National Public Radio is an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization based in Washington, DC. 

Broadcasting

Media & Entertainment

Eric Marrapodi

Kelly McBride is a writer, teacher and one of the country's leading voices on media ethics. Since 2002, she has been on the faculty of The [Poynter](/org/poynter) Institute, a global nonprofit dedicated to excellence in journalism, where she now serves as its senior vice president. She is also the chair of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at [Poynter](/org/poynter), which advances the quality of journalism and improves fact-based expression by training journalists and working with news organizations to hone and adopt meaningful and transparent ethics practices. Under McBride's leadership, the center serves as the journalism industry's ombudsman — a place where journalists, ethicists and citizens convene to elevate American discourse and battle disinformation and bias.

McBride was appointed as NPR's Public Editor in April 2020 as the result of a new partnership between NPR and [Poynter](/org/poynter). McBride's role as NPR's Public Editor is supported by researchers and editors from both organizations, significantly expanding the public editor's ability to respond to audience concerns and suggestions.

Kelly McBride

Sharahn Thomas-Fulton is Vice President, Content Operations at NPR. As part of the newsroom's senior leadership team, she manages and coordinates NPR's content production operations, which include technical and budgetary resources, systems, processes, tools and logistics.

Thomas-Fulton first came to NPR in 1999 as an assistant producer, and she has now been overseeing the newsroom's operations for over 15 years. Some of her most memorable work at NPR includes being part of the on-site crew at the U.S. Capitol for the Inauguration ceremony in 2009 and working through the days, weeks and months after the Sept. 11 attacks. The Operations Desk was recognized with a Peabody Award for its contributions to NPR's coverage of the attacks.

Prior to working at NPR, Thomas-Fulton was the Operations Manager for WNJT-FM with the New Jersey Network. During her time with NJN, she wore many hats: She was a weekend TV news presenter, she hosted a weekly radio program and she was frequently an on-air host for membership drives.

Thomas-Fulton proudly attended Hampton University, an HBCU, and received a B.A. in mass media arts.

Sharahn Thomas-Fulton

As interim Senior Vice President for News at NPR, Edith Chapin oversees NPR's journalism and journalists around the world and across platforms. She leads an award-winning team of journalists and newsroom executives who are committed to excellence, innovation and the highest quality reporting and storytelling.

Most recently she has been serving as Vice President & Executive Editor at Large, with a focus on working on fundraising initiatives related to our strategic priorities in news.

Chapin has a unique skill set as a top editorial leader with experience in philanthropy. She works with the Development team to help form fund-raising strategy around news, and overseeing special projects such as putting more focus and resources on the newsroom's strategic coverage priorities, which include disinformation and other threats to democracy, climate change, social justice, the current presidential administration, the upcoming election and the pandemic.

Previously, she was the Vice President and Executive Editor of NPR News. In that role she was responsible for the NPR newsroom, setting daily news priorities, and directing all of NPR's news-gathering teams. She worked across the newsroom to ensure that desks, shows and digital teams were rowing in the same direction on major stories and coverage, so that NPR could be consistent and collaborative in their approach to news on all platforms.

From 2017-2019 she led NPR's efforts to build a collaborative journalism network with NPR Member stations. When Chapin was named Executive Editor in 2015 she was charged with overseeing all desks and reporters, and helping to set the agenda for the entire News division.

Previously, Chapin was the senior supervising editor of NPR's International Desk. She managed a team of correspondents based outside the United States committed to bringing listeners dynamic stories of the world's people, politics, economy, and culture.

Prior to joining NPR in 2012, Chapin spent 25 years at CNN and worked her way up from intern, to bureau chief to vice president. Most recently, Chapin was the Vice President and Deputy Bureau Chief of CNN's Washington, D.C. bureau, where her strategic editorial and management responsibility included oversight of the 2009 presidential transition coverage and daily coverage of the White House and Capitol Hill.

For two years, beginning in August 2005, Chapin was CNN's New York Bureau chief and prior to that was CNN's Midwest Regional Bureau Chief based in Chicago for 18 months.

As CNN's deputy bureau chief and managing editor in New York from 1997-2004, Chapin directed the network's editorial coverage during a crucial time in the city's recent history, which included the 2003 blackout; the new millennium; and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Chapin was the first to alert the network that a plane had hit the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Chapin's journalism career took her to London in 1992 for five years as CNN's field producer and assignment manager where she produced news stories in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. She went to Baghdad one month before the first Gulf War and was in the first team of reporters allowed back into the country in the war's aftermath.

During her time overseas, Chapin worked in Syria; Jordan; South Africa, to cover Nelson Mandela's election; reported on the genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia; and the United States' invasion of Panama. Her first field assignment literally got her wet behind the ears: Hurricane Gilbert, a category five hurricane that hit Mexico.

Chapin's work has been recognized with the journalism industry's highest honors including a 2005 George Foster Peabody Award for coverage of Hurricane Katrina, a 2005 Alfred I. DuPont Columbia University Award for CNN's coverage of tsunami disaster in South Asia, and a 1997 Cable ACE award for extended breaking news coverage of Rwanda and Zaire.

