A board of directors governs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, sets policy, and establishes programming priorities. The president of the United States appoints each member, who, after confirmation by the Senate, serves a six-year term. The board, in turn, elects its own officers each year.
The board officers and members listed below are those who were serving as of May 15, 2010, the date of this online Fiscal Year 2009 Annual Report. The main CPB web site maintains a list of the current board officers and members.
Ernest J. Wilson III, Chair, is dean and Walter Annenberg chair in communication at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, an adviser to communications firms and governments, and editor in chief of the journal Information Technologies and International Development. (Confirmed September 8, 2000; reappointed and confirmed November 21, 2004; term expired January 31, 2010, but as provided by statute he continues to serve until confirmation of a successor or the end of the calendar year.) Read the Chair‘s Remarks >>
Beth Courtney, Vice Chair, is president and CEO of Louisiana Public Broadcasting, which she has led since 1985, and serves on the boards of the Organization of State Broadcasting Executives and the National Educational Telecommunications Association. She is a past chair of the Association of Public Television Stations board and former vice chair of the board of PBS. (Confirmed December 9, 2003; term expired January 31, 2010, but as provided by statute she continues to serve until confirmation of a successor or the end of the calendar year.)
Chris Boskin is a highly respected veteran of magazine publishing, with a career that has included publishing and marketing positions with Worth Media, The New Yorker magazine, Hearst Corporation, East West Network, and Knapp Communications, and she is currently a consultant to several media companies. She is a member of the boards of directors of College Track, Educate Girls Globally Foundation, and Internews; and of the advisory boards of Newscertified.com, Care2.com, and Higher Ground, a disabled veterans program. She was formerly a member of the board of directors of Northern California Public Broadcasting (KQED in San Francisco). Boskin chaired the CPB board of directors from 2007 to 2009 and is currently chair of its Digital Media Committee. (Confirmed September 29, 2006; term expires January 31, 2012.)
Patricia Cahill is general manager of KCUR-FM, the public radio station at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, where she also serves as an assistant professor of Communication Studies. In public radio for 40 years, she worked earlier as a reporter, producer, program director, news director, and general manager of KMUW-FM at Wichita State University. She has served on the board of directors of National Public Radio and as chair of its Distribution/Interconnection, Membership, and Development committees. She was also president of Public Radio in Mid America. (Confirmed August 7, 2009; term expires January 31, 2014.)
Gay Hart Gaines is the vice regent representing Florida on the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association board. She was chairman of the National Review Institute from 1991 to 1993 and chairman of GOPAC from 1993 to 1997. (Recess appointed December 23, 2003; reappointed and confirmed November 21, 2004; term expired January 31, 2010, but as provided by statute she continues to serve until confirmation of a successor or the end of the calendar year.)
Lori Gilbert is the broadcast name of Loretta Sutliff, a veteran broadcaster, news director for Elko Broadcasting Company’s KELK-AM and KLKO-FM in Elko, Nevada, and host of Elko Live, a daily half-hour community news program with first-person news accounts of local, regional, and national issues. She is also news director and a reporter for KENV-TV (NBC) and hosts a weekly news program. (Confirmed October 2, 2008; term expires January 31, 2012.)
David H. Pryor, a former state legislator, congressman, governor, and U.S. senator from Arkansas, served as founding dean of the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock and as director of the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Institute of Politics at Harvard University. (Confirmed September 29, 2006; reappointed and confirmed, October 2, 2008; term expires January 31, 2014.)
Bruce M. Ramer is an attorney and partner at Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, a Los Angeles firm specializing in entertainment and media matters. He has long been active on the board of public television station KCET in Los Angeles, which he chaired from 2001 to 2003. Ramer is a member of the board of trustees of the University of Southern California and the board of councilors of the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism. He chairs the USC Institute on Entertainment Law and Business and was named one of the 100 most powerful lawyers in California by California Business Lawyer. (Confirmed October 2, 2008; term expires January 31, 2012.)
Elizabeth Sembler is a teacher and the director of Jewish Studies at the Pinellas County Jewish Day School in Clearwater, Florida. She has long served on the board of public television station WEDU-TV in Tampa; she chaired the board from 2001 to 2003. In 2006, she joined the board of the Association of Public Television Stations, a national advocacy group supporting public television services. Sembler is on the council of advisers of the Florida Orchestra. (Confirmed October 2, 2008; term expires January 31, 2014.)