WASHINGTON – February 1, 2023 – America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) today announced the election of its board leaders and board members.
- Franz Joachim, General Manager and CEO of New Mexico PBS in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been elected Chair.
- Dolores Fernandez Alonso, President and CEO of South Florida PBS in Miami, Florida, has been elected Professional Vice Chair.
- David Steward II, Immediate Past Board Chair of Nine PBS in St. Louis, Missouri, has been re-elected Lay Vice Chair.
The newly-elected trustee is:
- Anthony Padgett, President and CEO of South Carolina ETV (SCETV) Columbia, South Carolina
Re-elected to the APTS Board of Trustees are:
- Dolores Fernandez Alonso, President and CEO of South Florida PBS in Miami, Florida
- DeAnne Hamilton, Executive Director and General Manager of KBTC Public Television in Tacoma, Washington
- Dr. Laura Hunter, Station Manager and COO of Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN) and KUEN in Salt Lake City, Utah
- Dax Schieffer, Lay Trustee of MontanaPBS in Bozeman, Montana
The officers and trustees will begin their terms on Tuesday, February 28, 2023.
Following is background on the board officers:
Franz Joachim is General Manager and CEO of New Mexico PBS (NMPBS). He has been involved in television production since high school in Tucson, Arizona. Joachim graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Radio-Television and a minor in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics. While there, he worked for KUAT-TV (PBS), first on its student production crew and then as Studio Supervisor. He has worked in television production for 35 years as a photographer, editor, director and manager in a variety of production environments, including Industrial, News, Studio and Long Form Documentary production. Joachim is a certified diver, shooting for documentaries from the Sea of Cortez to the Turks and Caicos and Virgin Islands. In 1999, Joachim became Production & Operations Manager for KNME-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In this position, he supervised an extensive build out of automated on-air operations and developed the digital file based production workflow for KNME production. In 2010, Joachim was promoted to Director of Content for New Mexico PBS/KNME & KNMD overseeing the scheduling, production, promotion and distribution of content on-air and online. In 2013, Joachim was appointed General Manager & CEO of New Mexico PBS. During his tenure as General Manager, NMPBS has launched the first full service ATSC3.0 signal in public television, launched datacasting for public safety and public education, and led the system in adoption, integration and innovation with the sIX Interconnection.
Dolores Fernandez Alonso serves as the President and CEO of South Florida PBS, the merged organization that brings together WPBT and WXEL to collectively represent the 7th largest TV market in the United States. She is one of the first women in the public television system to have led a station merger. In addition, she launched the 24/7 Health Channel and quadrupled the size of the South Florida PBS endowment. Fernandez Alonso is a visionary and a leader in NEXTGEN TV and immersive media, preparing her stations to meet the demands of ATSC 3.0 and ensuring that South Florida PBS was a part of the Miami NEXTGEN TV launch that occurred in January 2023. Her leadership has resulted in the creation of Emmy award-winning 360-degree content and educational apps. Through her solid stewardship, she has secured the funding for the expansion of the SFPBS studios in Palm Beach County to include an Arts and Cultural center complete with an immersive igloo for experiential learning opportunities for the South Florida community. Fernandez Alonso began her television career in 1990 at the international newsgathering division of Disney/ABC News Inc. - Worldwide Television News in New York, NY. In 1998, she joined WPBT2 as Vice President for Facilities Services where she was responsible for the for-profit activities. She was promoted to Station Manager in 2002 and to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 2003. As a proud bilingual Hispanic, Fernandez Alonso earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Spanish Literature from Columbia University and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Miami.
David Steward, II is an Academy Award®-winning producer who owns and operates multiple companies with a mission of creating, discovering, and highlighting multicultural and diverse content in the entertainment industry. In 2018, Steward founded Polarity, a holding company to oversee the operations of a portfolio of companies. The companies offer an array of content offerings including graphic novels and comics, animated television, streaming and cinematic features, and gaming. Key portfolio companies include Oni Lion Forge Publishing Group, the European publishing house Magnetic Press, the original content developer Illustrated Syndicate, the animation studio Lion Forge Animation, and Lion Forge Labs. In 2019, Polarity launched the Lion Forge Animation Studio, credited for producing the Hair Love short film, distributed by Sony Pictures Animation, and winner for “Best Animated Short” in the 2020 Academy Awards®. Lion Forge Animation has gained recognition for highlighting animators of color and in 2021 was named one of Fast Company Magazine’s Most Innovative Companies in the World, placing #3 in the film and TV category. Steward graduated Magna Cum Laude from American University in 1998 with a B.S.B.A. in International Marketing. In addition, Steward served as an executive board member for the local chapter of the Habitat for Humanity. He is a current board member of Nine PBS, and the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum.
Following is background on the newly-elected board member:
Anthony Padgett joined South Carolina ETV (SCETV) in October of 2017. He previously served as chief operating officer for Georgia Public Broadcasting, where his responsibilities included technology services, content creation and distribution, digital and education innovations and business services.
Under his leadership at SCETV, the dual licensee, statewide public media network has expanded both its national reach and its statewide impact. Padgett has encouraged the use of SCETV’s robust broadcast infrastructure to address important issues, such as South Carolina’s existing digital divide. Through initiatives, like datacasting, at-home-learning and wireless hotspot and local broadband projects, the network has leveraged its unique assets to better serve the citizens of the state and strengthen local partnerships.
Padgett has also worked to move the needle on diversity, equity and inclusion in the public media system. In 2019, he participated in the prestigious Diversity Leaders’ Initiative at Furman University’s Riley Institute. Inspired by the experience, Padgett collaborated with the Riley Institute to establish a public media-focused version of the program. Launched in spring 2021, the Public Media Diversity Leaders’ Initiative incorporates collaborative exercises, scenario analyses and audio/visual tools to introduce strategic diversity, equity and inclusion frameworks to guide development of actionable plans for leaders in public media.
Padgett is an active member of the American Public Television Board of Trustees, National Educational Broadcasting Service Association Board, the Greater Public Board of Directors, the National Educational Telecommunications Association Board and its Finance committee, the Joint Licensee Group as its Vice Chair, the Public Media Business Association Board, the Public Media Venture Group, the Organization of State Broadcast Executives, the S.C. Broadcasters Association, the S.C. Arts Alliance, the South Carolina Philharmonic Advisory Council and the Columbia Rotary Club.
Married with four children, Padgett is active in the community.
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About APTS
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization ensuring a strong and financially sound public television system and helping member stations provide essential public services in education, public safety and civic leadership to the American people. For more information, visit www.apts.org.
Contact:
Stacey Karp
202-654-4222
skarp@apts.org