Chapin contributed to Covering Catastrophe (Bonus Books, 2002), a book recounting the events of 9/11 in an oral history format. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations sits on the board of The Masters School.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

Edith Chapin

Lori Kaplan

Selyn Hong is NPR's Chief People Officer. Hong focuses on setting and implementing HR strategy. She is committed to ensuring fairness and transparency in HR process, and to bringing strong, trusting relationships to the work. She is also passionate about and dedicated to championing a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at NPR.

Previously, Hong was Vice President of Human relations, and before that, Senior Director of Employee & Labor Relations and Investigations. In that role, she provided leadership in labor relations and on NPR's Crisis Management Team during the pandemic. She has been a key player in many deliberations and decisions involving how NPR supports employees and operations during a global crisis.

During her time at NPR, Hong has proposed and implemented a number of HR policy updates to align with NPR's strategic people priorities. She looks beyond what is legally compliant and advocates for policies that promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at NPR and prioritize employee safety and well-being. In her employee relations and investigations work, Hong is committed to fairness and objectivity, and to ensuring that everyone at NPR feels seen, heard and valued. Her leadership of employee relations at NPR has brought her inside every division at NPR.

Hong has over a decade of experience supporting clients from various industries on labor and employment matters. Prior to coming to NPR, she served as a labor and employment attorney at Seyfarth Shaw LLP's San Francisco and then DC offices. At Seyfarth, she worked with clients, including NPR, on a wide array of labor and employment issues including HR compliance, recruiting, hiring, compensation and benefits, wages and hours, worker classification, restructuring, performance management, workplace investigations, leaves of absence, collective bargaining and more. Hong has prior in-house experience as well, having served as employment counsel at a high growth global technology company and, before that, as in-house counsel at a rapidly growing e-commerce startup. Before that, she practiced law in NYC for over seven years.

Hong earned her BA in Political Science from Yale University. She later earned her JD from Columbia University School of Law, where she served as Co-Chair of Columbia Law School's Domestic Violence Project and Business Editor of the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law. She was also active in Columbia's Courtroom Advocacy Project where she provided assistance to domestic violence survivors in court.



Selyn Hong

Will Lee is the current COO at NPR. Will has also previously worked as the SVP/Head of Digital, Entertainment Group at Meredith Corporation from April 2018 to March 2022. At Meredith, Will lead and directed the teams that drove the digital, platform, and video businesses of People, [Entertainment Weekly](/org/entertainment-weekly), People en Espanol, and PeopleTV. Will has also worked as the Digital Editorial Director for PEOPLE Magazine and PEOPLE.com from October 2014 to March 2022. In this role, Will oversaw media, programming, and content strategy for RealSelf, the world's largest destination for all aesthetic self-improvement. Prior to RealSelf, Will was the New York Bureau Chief/Producer at Telepictures from May 2006 to April 2009.

Will Lee graduated from [Brown University](/org/brown-university) with an A.B. in Classics. Will then attended [Phillips Exeter Academy](/org/phillips-exeter-academy).

Will Lee reports to John Lansing, President & CEO. Nancy Barnes - SVP, News & Editorial Director, Nik Khilnani - VP, Engineering, and Nikki Jones - VP, Change Management & Transformation report to Will Lee. They are on a team with Deborah A. Cowan - CFO & Treasurer, Elizabeth A. Allen - Chief Legal Officer, and Michael F. Beach - VP, Distribution.

Will Lee

Yolanda Sangweni is NPR's Vice President of Programming and New Content Development. In this position, she is a key member of the programming leadership team, helping drive NPR's strategy to reach new audiences, including developing new programs and initiatives. She also serves as the executive sponsor for several podcasts, including Throughline and Code Switch, and acts as programming's senior liaison with the Marketing division.

Sangweni came to NPR in 2020 from [Luminary](/org/luminary), where she was responsible for enhancing podcast discovery to users through a variety of methods as the Director of Programming and Editorial. She was also the programming lead for "Hear to Slay" with Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom and of a limited series with "Guys We F****d" co-hosts Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson.

Sangweni also spent nine years working for Essence, where she began as an entertainment editor and eventually became Digital Content Director leading the company's multi-platform digital content strategy. She prides herself on being part of the core team that brought live events like the Essence Festival and Black Women in Hollywood to life. Sangweni co-created and co-hosted "Yes, Girl," Essence's 2x Webby-nominated podcast. She is also the founder of African Women Create, a collective and forthcoming newsletter highlighting African women in the creative arts.

Sangweni was born in South Africa and has a degree in English.

Yolanda Sangweni

Marta McLellan Ross is NPR's Vice President of Government & External Affairs. In this role, she leads the Policy and Representation team, which promotes robust public funding to strengthen and support the public radio network and advocates for legislation that safeguards public radio journalists and freedom of the press. She leverages her public service expertise to explain the impact of our work to Members of Congress, particularly the vital work of public radio stations across the country in service to local communities.

