FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 11, 2006
Contact:
Loretta Ramos
(212) 621-6785
lramos@mtr.org
Terry Lynn Smith
(310) 786-1042
tsmith@mtr.org
PAT MITCHELL
APPOINTED PRESIDENT & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
OF
THE MUSEUM OF
TELEVISION & RADIO
Christy Carpenter Named
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA—Frank A. Bennack, Jr.,
chairman of the board of The Museum of Television & Radio, today announced
the appointment of Pat Mitchell as president and chief executive officer of the
Museum, effective March 15, 2006, and named Christy Carpenter as executive vice
president and chief operating officer, effective immediately.
"I am very
pleased to welcome Pat Mitchell to the Museum,” said Mr. Bennack. "Pat’s
extensive knowledge and deep appreciation for talent and content will be a
tremendous asset to the Museum. Her
proven leadership abilities combined with her experience in guiding a major
media enterprise to adapt new platforms and technologies will be instrumental in
building the Museum’s profile and advancing the institution’s mission. The Board of Trustees has great respect for
her accomplishments, and as the Museum celebrates its thirtieth anniversary in
2006, we all look forward to the passion and vision she will bring to the
Museum.”
Pat Mitchell
commented, “During this time of transformative changes across the media
landscape, the Museum has a critical role to play in continuing to preserve,
celebrate, and document significant programs, trends, and technological
advances and also in providing a forum on the role of media in our
interconnected world. I look forward to leading the Museum into the
future in ways that bring value and benefit to both the media industry and the
public. Together with the talented team
at the Museum, we will evolve the programs and services that
strengthen this great institution's contributions to the
culture of our country and our world.”
In addition, the Board
of Trustees has promoted Christy Carpenter to the new position of executive
vice president and chief operating officer.
Currently a vice president of the Museum, Carpenter serves as executive
director for the
Christy
Carpenter added, “I have had the pleasure of knowing Pat for six years during
my service on the Board for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Pat
has the dynamism, energy, and strategic mindset to lead the Museum through this
time of explosive technological growth in the media industry.”
Pat Mitchell comes to the
Museum from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), where she was named
president and chief executive officer in March 2000, the first woman and first
producer and journalist to hold the position.
Under Mitchell’s leadership, PBS rejuvenated the National Program
Service which is distributed to the public through 348 locally owned and
operated PBS member stations. Mitchell
also oversaw the development of many new projects, including new series for
children focusing on teaching literacy skills and celebrating diversity. She is credited with leading public
broadcasting into the digital future with such initiatives as the conversion
from analog to digital broadcasting, the launch of a high-definition PBS
channel and an on-demand and cable preschool children’s service, the growth of
PBS’s website into one of the three most visited sites on the Internet, and the
establishment of the Digital Future Initiative to help define models for public
service media using new digital technologies.
A former classroom teacher
and college instructor, Mitchell has enjoyed a three-decade career in media. Previous
to PBS, Mitchell worked for three broadcast networks, several cable channels,
and achieved success both in front of, and behind, the camera as a reporter,
news anchor, talk show host, White House and special correspondent, producer,
and executive. In the mideighties, she established her own independent production
company that produced documentaries, series, and specials for broadcast, cable,
and national syndication. In 1992,
Mitchell became an executive in charge of original productions for Ted Turner’s
cable networks. Over the next eight
years, as executive producer, her documentaries and specials received
thirty-seven Emmy Awards, five Peabody Awards, and two Academy Award nominations.
Mitchell has received
numerous awards including the Women in Cable and Telecommunications Woman of
the Year Award; the CINE Golden Eagle for Lifetime Achievement; the PROMAX
Century Award for contributions to the television industry; the Sandra Day O'Connor
Award for Leadership; and most recently, the NATPE Brandon Tartikoff Legacy
Award. In addition, Mitchell was named one
of the most influential female executives in the media by The Hollywood
Reporter and was honored as one of the first fifty women in The Museum of
Television & Radio’s She Made It
initiative.
Mitchell is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Afghan Women's Council; the vice
chair of the Sundance Institute Board; a founding member of Mikhail Gorbachev's
global environmental organization, Global Green USA; an adviser to the Center
for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Harvard University; a member of
the Mayo Clinic's Board of Trustees; and on the corporate boards Knight-Ridder,
Inc., Bank of America, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. A magna cum laude graduate of the
Christy Carpenter
has some thirty years of experience in media, marketing, and nonprofit management.
Since June 2003, she has served as a vice president of The Museum of Television
& Radio, and executive director of the
A lawyer by training, she was an
early pioneer in interactive services during the 1980s, initially participating
in Warner Cable’s interactive QUBE service; subsequently with Prodigy
Interactive Services (a venture of IBM, Sears, and CBS), as the marketing
director for the first PC-based online service designed for the mass market;
and later with Telaction, an electronic home-shopping service developed by
JCPenney. Carpenter also served as vice president and group director for
the international public relations firm Hill & Knowlton in
Early
in her career, Carpenter worked for all three branches of the federal
government, including the judiciary, where she clerked for former U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Tom C. Clark. She received her B.A. from
The Museum of
Television & Radio, with locations in
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The
Museum of Television & Radio in New York, located at 25 West 52 Street in
Manhattan, is open Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 6:00 p.m. and until
8:00 p.m. on Thursdays. The Museum of Television & Radio in
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