JOB SUMMARY
PBS Wisconsin & WPR operate as collaborative networks with broadcasting licenses held by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board (ECB) and affiliated public radio stations. The Executive Director of ECB is a key partner in oversight of WPR & PBS Wisconsin. Within this collaboration, the University of Wisconsin provides broadcast and multi-platform digital content to general audiences and education services in formal and informal settings. Within the Wisconsin Public Broadcasting partnership, WPM provides technical support for content creation and storage, fund development, education services, community engagement and marketing. ECB oversees statewide distribution, engineering, and broadcast efforts. WPR & PBS Wisconsin work closely with their 501(c)(3) member support organizations, the Wisconsin Public Radio Association (WPRA) and Friends of PBS Wisconsin (Friends) to develop community support for the services.
The Executive Director of Wisconsin Public Media has leadership and oversight responsibility for operating and capital budgets of more than $35M from multiple and variable revenue sources: university, state and federal government; audience memberships; major and planned giving; grants; business sponsorships; special events and sales of goods and services. Responsibilities incorporate securing of capital funding and strategic planning to acquire equipment and technology on which the programmatic and service departments depend to fulfill their missions. The Executive Director also leads annual and ongoing advocacy efforts at the state and federal levels. Additional responsibilities include leadership of staff development, performance and compensation design, and envisioning and pursuing future services. Diversity and inclusion practices are a key focus with all of these responsibilities.
EDUCATION
Bachelor's Degree and a demonstrated history of increasingly more responsible leadership positions in media or higher education or equivalent.
QUALIFICATIONS
The successful candidate will possess a number of the following qualifications:
-Demonstrated capacity to provide leadership in a complex and dynamic organization.
-Demonstrated expertise developing and implementing complex budgets that include multiple and variable revenue streams from a wide array of sources across a range of programs.
-Successful experience leading and implementing strategic planning efforts.
-Demonstrated capacity to lead development and delivery of high-quality programming and community engagement initiatives.
-A successful record of work with governance and community support boards or equivalent.
-Demonstrated commitment to diversity, transparency and inclusiveness in the work environment and programming to meet the needs of stakeholders and clients, including under-represented groups.
-Successful public or commercial broadcasting experience with knowledge of broadcast services and technology.
-Demonstrated success with advocacy at the state and/or federal level.
-A thorough understanding of and commitment to journalistic standards and editorial integrity.
-A thorough understanding of FCC regulations and reporting requirements, including FCC-EEO requirements or equivalent.
-Direct supervisory experience.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Directs media-related activities and division staff to increase the public's interest in the institutions' mission, values, and educational goals and offerings. Represents the university's interests in broadcasting and new media technology.
- 25% Plans and directs program and policy for the division, directs strategic organizational development, and provides administrative guidance that supports strategic planning and oversight of all policies, procedures, and major initiatives
- 15% Represents the division to internal and external stakeholders, encourages engagement, and builds institutional and legislative support for programs in collaboration with related stakeholder groups
- 5% Partners with external organizations, stakeholders, and institutional affiliates to ensure that media and/or marketing messaging is strategically conveyed to the intended audiences
- 10% Ensures compliance and reporting to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), National Public Radio (NPR), and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and university, state, and other federal reporting requirements including an annual financial audit
- 10% Leads and oversees the operating and capital budgets for the division
- 10% Oversees editorial integrity and independence guidelines for the division, communicating with internal and external stakeholders to ensure the journalistic integrity of the division
- 10% Exercises supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees
- 10% Provides leadership for staff recruitment, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and professional development practices
- 5% Guide research for public service technology applications
TASKS
1. Bring vision and leadership to:
- The strategies guiding content creation to enrich the authenticity and impact of public media and the provision of public media services for the people of Wisconsin.
- Providing educational services to pre-school, K-12, and adult audiences through programming, technologies and services.
- Collaboration with K-12 partners and campus-based educational initiatives that can be pedagogically enhanced or can increase access through the resources of broadcasting and online delivery.
- Engagement with community-based organizations and institutional partners to develop prospective public media projects.
- Advocacy for state and federal financial support and for legislative initiatives for the benefit of public broadcasting.
