Public Media CEO/COO BootCamp
The Public Media CEO/COO Boot Camp is an intensive, six month program for three classes of fellows over three years. The industry’s first CEO/COO Boot Camp will provide education and hands-on experiences in critical aspects of station knowledge and management.
The expected outcome of the program is to expose CEO/COO candidates to the core concepts, players and resources in these key verticals so that they have confidence & knowledge to apply for the positions, and when the Boot Camp ends, they know who and where to reach out to when they’re in the C-suite and need additional guidance. Media and leadership is in a constant state of change so the goal isn’t to teach “everything” but to encourage a cohort of leaders to become lifelong learners.
While the program will focus on training women and gender expansive individuals, a quarter of the seats in each class will be held for men of color in our industry who want to pursue C-level positions.
Verticals will be taught in the period of a month to six weeks and classes will be once a week, for four hours each. Fellows will do course work/homework in between the classes and will participate in Mentor Circles with their peers and a current or retired public media CEO as facilitator.
Verticals:
Below is a sampling of what to expect from our 7 verticals:
Content / Mission
• Public Television's Content Promise / Public Radio’s Service Mission
• What a CEO Needs to Know About Programming
• Trust-Balance-Fairness -- Public Media Values & Ethics
Sustainability
• CEO as Friendraiser/Fundraiser -- Your Partnership with Development
• Executive Introduction to Membership and Corporate Support
• Measuring What Matters: GMs/CEOs Essentials for Revenue Goals & Expectations
Finance & HR
• Public Media Finance Basics
• Budget Planning & Setting Financial Policies
• How to Lead a Drama-Free Workplace
Audience Development & Local Service / Branding
• The Interconnected Strategic Imperatives of Audience Development and DEI
• How are Today's Audiences Using Technology to Consume Radio?
• Learning Media: Your Station's Partner in Education
Digital / Tech / Data
• A Station's Digital Immersion & the Role of the CEO
• Next Gen TV
• Communication Matters: The Critical Relationship with the Tech Team
The Public Media Universe
• The Acronym Jungle: Meet the People and Orgs in Public Media
• Special Snowflake or Convener: The Opportunities & Challenges of Being a Federated System
• The Future of Mergers
Embracing Change & Inclusion in Leadership
• Embracing Change
• Listening for Inclusion
• Managing Implicit Bias
2023-2024 Fellow Cohort
Meet the third and final cohort of the Public Media CEO/COO BootCamp.
Click on each of their headshots to read their full bios.
Cohort Timeline:
The application/nomination process will begin in August for years 2021, 2022 and 2023
Fellow applications/nominations open August 9, 2023.
Early August 2023
Fellow applications/nominations close Sept. 6, 2023.
EARLY SEPTEMBER 2023
Finalists selected / Fellow acceptance letters sent
EARLY OCTOBER 2023
Fellow enrollment
EARLY October 2023
Cohort begins
EARLY NOVEMBER 2022
Intake assessment
First week of cohort
Mentoring circles begin
Fourth week of cohort
Fellow cohort ends / Outtake assessment
May 2024
Cohorts per year:
Learn more about the 20 fellows from the inaugural cohort by clicking here. Read more about some of the experiences of the inaugural cohort via the following Current article.
2021 - 2022 Fellow Cohort
Learn more about the 19 fellows from the second cohort by clicking here.
2022 - 2023 Fellow Cohort
Nominating Committee Members:
The fellows were chosen by the boot camp’s nominating committee of system leaders from throughout public media with expertise in TV, Radio, content, fundraising and leadership which include:
Deanna Mackey, Founder, PMWL
Veronica Varela Reyes, Mentorship & Engagement Coordinator, PMWL
Kenneth Brown, Chief People Officer, PBA
Aimee Crouch, News Director, SCETV
Jim Dunford, President and CEO, American Public Television
Eric Hyyppa, President, NETA
Joyce MacDonald, President & CEO, Greater Public
Amanda Mountain, CEO, Rocky Mountain Public Media
Carla McCabe, President & CEO, WVIA Public Media
Linda Wei, Chief Content Officer, Alaska Public Media
Bootcamp Partners:
Partners to date include the following organizations and many individual trainers/facilitators
(additional partners will be added as they sign on):
AfroArcher Enterprises LLC, APT, Black Public Media, CAAM, CARS, CDP, CPB, FRONTLINE, Jacobs Media, KERA, Greater Public, Latino Public Broadcasting, Magnificent Noise, NETA (Public Media Learns), Next Generation Radio, NPR, Persuasion Point, PIC, PRPD, PBS, PBS Learning Media, PMBA, PM4A, PRX, PTMMG, PTPA, Public Media Company, Sandweiss & Associates, Trilogy Films, Vision Maker Media.
we are grateful for our funding partners:
Questions?
Check out our FAQ page or e-mail us at pmwomeninleadership[at]gmail[dot]com.