McLellan Ross brings a distinguished history of work in public service and more than a decade of legislative experience to the role. In her most recent role as Director of Legislative Affairs at the [Defense Logistics Agency](/org/defense-logistics-agency) (DLA), McLellan Ross represented complex logistics and acquisition policy matters to Members of Congress and their staff during a period in which DLA was executing essential procurements for the nation's response to COVID-19. Prior to joining DLA, she was the Acting Director of Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). She served at USAGM for three years, developing bipartisan Congressional support for U.S. international media, advising on legislative strategy, and directing responses to Congressional oversight. She served as a senior policy advisor to two U.S. Senators. In addition to her legislative experience, McLellan Ross has an extensive background in East Asian security policy, and spent many years working as an analyst and policy advisor in that field including as a [Council on Foreign Relations](/org/council-on-foreign-relations) Hitachi Fellow. She is a 2001 Harry S. Truman Scholar, awarded for her commitment to a career in public service.

McLellan Ross is proud to contribute to NPR's public media mission. Growing up in a military family, studying in Alabama and Massachusetts, and now working in our nation's Capital, she has always been drawn to NPR's coverage of the nuances of the American story, and believes that NPR's role is even more important now in fostering national dialogue and bipartisan support for the public radio system.

Marta McLellan Ross

Nik Khilnani is currently the VP of engineering at NPR. Nik has over 20 years of experience in the field of engineering, and has worked with some of the world's largest companies. Nik has a passion for helping others grow and succeed in their businesses, and they use their vast knowledge and experience to empower entrepreneurs to create and grow their own businesses.

Nik Khilnani has a MBA in Marketing and Product Development from the University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business and a B.S. in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Nik Khilnani reports to Will Lee, COO. They are on a team with Anya Grundmann - SVP, Programming & Audience Development, Chris Nelson - SVP, Technology Operations, and Gemma Hooley - SVP, Member Partnership.

Nik Khilnani

Elizabeth A. Allen is the current Chief Legal Officer at NPR. Elizabeth has held this position since April 2020. Prior to their current role, Elizabeth served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at [Gannett](/org/gannett) Co., Inc. from May 2004 to April 2020. In this role, they were responsible for the operations of the company's Law Department and for supporting the board of directors, including advising on matters of corporate governance, M&A, commercial contracts, antitrust regulation, executive compensation and securities compliance. Elizabeth also led the transition and integration of legacy [Gannett](/org/gannett) corporate governance and executive compensation matters post-sale to New Media.

Before joining [Gannett](/org/gannett), Elizabeth was an Associate at [Nixon Peabody LLP](/org/nixon-peabody-llp) from September 1996 to May 2004.

Elizabeth received their J.D. from Boston College Law School and their B.A. from [Hamilton College](/org/hamilton-college).

Elizabeth A. Allen has a JD from Georgetown University Law Center, a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from [Harvard University](/org/harvard), and a Bachelor's in Economics from [Harvard University](/org/harvard).

Elizabeth A. Allen works with Will Lee - COO, Isabel Lara - Chief Communications Officer, and Keith Woods - Chief Diversity Officer. Their manager is John Lansing, President & CEO.

Elizabeth A. Allen

Michael Smith is Chief Marketing Officer at NPR. He has more than 30 years of experience in entertainment brand marketing, content, digital and revenue generating brand extensions.

Prior to joining NPR, Smith served as SVP, GM Digital Channels for Scripps Networks, where he developed strategies to reach younger and more diverse audiences on new digital streaming platforms. Before that, Smith was SVP, GM Cooking Channel and Food Category Brand Extensions. In that role, he oversaw marketing, brand strategy and programming for the Cooking Channel, a network he helped create and launch. Before Cooking Channel, Smith was SVP Marketing, Creative and Brand Strategy for Food Network. He also worked in various marketing roles with Disney Channel both domestically and in Asia.

Smith's media career began in Affiliate Relations with CBS, working to strengthen relationships between local stations and the national network. He served on the boards of Food Bank for New York and the International Radio and Television Society.

Smith earned his MBA in Marketing and Finance from the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business, and received his bachelor's degree in Science, Technology and Society from [Stanford University](/org/stanford).

Michael Smith

Joseph Price

Deborah A. Cowan is Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at NPR. 
She is responsible for overseeing the organization's financial operations, including ensuring the integrity of accounting processes, internal controls, financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, planning and analysis. In addition to providing effective leadership of the finance and accounting staff, she is responsible for ensuring financial awareness and understanding throughout the organization.

Cowan brings more than 20 years of financial leadership experience in media and business to her role at NPR. Just before joining NPR in 2010, Cowan served as the senior vice president of finance at Radio One, Inc. managing the financial and accounting operations. She was part of the senior leadership team that evolved the financial and operational structure and systems that helped grow the organization (through acquisitions as well as organically) and handled many complex strategic and financial issues.

During her time at Radio One, Cowan's accomplishments included formalizing the company's planning process; leading the company's initial and subsequent Sarbanes Oxley compliance; re-engineering several accounting processes; managing the integration of several radio stations, a radio syndication company and an online social networking company; overseeing company divestitures; installing several financial systems; and restructuring the company's finance and accounting organizations into a centralized unit.

