Cynthia King Vance

Cynthia King Vance is Interim CEO for New York Public Radio (NYPR) — the largest public radio organization in the country, a leading national podcast producer, and an essential source for trustworthy local news and classical music for New Yorkers. NYPR reaches millions of people every week — across WNYC, WQXR, WNYC Studios, Gothamist, The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, and New Jersey Public Radio.

Vance has a deep background and executive experience in both media and education. She has led projects to improve urban public education and student success for the New York City Department of Education, Hunter College and the City University of New York, and served as an interim leader for the Newark Public School System. She created and teaches the Entrepreneurship course at Hunter College.

Vance’s media experience includes serving as Chief Financial Officer and Business Development head of UK Gold Broadcasting, a joint venture with the BBC that launched and managed cable and satellite TV channels in the UK. She also served as a Non-Executive Director at the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust in London, and helped establish The Community Channel for UK voluntary organizations. Earlier in her career, Vance was a Management Consultant with McKinsey & Company in New York and an Investment Banking Analyst with Kidder, Peabody & Co. in New York and Los Angeles. She holds degrees from both Harvard Business School and Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.

Vance is a philanthropist who has served in leadership positions on a number of non-profit boards, focused in New York. As a longtime member of the NYPR Board of Trustees, Vance served a four-year term as Board Chair, and is Chair of the Development Committee and a member of the Executive, Compensation, Innovation and Emerging Opportunities, and Governance Committees, as well as chairing the Board DEI Working Group. During her tenure on the board, she has seen NYPR set the pace for audio innovation, and supported moves that have significantly changed the organization, including the commitment to creating content with launch of The Takeaway and WNYC’s early moves into podcasting. She was here when WNYC saved classical music radio in New York by acquiring WQXR and gave music its own home. She currently serves on the board of Read to Lead, and has been on the boards of the Montefiore Health system in the Bronx, and SCO, a large family-focused social service agency in Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island. Currently, Vance is an Entrepreneur In Residence at the Harvard Innovation Labs and mentors other early stage social impact ventures.