Jonathan C. Abbott
President and Chief Executive Officer
Jon Abbott is President and CEO of WGBH Boston, as well as a national leader in public service media.
Abbott joined WGBH as Vice President and General Manager in 1998, became Executive Vice President and COO in 2004, and was named President and CEO in October 2007. During his tenure as president, he has expanded WGBH's new media and educational efforts and partnerships through digital platforms that invite audiences to experience and share content at their convenience. These efforts build on Abbott's early and longstanding interest in mining the capabilities of broadband and online social networks to distribute public service media's distinctive content across an expanding array of digital devices.While embracing the still considerable strength of traditional broadcasting, he has led WGBH in harnessing technology in service of WGBH’s public media aspirations. Abbott oversees 11 public TV services and 3 public radio services serving southern New England. He has worked closely with PBS to extend public media’s reach, spearheading the launch of the national digital services Create and World Channels and partnering with PBS to launch PBS LearningMedia, a free service for the nation’s educators offering classroom-ready digital resources and lesson plans. Abbott is a member of the boards of PBS, APT (American Public Television), and Arts Boston.
Before coming to WGBH, Abbott served as Senior Vice President for Development and Corporate Relations at PBS. Prior to that, he spent five years in senior management with San Francisco public station KQED. A longtime jazz enthusiast, Abbott got his start in broadcasting in 1981 at Columbia University station WKCR-FM.
Abbott holds a BA from Columbia University and an MBA from Stanford University.
Benjamin Godley
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Ben Godley manages WGBH's overall operations and ensures that editorial teams and supporting departments work effectively to realize the organization's goals. Godley joined WGBH in 2008 as Executive Vice President, overseeing the WGBH departments that manage the organization's finance, budgeting, development, administration, legal and business affairs, human resources, policy and planning, marketing and communications, and website as well as WGBH's media access efforts on behalf of the 36 million Americans with hearing or vision impairments. He was named COO in 2010.
Godley served in senior positions with Mitt Romney's presidential campaign after several years on the executive staff of the Massachusetts governor. Prior to his work in the political arena, he co-founded and was president and CEO of the award-winning agency CGN Marketing & Creative Services. He also has worked in marketing and management roles at IBM and at Hill and Knowlton and served on a number of local non-profit boards, including Big Brother Big Sister of Massachusetts Bay and the Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund.
David Bernstein
Vice President and General Manager for WGBH Enterprises
Co-President, PBS Distribution
David Bernstein directs WGBH's business activities, which include negotiation of partnerships with commercial and foreign co-producers; publishing; and licensing. David also is Co-President of PBSd, which is a separate entity wholly owned by PBS and WGBH. PBSd distributes PBS and WGBH programs to home video, foreign, and commercial markets. Prior to joining WGBH in 1992, Bernstein held positions as a senior consultant for Devonshire Consulting; Assistant Secretary of Administration and Finance and director of the Office of Management Information Systems for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and Associate Commissioner of the Massachusetts Welfare Department.
John Bredar
Vice President for National Programming
Bredar joined WGBH in April 2013 after 26 years with National Geographic, where he was senior executive producer for the National Geographic Specials and was responsible for the development, production, and post-production of more than 150 programs, extending the reach of National Geographic Television internationally. He created the Inside series (Inside the White House, Inside the Vatican, et al.) and produced 25 documentary films on topics ranging from science and the natural world to history, drama, and political investigation. His work has earned him Emmy and History Maker’s Awards, and his co-production with WGBH’s Nova, Ape Genius, was recognized with a George Foster Peabody Award. Bredar is author of The President’s Photographer, the companion book to the National Geographic Special following President Obama’s photographer and revealing the history of Presidential photographers.
A native of Colorado, Bredar holds a BS degree from Northwestern University and an MA from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Jeanne M. Hopkins
Vice President, Communications and Government Relations
Jeanne Hopkins oversees institutional, community, and government relations for WGBH and is the liaison with WGBH's Community Advisory Board.