Prior to joining Radio One in 2001, Cowan was a financial manager at IBM for 17 years where she held several increasingly responsible CFO positions for significant divisions. Before IBM, Cowan worked for Coopers & Lybrand, performing audits for large and medium-sized nonprofit and for-profit companies.

A certified public accountant, Cowan earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from [Howard University](/org/howard-university) and a Master of Business Administration in Finance and International Business from Columbia Business School. She is currently a director on the nonprofit boards of Consumer Reports and the National Education Association Foundation, where she chairs the audit committee and serves on the investment committee, and is a former director of the Media Financial Management organization.

Deborah A. Cowan

Keith Woods is Chief Diversity Officer at NPR. He leads and supports NPR's efforts to bring greater diversity to its audience, content and staffing while creating a workplace where a diverse staff can grow and thrive. He is a resource across the organization for leadership and staff working on diversity efforts, as well as for public radio leaders from more than 260 Member stations across the country. Woods also heads up the editorial Training team, which helps strengthen and support the work of journalists by training them in leadership, storytelling, reporting, editing, diversity, audio production and digital strategy.

He came to NPR in 2010 to lead the organization's corporate diversity strategy and has worked with the newsroom on a multi-year effort to increase the diversity of sources. He has trained the staffs of more than 30 public media stations from Canton, N.Y., to Juneau, Alaska.

Before joining NPR, Woods was Dean of Faculty of The Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in St. Petersburg, Fla. There, he led a dynamic faculty and taught for 15 years in seminars on race relations, diversity, ethics, reporting and personal essay writing. He is co-author of The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity.

Woods has worked to help professionals, faculty and students better understand and handle matters of diversity through workshops at dozens of journalism schools, radio stations, newspapers and television stations across the country. While at Poynter, he chaired two Pulitzer Prize juries.

He is a native of New Orleans and a graduate of Dillard University and the Tulane University School of Social Work. He is a former sports writer, news reporter, city editor, editorial writer and columnist, working his way through those jobs in 16 years at the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Keith Woods

Anya Grundmann oversees NPR's industry-leading podcast portfolio with 150 million monthly global downloads, in addition to NPR Music, NPR Events and NPR's entertainment and talk radio programming. Under her transformational and creative leadership, NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts have become a household name in music discovery and the NPR Programming division has dramatically expanded NPR's on demand audience and journalism footprint with the launch of more than 15 podcasts and radio shows in collaboration with NPR News, including four of the top 20 podcasts in America.

Before becoming the head of NPR Programming in 2015, Grundmann was the founding Executive Director of NPR Music, a premiere award-winning source for music discovery and innovative multiplatform journalism that reaches more than 12 million people a month across npr.org, YouTube, podcasts and NPR radio programs. In 2013, Billboard named her as one of the "Power 100" in the music industry, and [Fast Company](/org/fastcompany) noted that Anya and her team are "re-inventing public radio for the post-radio generation."

Before driving the launch of NPR Music, Grundmann served as the Director of NPR's Music radio division, including the Peabody award-winning classical music radio program, Performance Today where she started as an intern and eventually became the editor overseeing features, daily scripts, and live broadcasts from remote locations. In 2002, she left NPR briefly when she was a awarded a year-long fellowship with the National Arts Journalism Program at [Columbia University](/org/columbia-university).

She got her start in public radio as a volunteer at member station KNAU (Flagstaff, Arizona) where she helped create KNAU's first music database and worked as an on-air announcer. She graduated from [Grinnell College](/org/grinnell-college) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature.

Anya Grundmann

 As the Vice President of Operations at NPR, Stacey Foxwell oversees an administrative team of executive assistants and operations managers that support NPR's senior leadership team, its shows, its hosts, and its offices in DC, NY, Chicago, and Culver City, CA. In addition, she oversees the Facilities and Security operations that manage NPR's owned and leased properties across 10 locations and over 500,000-square feet. Her goal is to have a team that learns from and supports each other with a One NPR philosophy.

Since joining NPR in 2002, Foxwell has served as an Executive Assistant and Project Manager and most recently as the Senior Director of Content Administration. During that time, she's led initiatives large and small from the celebratory opening of NPR West to the launch of the Kroc Fellowship Program, and from the inception of the Public Media Platform to the creation of the Public Media Village for which she won NPR's Success Award for Diversity in 2016.

In 2005, Foxwell worked with independent producers Dan Gediman and Jay Allison to revive the This I Believe radio series which ran on NPR for four years. And in 2013, she oversaw the re-launch of Here and Now as a two-hour radio program from WBUR in Boston and NPR.

Prior to coming to NPR, Foxwell served in various roles with The Baltimore Sun, from Assistant Home Delivery Manager to Customer Satisfaction Manager to Project Manager, a role in which she won a Special Publisher's Award. But her passion for customer service comes from her 10 years at Pizza Hut where she worked as a waitress to put herself through college before becoming a store manager and then an area manager for 13 restaurants and delivery units in Montgomery County, MD. She was named manager of the year for the DC, MD, and VA area in 1989.