- Expression of institutional values that assure access to programming, excellence, transparency, sustainability and staff success, recognition and development.
- Ensuring editorial integrity and independence, the bedrock of public media.
- Ensuring a diverse, inclusive, welcoming, and positive workplace.
2. Administrative leadership.
- Advocate for and provide primary guidance and support to the Directors of WPR & PBS Wisconsin, including in collaboration with the Executive Director of ECB.
- Provide strategic and operational direction for the Division's Finance, Strategic Initiatives and Compliance, Human Resources, and Information Technology staff.
- Ensure compliance and reporting to federal reporting requirements including an annual financial audit.
- Provide leadership for staff recruitment, diversity, inclusion, compensation and professional development practices toward greater organizational capacity and effectiveness.
- Provide leadership for oversight of significant endowments and other designated accounts to provide reliable and sustainable funding streams in accordance with industry best practices.
3. Represent the University's interests in broadcasting and evolving media technology.
- Provide information, advice and counsel to the Provost and Senior Staff of the University of Wisconsin Madison on public broadcasting and media issues.
- Lead the University's relationship with the ECB.
- With the Directors of WPR & PBS Wisconsin and the Executive Director of the ECB engage with the WPRA and Friends goups including development and implementation of annual operating agreements.
- Steward relationships with other institutions housing public radio stations affiliated with WPR.
- Routinely review, revise and fulfill operating agreements to best reflect those institutions' and WPR's mutual interests in serving audiences and fulfilling each partner's mission.
- Act as the primary institutional representative to state and national organizations.
- Develop and exert influence in national organizations' policy and practice as they relate to WPR, PBS WI & Wisconsin Public Media's interests.
4. Guide research for public service technology applications.
- Represent the importance of digital technology for educational applications with state and national organizations.
- Work with leadership across the University to create mutually beneficial linkages among broadcasting, digital and other information technologies, and distance education initiatives utilizing digital technology.
- Establish and maintain partnerships across UW Madison and UW System institutions to discover ways to utilize digital broadcast and online technology to assist in achieving institutional goals.
- Establish and maintain partnerships with other higher education institutions and systems that have similar goals, especially those that hold public broadcast licenses.
- Represent the importance of digital technology for educational applications with state and national organizations.
- Maintain a strategy and plan for capital equipment replacement. Collaborate with ECB to assure alignment and interoperability of technical infrastructure.
5. Oversee other institutional obligations of a public media organization.
Ensure that programs meet federal, state and other institutional requirements.
- Directly engage with elected officials and state and federal administrative staff to advocate for federal and state government support for WPR & PBS Wisconsin's programs for the University and ECB.
- Devise, lead and coordinate advocacy efforts of the WPRA and Friends.
- Advise the Chancellor, Provost and others on principles, practices and strategies of fund development with respect to individual, corporate and foundation relationships.
- Comply with University of Wisconsin's Code of Ethics and maintain the standards of journalistic ethics and excellence described in WPM's Ethical Guidelines for Executive and Editorial Staff.
INSTITUTIONAL STATEMENT ON DIVERSITY
Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.
For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: Diversity and Inclusion.
HOW TO APPLY
To ensure full consideration, please email your application materials no later than Friday, April 8, 2022, to search firm consultants Malcom Brett or Skip Hinton with NETA Consulting at apply@netaconsulting.org. Please include "Wisconsin Public Media" in the subject line. Applications must contain all of the following: a detailed resume, a cover letter outlining how your experience qualifies you for this position, and a list of three to five professional references. References will not be contacted without notifying applicants first.
UW-Madison is required by law to request data from applicants for employment in order to monitor its recruitment and selection practices. In order for us to meet this federal reporting requirement, please go to the following website: https://apps.diversity.wisc.edu/questionnaire.aspx to fill out the Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability Form and the Applicant Self-Identification Form for Protected Veterans. Please reference the Position Vacancy Listing 252832 when uploading your completed forms. Completing these forms is voluntary and your responses will be kept confidential and is not considered as part of the hiring criteria.
NOTE: Unless confidentiality is requested in writing, the names of applicants must be released upon request. Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentiality.