WASHINGTON - November 20, 2019 – America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) today announced the election of its new board leaders.
Bert Schmidt, President and Chief Executive Officer of WHRO in Norfolk, Virginia, has been elected Chairman of the APTS Board of Trustees.
Molly Phillips, Executive Director and General Manager of Iowa Public Television in Johnston, Iowa, has been elected Professional Vice Chair.
Carol Kellermann, Lay Trustee of Thirteen/WNET in New York, will continue to serve as Lay Vice Chair. These elections follow the retirement of Roy Clem, Executive Director of Alabama Public Television, as Chairman of APTS.
“We are extraordinarily appreciative to Roy Clem for his leadership both as Executive Director of Alabama Public Television and Chair of the APTS Board of Trustees,” said APTS President and CEO Patrick Butler. “Roy has been one of public media’s most effective and respected leaders for many years, and he never stopped leading. We will be forever grateful for Roy’s tremendous contributions to our organization and our system, which will continue for generations to come.
“We are delighted to welcome Bert Schmidt as Chair and Molly Phillips as Professional Vice Chair of the APTS Board of Trustees.
“Under their leadership, public media will continue to educate America’s children, protect lives and property, and enable a well-informed citizenry to guide the world’s most important democracy.
“We are grateful for their willingness to serve in these leadership roles and their dedication to the importance of local public service in the areas of education, public safety and civic leadership.”
The newly-elected officers will begin their terms today, November 20, 2019 and will serve until the next board elections are held on February 25, 2020.
Following is background on the board officers:
Bert Schmidt is President and Chief Executive Officer of WHRO in Norfolk, VA. Under Schmidt's leadership, WHRO has continued to be recognized as a leader in the field of educational telecommunications. The station has been the recipient of several national grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and is currently one of a handful of public media affiliates working under the American Graduate umbrella, an initiative focusing on the national dropout crisis. Schmidt is passionate about the dual roles public media plays in education and in broadcasting. Schmidt began his career in public media as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of WCNY in his hometown of Syracuse, New York. Schmidt served as President and General Manager of WVPT in Harrisonburg, Virginia for five years before being tapped to join WHRO as its President and Chief Executive Officer in May 2007. Schmidt has been instrumental in the development of education content, particularly in the online platform, as well as a vibrant digital distribution for educational content that is now available to every student in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Throughout his career, he's been a strong proponent of local programming that serves the community. Schmidt developed and served as executive producer of 11 local television productions during his tenure at WVPT, and three local television programs and one local radio program at WHRO. Schmidt was previously the Professional Vice Chair of the APTS Board of Trustees.
Molly Phillips is the Executive Director and General Manager for Iowa Public Television (IPTV), where she has been responsible for leading Iowa’s only statewide broadcasting network since 2013. Phillips has served IPTV since 1990, devoting her career to the advancement of public television and IPTV’s mission to educate, inform, enrich and inspire Iowans. She was previously the Director of Communications and Community Engagement, where for nearly 15 years she was responsible for the network’s state and federal public policy advocacy. Phillips serves on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) Board of Directors, is the past Chair of the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) Board of Directors and is an active member of the Organization of State Broadcasting Executives (OSBE). She also serves on the Affinity Group Coalition of public media organizations and is leading an initiative to create professional development training opportunities for public media employees. Phillips served on the Community Service Grant (CSG) Review Committee in 2019 and completed the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Executive Leadership program in 2015. Phillips has made presentations at numerous public television meetings about the work of Iowa Public Television, including at the APTS Public Media Summit in 2018 and 2019.
Carol Kellermann retired in December 2018 as President of the Citizens Budget Commission. She has over 25 years of experience in leadership positions in nonprofit, philanthropic and government settings. Kellermann has served as Interim Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers and PENCIL, Inc., and as a consultant to City University of New York (CUNY), where she initiated a pilot program to improve graduation rates and job outcomes at CUNY's six community colleges. As Executive Director and CEO of the September 11 Fund, Kellermann oversaw the $500+ million charitable fund, which provided grants and assistance for the short and long term needs of victims of the September 11th attacks. Prior to that, she was Executive Director of Learning Leaders, the oldest and largest volunteer program in the New York City public schools. Kellermann has been Chief of Staff to then-Congressman Charles E. Schumer and held various executive positions in New York City government, including Deputy Commissioner of the NYC Department of Finance. Kellermann holds degrees from Harvard Law School and Harvard College.
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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