Foxwell holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Salisbury State College and an MBA from Loyola College of Maryland.

Stacey Foxwell

Gina Garrubbo is President and CEO of National Public Media (NPM), the corporate sponsorship subsidiary of NPR, owned in partnership with PBS and WGBH. In this key role, Garrubbo leads NPM in delivering corporate sponsorship revenue to NPR and the public media system.

Garrubbo has spent more than 20 years growing marketing and sales teams, launching brands, and building companies, with extensive experience in traditional and digital media. Prior to joining NPM in 2015, Garrubbo was CEO of Garrubbo & Company, advising clients such as [SheSpeaks](/org/shespeaks), MediaBizNet, and Swissclear Global. Previously, she was Senior Vice President of Hearst Magazines' Totally Global Media, where she built a first-of-its-kind global digital advertising platform across Hearst and its publishing partners' digital properties worldwide. Garrubbo was also one of the key executives responsible for building women.com, one of the first websites for women, and for making BlogHer into the largest multi-platform community for women in social media. She was Executive Vice President of Revenue for Oxygen Media and Divisional Vice President of Sales for Discovery Communication. Her earliest years in the media business include stints with Wells, Rich, Greene, McCann-Erickson, and ABC Television in the Advertising Sales and Affiliate Relations divisions.

Garrubbo sits on the Board of Directors of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), where she has been a co-chair of the Audio Committee since 2017. During her first term as an IAB Board member in 1999, Garrubbo helped create some of the first guidelines for brands and publishers in the digital space and today continues to drive advancements in the industry with a focus on digital audio. For her significant contributions to the IAB and digital advertising field, she was honored with the IAB Service Excellence Award in 2019.

Garrubbo has spoken at CES, IoT World, Advertising Week, Digiday's Content Marketing Summit and RAIN's Podcast Business Summit. She is a board member of TAPPP (an OTT video service) and Glen Highland Farm.

Gina Garrubbo

Gemma Hooley is the Senior Vice President for Member Partnership at NPR.

In this role, Hooley leads the team responsible for maintaining the day-to-day business relationship with Member stations and other broadcast partners, working with executives, producers, marketers and content decision makers on strategies to grow and serve the audience. Hooley plays a leadership role in strategic projects with Member stations in the fields of content development, collaborative fundraising, digital distribution and audience engagement.

Arriving at NPR in 2000, Hooley has served as a program services associate, manager of station relations, and, until her appointment as VP in January 2014, as senior director of member partnership.

She was named SVP in September 2018 in recognition of her leadership of our collaborative business relationship with hundreds of NPR Member stations. During her tenure, she and her team have significantly strengthened that essential partnership, which enables NPR to grow and Member stations to better serve millions of listeners every week.

Hooley came to the United States from her native South Africa in 1996, to attend graduate school. After completing her degree, she worked for an independent multimedia production non-profit in Washington, D.C., where she managed, produced and edited the weekly award-winning documentary series Soundprint.

From 1990-1996, Hooley worked in South Africa for the U.S. State Department in the office of the (former) United States Information Agency as a cultural affairs and press specialist. During this significant period in U.S.-South African relations, she helped develop and implement public affairs strategies and outreach in support of official U.S. political, arts, cultural and media programs.

Hooley holds a honors Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and English from the University of Cape Town, and an Master of Arts degree in Public Communications from [American University](/org/american-university) in Washington, D.C. She is a 2014 Punch Sulzberger Fellow at Columbia University.

Gemma Hooley

Michael F. Beach is the Vice President of Distribution at NPR.

In this role, Beach oversees the Public Radio Satellite System® (PRSS), the backbone of all public radio distribution. Each year, the PRSS distributes more than 450,000 hours of news, music, and specialized audience programming to more than 1,600 public radio stations throughout the United States. He is responsible for all activities associated with the planning, operation and management of this system-critical division.

Prior to coming to NPR, Beach worked for Intelsat, S.A., a major commercial satellite operator, which he joined in 2006. He also served as assistant general manager and chief technology officer for Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET), the state-wide PBS and NPR broadcast network, from 1998 to 2006. Prior to that, he served in multiple technical and security roles for NSN Network Services of Avon, Colo.

As a lieutenant in the Navy, he served as a communications officer on the USS Duluth.

Beach, who is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications/Media Studies from the [University of Utah](/org/university-of-utah) and a Master of Science degree in Project Management at [George Washington University](/org/gwu).

Michael F. Beach

Lara has led NPR's media relations team and acted as the organization's spokesperson since 2014, most recently as Executive Director for Media Relations. 

Lara is a veteran communications expert, with over 20 years of experience in the field. During her tenure at NPR, she has demonstrated communications excellence in designing and implementing proactive press strategies around key news, programming, and organizational developments that have built visibility, awareness, and audience for NPR and Member stations. She has also led NPR's public messaging for a range of corporate issues and developments, including reputation management and strategy.

Before coming to NPR, Lara worked at the National Education Association, the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian Latino Center; as well as Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation in New York and El Universal in Caracas. She graduated cum laude with a degree in Literature from Universidad Católica Andres Bello in Caracas and has a Master's in Media Studies from the New School in New York.

