Patricia de Stacy Harrison

President and Chief Executive Officer

The Honorable Patricia (Pat) de Stacy Harrison was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on June 23, 2005. Before that, she had served as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs since October 2, 2001 and as Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

At the State Department, Ms. Harrison focused on reaching wider, more diverse publics, particularly young people, through international education and exchange programs. She created "Partnerships for Learning" (P4L), a global initiative providing young people with enhanced education and opportunity. Ms. Harrison also directed the historic resumption of the Fulbright Program in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ms. Harrison was awarded the Secretary's Distinguished Service Award by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for excellence in leadership in these positions.

As an entrepreneur and author, Ms. Harrison has provided more than 20 years of leadership in communication strategy, coalition, and constituency building. She is the author of A Seat At The Table: An Insider's Guide for America's New Women Leaders and the author of America's New Women Entrepreneurs. As founder and president of the National Women's Economic Alliance, she worked to identify women and minorities for leadership roles in business and politics. Through Decade for Democracy, a mentoring exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Administration, Ms. Harrison worked with women entrepreneurs in emerging democracies, to help them achieve within their new free enterprise systems.

A founding partner of E. Bruce Harrison Company, which was among the country's top 10 owner-managed public affairs firms prior to its sale in 1996, she created and directed programs in the public interest comprising diverse stakeholder groups, including the National Environmental Development Association, a partnership of labor, agriculture and industry working for a better environment.

Appointed by President Bush (1990) to the President's Export Council, U.S. Department of Commerce, Ms. Harrison served on the executive committee and worked to strengthen export promotion programs on behalf of U.S. business. She also chaired the International Committee, Small Business Advisory Council, Small Business Administration, and in 1992 was appointed to serve on the United States Trade Representative's Service Policy Advisory Council. In 1997, Ms. Harrison was elected co-chairman of the Republican National Committee and served until January 2001.

Ms. Harrison received an honorary doctorate from the American University of Rome in 2002. In 2000, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Public Service of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania. In 1992, she was a Visiting Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Ms. Harrison is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the 1999 Global Women's Leadership Award; 1999 New York Black Republican Council's Woman of the Year Award; 1998 Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award; 1988 Entrepreneur of the Year, Arthur Young Company and Venture magazine; 1989 Distinguished Woman Award, Northwood Institute; and 1997 Ladies Home Journal "50 Most Influential Women in Politics."

She is a former President of Capital Press Women, a former member of the executive committee, National Italian American Foundation; a former Thomas Colloquium on Free Enterprise guest lecturer at Youngstown State University in Ohio; and a former Chairman of the Board, Guest Services, Inc.

Ms. Harrison, a native of Brooklyn, New York, is a graduate of American University.

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