Hopkins joined WGBH in 1989 as Director of Media Relations. In 1991 she helped create WGBH's federal government relations initiatives, and later expanded local and community efforts. She was promoted to Vice President in 1994. She serves on the Boards of Brighton Main Streets, the Presentation School Foundation, and the Brighton Board of Trade.
Prior to joining WGBH, Hopkins spent 10 years in University Relations at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and was press secretary to a former US Congressman.
Susan L. Kantrowitz
Vice President and General Counsel
Sue Kantrowitz is responsible for all legal matters affecting the WGBH Educational Foundation, including all aspects of the production contracting process and the negotiation and administration of national collective bargaining agreements with actors, writers and musicians. She also oversees the WGBH Media Library and Archives.
Kantrowitz joined WGBH's legal department in 1981, becoming Director of Legal Affairs in 1984. She was named the station's first General Counsel in 1986. Kantrowitz came to WGBH from the public relations firm Bozell & Jacobs, where she was an account executive. Prior to that she was an associate producer at California station KOCE-TV.
Kantrowitz holds a JD from Boston College Law School and is a member of the American Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association, and the Boston Bar Association.
Winifred Lenihan
Vice President for Development
A nationally respected development professional, Win Lenihan leads WGBH's major philanthropic fundraising, planned and high-level annual giving, and foundation development efforts as well as its board development activities and events management. Lenihan has played a strong hand in three WGBH capital campaigns, directing the last two, which set new marks for the organization. She began her development career in WGBH's membership office in the 1980s.
Vinay Mehra
Chief Financial Officer, Vice President for Finance and Administration
Vinay Mehra leads WGBH's financial administration and strategy, assuring that the organization's accounting, budget, and physical plant systems and operations support and enhance WGBH's educational mission. He joined WGBH in 2008 after more than 15 years in senior financial management roles as CFO and Vice President of Finance at both publicly traded and privately held companies, including a Boston-area franchise management company, the Pittsburgh-based media technology company Mediasite Inc., and the San Jose technology company Selectica. Mehra began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, serving clients in the media, technology, and service industries.
Jamie Parker
Vice President for Marketing and Communications
Jamie Parker oversees the division that encompasses WGBH's corporate communications, local and national promotion and marketing, branding and visual communications, advertising and on-air promotion, and audience research. She joined WGBH in 2006 from Arnold Worldwide, where she was Senior Vice President of Brand Communications, developing differentiated messaging and exploring new communications platforms based on the agency's creative campaigns. Prior to Arnold, Parker was with Weber Shandwick Worldwide for 10 years, five as President of Weber Shandwick Cambridge and The Technology Practice.
Parker began her career at The Computer Museum, Boston, as Director of Exhibitions and Archives. She spent 12 years in communications at Digital Equipment Corporation before moving to the agency world.
Parker's commitment to nonprofit work has led her to serve as a consultant to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Museum of Science, the University of Massachusetts Boston, Hamilton College, and the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care.
Russell J. Peotter
WGBH Vice President and General Manager for WGBY Springfield
Rus Peotter is responsible for the management of WGBY Springfield, the WGBH-affiliated public television station serving western Massachusetts, northern Connecticut and southern Vermont. He oversees all station functions including programming, production, development, engineering, and administration.
Peotter came to WGBY in 2001 from Maine Public Broadcasting, where he was in charge of the station's fundraising, promotion, outreach, and audience service efforts since 1992. He has served on numerous PBS national committees, helping senior PBS management develop policies and services in support of stations across the country.
Alexis Fife Rapo
Vice President for Digital Media
Alexis Fife Rapo joined WGBH in 2010 to lead digital strategy, exploring new digital formats, content experiences, and platforms for WGBH content. She leads WGBH's Digital teams, collaborating wtih WGBH's national and local television and radio teams, including the producers of Nova, Frontline, Masterpiece, American Experience, Antiques Roadshow, Curious George, and Arthur.
Rapo came to WGBH from the Disney-ABC Television Group, where she was Vice President, ABC Digital Media, and led multiplatform strategy, product, and online video and content development for ABC.com. She won an Emmy Award for Interactive Television and Programming in 2006.