Isabel Lara

Laura Soto-Barra (she/her) leads a team of researchers, software engineers, historians, curators, grant writers, data specialists, taxonomists, archivists, and product managers whose expertise has grown and expanded along NPR's own transformation, from being a broadcast network to a digital media institution. She leads with dedication and enterprise, consistently infusing her strategic thinking and presentation of her team's work with a sense of advocacy, a command of priorities, and a deep sense of investment in the mission and goals of NPR.

Laura has led the Research, Archives & Data Strategy (RAD) team for 17 years; RAD is unique in the media industry and in the archives sector because its strategy — addressing content, networks, culture and revenue through a variety of services — achieves and reflects NPR's distinctive research needs and data demands. While RAD's foundation began in 1971, Laura transformed the RAD team to meet NPR's need for digital information and innovation.

Throughout her career, Laura's strategic projects have been significant and enduring. She and her team, directed by RAD Deputy Mary Glendinning, envisioned, created and developed this unique media department to meet NPR's news-driven demands, including those beyond the newsroom. Together they built a business strategy to create an additional revenue stream for the company, as well as strengthening a portfolio of bibliographic resources that benefit all NPR staff.

Laura is responsible for the continuous evolution of the systems and products that steward data about all the stories NPR has ever told – and the music used in NPR's editorial work. She has led the development of archival products and services for revenues, and has overseen the development of business plans to help maximize the value of NPR data. Examples of these platforms and tools are the digital archive, Orpheus, the NPR taxonomies, the NPR "perfected" transcript, and the Sourcing project, which analyzes diversity in our sources.

Since 2013, Laura has led the production and research of the NPR's annual Sourcing Report to identify and verify the experts interviewed or quoted by NPR during broadcast. This innovative project ensures NPR's transparency to our audiences, allowing for better representation of diversity in the voices of America.

Supported by internal and external strategic partnerships with the Library of Congress, The University of Maryland, the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), and the National Endowment for Humanities, Laura directed NPR's audio digitization and reformatting project to protect, preserve, and provide online accessibility to more than 100,000 hours of NPR's audio legacy, formerly stored in obsolete physical formats. Her efforts to digitize content and develop strategic plans for protecting and sustaining data has enabled the RAD group to build a world-class, digitally enabled, and nimble archive that supports and mirrors NPR's growth as a highly respected media institution.

Laura joined NPR in 2005 as Senior Librarian, became Chief Librarian in 2012, and was named the inaugural RAD Chief in 2014. She was promoted to Vice President, Research, Archives and Data Strategy in 2022. She is a 97' Poynter alumna, and she has served on the Syracuse University's LIS Guiding Council since 2012. Laura has represented NPR on the Radio Hall of Fame's Induction Committee since 2020, advocating and obtaining the induction of Cokie Roberts in 2020, and of Bill Siemering in 2021. She is co-author of "Positioning for Success" in the Handbook of Modern Information Management by James M. Matarazzo.

Originally from Chile, she began her career as a chemical and mining engineering librarian at the Universidad de Chile. She and her family later moved to Canada where she earned a BA in Latin American Studies, and the MLIS from the University of Toronto. In 1997, she came to the United States to work for The Florida Times- Union/Morris Newspapers where she directed the publication of a book of images from the archive. She later joined The Post-Standard/Advance Newspapers where she led the digitization of its microfilm.

Laura Soto-Barra

Keith W. Jenkins, Vice President of Visuals and Music Strategy, has been a manager and strategist specializing in digital storytelling for most of his career. He has worked in both traditional and digital organizations, helping them understand their audiences, create delivery platforms, refine their content, and produce high-impact and award-winning journalism.

Jenkins' teams have earned Pulitzer, Emmy, Peabody, Murrow, World Press, and Webby awards for [The Washington Post](/org/the-washington-post), NPR, and [National Geographic](/org/national-geographic). Jenkins first came to NPR from [The Washington Post](/org/the-washington-post) in 2008 and spent five years setting up the multimedia department before heading to [National Geographic](/org/national-geographic) in 2013. Jenkins returned to NPR as Director of Visual Journalism in 2017. He most recently served as NPR's Director of Digital Content.

Keith Jenkins

Chris Nelson is NPR's Vice President of Technology Operations. In this role, Nelson provides innovative technology leadership and drives collaboration between NPR's editorial, production and technical staff.

During his time at NPR, Nelson has introduced new technologies and workflows to support innovation in collaboration with content creators and created consistent technical standards across the organization's production units. He has developed work plans and strategies for Disaster Recovery, designed and implemented advanced technical training, and established new protocols for staff recruitment and development in line with NPR's best-in-class technology and content operation.

He has overseen the Audio Engineering and Newsflex teams, has managed technical operations for multiple seasons of Elections coverage and has been a technical director for NPR's live and recorded music broadcasts. He originally joined NPR as an audio engineer in 2000.

Nelson graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Recording Industry (Audio Engineering) from Middle Tennessee State University in 1999, where he also taught. Outside of his work at NPR, he has produced documentaries for public radio and the National Hockey League. He also served as an audio specialist for the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, based in Tanzania.

