was named team MVP. He is a former national champion and American, U.S. Open and NCAA record holder.

Mollie Kabler has four decades of public media experience in Alaska. Since 2006, she has served as the executive director of CoastAlaska, Inc., a public media company consisting of a statewide service bureau that supports the work of all 27 public stations in Alaska, including state and federal funding advocacy. Ms. Kabler attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she majored in biology and received a Bachelor of Arts degree. She also holds a Master’s degree in public administration from the University of Alaska Southeast

About NPR
NPR’s rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling that connects with millions of Americans every day — on the air, online, and in-person. NPR strives to create a more informed public — one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas, and cultures. With a nationwide network of award-winning Draft: Not for Distribution journalists and 17 international bureaus, NPR and its Member Stations are never far from where a story is unfolding. Listeners can find NPR by tuning in to their local Member stations (npr.org/stations), and now it’s easy to listen to our stories on smart speaker devices. Ask your smart speaker to, "Play NPR" and you’ll be tuned into your local Member station’s live stream. Your speaker can also access NPR podcasts, NPR One, NPR News Now, and the Visual Newscast is available for screened speakers. Get more information at npr.org/about and by following NPR Extra on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About the NPR Board of Directors
The NPR Board of Directors is responsible for the governance of our 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. The Board sets the policies and overall direction for NPR management, monitors the performance of NPR, and provides financial oversight.