Marita Rivero
Vice President and General Manager for Radio and Television
Marita Rivero oversees the programming, marketing, and administration of WGBH's TV and radio stations. On the radio side, this includes 89.7 WGBH, Boston Public Radio (also heard on 89.7 HD1); Classical New England (heard on 99.5 in Boston and New Hampshire, 96.3 in Beacon Hill, 89.5 in Nantucket, 88.7 in Providence, and 89.7 HD2); and WGBH's Cape and Islands NPR station WCAI (heard on 90.1, 91.1, 94.3, and 89.7 HD3). All are available online as well. WGBH's television services include WGBH 2, WGBH 44, WGBH World, WGBH Create, 'GBH Kids, WGBH On Demand, and Boston Kids & Family TV. Rivero also oversees WGBH's national radio production activity and its local television production unit.
Rivero was named manager of WGBH Radio in 1988. Award-winning radio productions developed under her leadership include the daily global news program The World (a collaboration with BBC World Service and PRI) and The Takeaway (a collaboration of WNYC and PRI, in collaboration with BBC World Service, New York Times Radio, and WGBH). She also served as Executive-in-Charge of WGBH's Peabody Award-winning multimedia project Africans in America. Rivero has developed the online lecture series Forum Network; new satellite radio services; and a substantial community partnership program with media, arts, and education partners.
Rivero began her broadcast career at WGBH in 1970 as a producer of public affairs television, including Say Brother (now Basic Black, one of the nation's oldest weekly series by, for, and about African Americans). She served as general manager of WPFW, Washington, DC's Pacifica radio station, from 1981 to 1988. Rivero has been honored with numerous awards for her achievements, among them, a 2007 Pinnacle Award for Achievement in Arts and Education from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce; the first Image Award for Vision and Excellence from Women in Film and Video/New England; the Living Legends Award from the Museum of African American History; and induction into the YWCA's Academy of Women Achievers. She serves on the NPR Board and chairs the National Black Programming Consortium Board. She also serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees at Bunker Hill Community College and is a board member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Rivero holds a BS from Tufts University and has participated in post-graduate training at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education and the Stanford and Wharton schools of business.
Brigid Sullivan
Vice President for Children's Media and Educational Programming
In the two decades that Sullivan led WGBH’s strategic planning efforts, the organization realized a sixfold increase in revenues from $30M to $180M and grew from 300 employees to more than 1,000.
Sullivan's achievements have earned her numerous honors, including the New England Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and induction in the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers. She holds an MBA from Harvard University and a BA from Thomas More College of Fordham University.
Fran Sullivan
Vice President for Human Resources
Fran Sullivan has more than 20 years of executive-level human resources experience as a Senior Vice President at various divisions of Fidelity Investments, as well as experience consulting to small and mid-sized companies. She joined WGBH in 2012 as Vice President for Human Resources to lead the organization in goal setting, performance evaluation, training, career advancement, mentoring, inclusion, and other areas critical to WGBH’s continued success.
Sullivan serves as a board and finance committee member for Girls’ LEAP, a local non-profit focused on empowering young women to value and champion their own safety and well being. She holds a Masters of Arts in Education, a Bachelor of Science in Communications, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, all from Syracuse University.
Suzanne Zellner
Vice President, Corporate Sponsorship
Suzanne Zellner oversees WGBH's national and regional corporate development activities, supervising the staff that secures sponsors for WGBH and handles marketing, client services, and sponsor research.
Zellner joined WGBH in 2003 to direct the Sponsorship Group for Public Television (SGPTV), which secures national corporate sponsors for signature PBS programs, including WGBH's own productions. She was promoted two years later to supervise a newly consolidated department that unifies WGBH's national sales, marketing, client services, and sponsor research operations with the regional sponsorship sales team for WGBH's TV and radio broadcasts, website, and events.
Zellner came to WGBH with more than 20 years of sales, account management, and product management at Ziff Communications and CMP Media. She also has CEO and COO experience at three Internet start-up companies. She is the founding executive director of MassWIT (Women, Insights, Technology), a professional women's networking organization.