Chris Nelson

For more than 25 years Joel Sucherman has been helping to usher in the new ways we experience news and information. As NPR's Vice President for Audio Platform Strategy, Sucherman guides strategy and leads the teams that build NPR's presence on voice assistants, connected cars, TVs and other emerging platforms. During his tenure he has developed a growing number of strategic partnerships and has shaped and implemented public radio's growing presence on voice-activated platforms such as Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, Bixby, and Cortana. Under Sucherman's leadership, NPR has become a preeminent brand on smart speakers, with millions of listeners each month. In his previous role as head of product, Sucherman's teams were also responsible for conceiving of, and building, NPR One, a platform that uses a combination of human curation and algorithms to provide a personalized radio news/podcast experience.

Prior to working in public radio, Sucherman helped transform USA TODAY into a multiplatform newsgathering media company. He was an early "backpack journalist" who founded the first streaming video group at USA TODAY. Sucherman has his roots in radio as a former Capitol Hill correspondent in Washington, D.C.

Joel Sucherman

Harrison Jacobs

Dina Nawas

Nikki Jones is NPR's Vice President of Change Management and Transformation. In this role, she works to ensure NPR delivers on its business and cultural aspirations, develops more inclusive decision making and transparent ways of setting project plans and accountabilities and builds stronger support systems for cross-departmental collaboration.

Jones previously served as Director of Agile Transformation and Program Management in the Digital Media division. Since joining NPR in early 2019, she has made a demonstrable impact on her immediate group and the larger organization: helping lead a transformative effort to bring new rigor to goal setting and tracking, improving roadmap planning and leading and mentoring a diverse team of project managers.

Prior to joining NPR, Jones was the Director of Program Management with SiriusXM Radio, where she coached product teams responsible for digital campaign execution on SiriusXM.com and content management, sales flows, and marketing promotion optimization — leading engineering and design teams to achieve digital sales goals of 50%.

As Senior Technical Program Manager with National Geographic Digital Media, she launched the official online experience for the U2 3D film for NatGeo's Cinema Ventures Entertainment Division and led cross-functional teams for all online programs for NatGeo and NatGeo Magazine. As a consultant with Secured Sciences Group, she reengineered the IT Governance process for the United States Marine Corps' Manpower Information Systems Division.

Jones earned her BS in Social Science/Political Science from Coppin State University and her Master of Science in Information Systems Technologies/Advanced Business Technologies from The George Washington University. She served on the board of the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications in 2015 and is currently serving on the Technology and Innovation Committee for the Emma Bowen Foundation.

Jones was introduced to tech at a young age through video games. Her love for technology led her through database administration and front-end development, and grew exponentially when she became a project manager. Her passion for servant-leadership, program management and transformation drives her to help minorities confront and embrace the challenges that they'll face in the technology industry.

Nikki Jones

Malik Abdullah

Emily Littleton is the Vice President of Corporate Communications at NPR. In this role, Littleton oversees NPR's corporate messaging, internal communications, and audience, community, and talent relations.

During her more than two decades at NPR, Littleton has taken on an array of progressively more senior communications responsibilities and brought her communications expertise to a broad range of projects across the organization, from the launch of new programs and digital platforms to major announcements and organizational strategies. Most recently as senior director, she focused on C-level communications strategy and messaging support as well as crisis communications. Her work reaches and serves all of NPR's internal stakeholders, including 800+ staff members and hundreds of NPR Member Station managers, as well as the general public.

Before coming to NPR, Littleton worked at the Center for Media Education, a nonprofit that was focused on improving the quality of children's television as well as promoting the public interest in telecommunications policymaking.

She graduated cum laude from [Georgetown University](/org/georgetown-university) with a BA in English and Fine Arts.

Emily Littleton

Leora Hanser

Bryan Moffett is Chief Operating Officer of National Public Media (NPM), a subsidiary of NPR owned in partnership with PBS and WGBH. Moffett spearheads NPM's strategic planning focused on securing corporate support for the future of NPR, PBS, and the public media system; manages acquisitions and partnerships; and provides ongoing thought leadership in the development of new sponsorship offerings. Moffett joined NPM in 2008 and has served public media for more than a decade.

Before being named COO in November 2016, Moffett served as the General Manager of NPM. Under his direction as GM, NPM achieved more than 50% growth in NPR corporate sponsorship, with eight-fold growth in the NPR podcast business alone (2014-2016). He rebuilt NPM's regional sales model with Member stations and established an award-winning NPM digital products team producing some of the highest-performing digital ads among premium publishers. His team's integration of sponsorship into the new NPR Player was recognized with the 2016 Digiday Award for "Best Brand Platform."

Moffett joined NPR in 2005 as a Digital Media Marketing Analyst, focused on building traffic and audience to NPR.org through new partnerships with organizations such as Google, Yahoo, and Slate. In 2006, he led the creation of digital sponsorship at NPR and has worked in concert with NPR's digital media teams to build sponsorship models for the launch of NPR's iPhone apps, the NPR iPad app and NPR podcasting.

Moffett's work and advocacy has helped establish a sustainable business model for the podcasting medium at large. As a member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Podcast Working Group and other industry efforts, Moffett has advocated for informed, standardized podcast measurement to help prepare the industry for dramatic growth.

For his contributions to advancing the digital ad operations industry and ongoing leadership in the field, Admonsters honored Moffett with a Digital Media Leadership Award in 2017.

Prior to joining NPR / NPM, Moffett spent his early career managing editorial publications and digital/IT infrastructure. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in News-Editorial from West Virginia University.

Bryan Moffett

John Lansing oversees one of the country's most iconic news organizations, whose rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling connects with millions of Americans every day on the air, online, and in person. With a nationwide network of award-winning journalists and 17 international bureaus, NPR and its Member stations are never far from where a story is unfolding.

Lansing is a veteran executive and journalist who has spent decades leading complex media companies in growing their relevance and reach, while strengthening their business operations. He is passionate about NPR's public service mission and the role of a free and independent media in a strong democracy.

From 2015 to 2019, Lansing served as the CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the independent federal agency whose programming reaches an average weekly audience of 345 million people in 62 languages. He guided the organization in becoming a leading developer of unique content across television, digital, mobile and radio platforms.

Prior to joining USAGM, he served for two years as the President and CEO of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), an organization that facilitates collaborative marketing initiatives for its members.

Lansing also spent almost 20 years working at Scripps, including eight years as President of Scripps Networks. As President, he held strategic and operational oversight of Scripps Networks Digital division and Scripps Networks Interactive, which includes six cable networks: Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, DIY, Cooking Channel and Great American Country. He served for four years as the SVP, Television for the E.W. Scripps Company, where he managed the company's portfolio of ten broadcast television stations across the country. Prior to that, Lansing was VP and GM of Scripps ABC affiliates.

He began his career in media at age 17 when he was hired as a studio technician and cameraman for WPSD TV in Kentucky. He was promoted to news photographer after two years, then moved on to managing editor, news director, and leadership of commercial television affiliates around the country.

Lansing served for ten years as a visiting faculty member at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. He is a member of the Quinnipiac University School of Communications Advisory Board and the National Board of Advisors of George Washington University's School of Media & Public Affairs.

A graduate of [Bellarmine University](/org/bellarmine-university), he was named to the [Bellarmine University](/org/bellarmine-university) Gallery of Distinguished Graduates in 2010. He served on the [Bellarmine University](/org/bellarmine-university) Board of Trustees from 2010-2016 and was vice-chair 2014-2016.

John Lansing

Christopher Turpin is Chief of Staff at NPR. In this role, Turpin oversees NPR's Development division and activities, liaises with the News and Programming divisions and helps the CEO manage the operations of the executive team and critical projects.

Before his appointment to Chief of Staff, Turpin served as Vice President for Special Projects+Innovation at NPR. He was responsible for leveraging the NPR newsroom to tell stories in new, innovative and more impactful ways, and for elevating NPR's public service journalism in all its myriad forms across our newsroom and the NPR system.

Previously, he served as NPR's interim Senior Vice President for News and Editorial Director, overseeing NPR's newsroom and its operations. He moved into that role after serving as NPR's Vice President of News Programming and Operations, where he oversaw all news programs, newscasts, news operations, innovation in news storytelling and training, ensuring NPR's continued excellence across a range of journalistic skills.

Prior to that, Turpin was the Executive Producer of All Things Considered, NPR's afternoon newsmagazine. On a daily basis he guided the show's editorial direction and managed the show's production staff.

Arriving at NPR in January 2000, Turpin spent two years as All Things Considered's Supervising Senior Producer, responsible for the day-to-day running of the show. During his time at NPR, Turpin has contributed to All Things Considered's coverage of breaking news events such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Iraq War, and Hurricane Katrina. Along with these major stories, Turpin was part of the All Things Considered production team in Chengdu, China, covering the devastating earthquake there in 2008.

A native of England, Turpin started his broadcasting career volunteering at his local community and public radio station during graduate school. He then worked for Monitor Radio in Boston, Massachusetts, over the span of eight years, moving from production assistant to running the morning and evening newsmagazine programs.

Turpin has also been a senior manager and member of the executive committee at Internews, a non-profit organization that fosters independent media around the globe, especially in countries emerging from conflict. In this position, Turpin worked on projects in the Balkans, Central Asia, Indonesia, and Africa.

As a producer, Turpin has contributed to many reports and series that were awarded with the industry's top honors, including a 2003 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for NPR News coverage of the Sept. 11 attacks, a 2005 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for Radio Diaries' "Mandela: An Audio History," and a 2009 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for coverage on All Things Considered of the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province in China. Coverage of the earthquake in China also earned a 2008 George Foster Peabody Award for Turpin and the rest of the NPR staff reporting on this story.

Turpin earned a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from the University of Sussex in England. He first grew to love the United States during a year-long study abroad at the University of California in Santa Cruz. He has a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from Oxford University and a Master of Arts in English from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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