Board of Broadcasting Governors

The Board is bi-partisan and composed of nine members with expertise in the fields of mass communications, broadcast media, or international affairs. Eight members are appointment by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The ninth, the Secretary of State, serves ex officio.

Board of Broadcasting Governors

Meetings and Guest Panels

Special guest panelists throughout the year included Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speech- writing, Ben Rhodes; journalist and producer Soledad O’Brien; Washington Bureau Chief for Al Arabiya News, Hisham Melhem; Washington Bureau Chief for Al-Jazeera International, Abderrahim Foukara; documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, marketing executive Frank Cooper III, and media executives Ben Silverman, Charlie Corwin and Howard Thomas Owens.

Board meetings and related documents are available for viewing online, bbg.gov/boardmeetings.

Leadership and Committees

In 2014 the Board’s Special Committee on the Creation of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of U.S. International Media completed its work of selecting and appointing a CEO and director. This has been a key objective of the BBG and the Administration, and supported by the Office of Inspector General, to improve management and efficiency of BBG operations and to mitigate the challenges of a part-time board.

Respected journalist and media executive Andrew Lack served as the first-ever CEO and director of the agency from January to March 2015. In March, BBG’s Director of Global Operations André Mendes was named Interim CEO and Director upon Lack’s unforeseen return to NBC News.

The Board’s Special Committee on the Future of Shortwave Radio Broadcasting conducted a comprehensive review of the efficacy of shortwave radio as a distribution platform. Taking an audience-first approach, the Committee, which was chaired by Governor Matt Armstrong, issued its report in August, “To Be Where the Audience Is: The Future of Shortwave.” The Board meets regularly throughout the year to discuss the agency’s performance, review agency policies and provide strategic direction. A new board meeting structure includes an in-depth look at each BBG network and a series of panel discussions to provide platforms for discussion and innovation. These panels covered topics from perceptions of the United States throughout the Middle East, democracy in Latin America, and digital storytelling techniques as a means of engaging audiences in rapidly changing media environments.

Governors

Jeff Shell, Chairman

Jeff Shell is chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment.

He previously served as chairman of NBC Universal International from 2011-2013 and as president of Comcast Programming Group from 2005 to 2011. Prior to joining Comcast, Shell held a number of positions, including CEO of Gemstar TV Guide International and President of the FOX Cable Networks Group. As president of the FOX Cable Networks, he oversaw the operations of FOX’s entertainment and sports cable programming businesses. He currently serves on the board of the National Constitution Center. Shell earned a B.S. in Economics and Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Shell is the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors and chairs the BBG’s Advisory Committee and Special Committee on the Creation of a CEO of U.S. International Media. He also chairs the boards of directors for the BBG’s grantee networks.

He has served as Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors since August 2013.

Matthew Armstrong

Matthew C. Armstrong is an author, speaker, and strategist on issues related to public diplomacy.

In 2011, he served as executive director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. Previously, Armstrong

was an adjunct professor of public diplomacy at the Annenberg School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Southern California. In 2010, he founded and published a blog on public diplomacy and strategic communication. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Diplomacy Council, a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies and the National Press Club. Armstrong earned a B.A. and an M.P.D. from the University of Southern California.

Armstrong chairs the Special Committee on Voice of America in the 21st Century and is a member of the Advisory Committee, the Special Committee on Internet Anti-Censorship (IAC)
and the Special Committee on the Creation of a CEO of U.S. International Media. He also served as the chair of the Special Committee on the Future of Shortwave Radio Broadcasting.

He has served on the Broadcasting Board of Governors since August 2013.

Ryan Crocker

Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker is dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University —a position from which he had taken a leave of absence to serve as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012.

Crocker is also the James Schlesinger Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia. Prior to resuming his position as dean, Ambassador Crocker was a Kissinger Senior Fellow at Yale University. His 37-year career in the Foreign Service included service as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Board of Trustees of Whitman College. Ambassador Crocker is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service. He earned a B.A. from Whitman College.

Crocker served on the Special Committee on the Future of Shortwave Radio Broadcasting and the Special Committee on IAC.

He has served on the Broadcasting Board of Governors since August 2013.

John Kerry

On February 1, 2013, John Forbes Kerry became the 68th Secretary of State of the United States.

Previously, Mr. Kerry served 28 years in the United States Senate, with the last four as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

As a senator Mr. Kerry was a leader on key foreign policy and national security issues facing the United States, including nuclear nonproliferation and global climate change. Prior to chairing the committee, Mr. Kerry chaired the Asia and Middle East subcommittees where he authored and passed major legislation on international drug trafficking, international money laundering, humanitarian aid, and climate change, and he helped negotiate the agreement establishing the United Nations tribunal to prosecute war crimes in Cambodia.

Mr. Kerry is represented on the Board by Richard Stengel, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

Susan McCue

Susan McCue is President of Message Global, a strategic advocacy firm she founded in 2008 for social action campaigns.

McCue was the founding President and CEO of The ONE Campaign to combat extreme global poverty and was Chief of Staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from 1999 to 2007. Before that she held numerous communications positions in government and campaigns.

She has served as the Vice Chair of Humanity United and as member of the Council on Foreign Relations. A New Jersey native, McCue is a graduate of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., with degrees in economics and journalism.

McCue served on numerous BBG committees, including most recently as a member of the Special Committee on the Creation of a CEO of International Media.

McCue served on the Broadcasting Board of Governors from July 2010 until May 2014.

Michael Meehan

After 23 years of work in the U.S. Congress, congressional and presidential campaigns, Meehan for the past six years has built a successful communications strategy and public relations firm, VennSquared Communications. As president and CEO, Meehan’s firm provides strategic communications for dozens of Fortune 500 companies, foundations, trade associations and political and issue campaigns. On Capitol Hill, Meehan has served in senior roles for U.S. Senators John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, Maria Cantwell and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and Congressman Vic Fazio and John Olver.

Meehan has served on numerous BBG committees, including the Advisory Committee and the Special Committee on the Future of Shortwave Radio Broadcasting.

Meehan has served on the Broadcasting Board of Governors since July 2010. His appointment to the Board ended on December 29, when Karen Kornbluh was sworn-in to succeed him.

Kenneth Weinstein

Kenneth Weinstein has been President and CEO of Hudson Institute since 2011. Since joining Hudson Institute in 1999, he has held several other positions, including Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Senior Fellow, and Director of the Washington Office. From 1996 to 1998, he was the Director of the Government Reform Project at the Heritage Foundation, and from 1994 to 1996, he was Director of Research at the New Citizenship Project. He served on the National Council of the Humanities from 2006 to 2012 and was appointed to the D.C. Advisory Board to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 2010. Weinstein received a B.A. from the University of Chicago, an M.Phil. from the Institut d’ Études Politiques de Paris, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Weinstein serves as a member of the Advisory Committee and Special Committee on the Creation on a CEO of U.S. International Media. He chairs the Special Committee on IAC, and also served on the Special Committee on the Future of Shortwave Radio Broadcasting.

He has served on the Broadcasting Board of Governors since September 2013.

Newly Appointed Governors

Dr. Leon Aron

Dr. Leon Aron is Resident Scholar and Director of Russian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a position he has held since 1993. He was a weekly Contributor at the Voice of America’s Russian language radio and television show Gliadya iz Ameriki (Looking from America) from 1990 to 2004. Dr. Aron was previously an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University from 1994 to 1996 and a Senior Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation from 1987 to 1992. He was awarded the Peace Fellowship from the U.S. Institute of Peace from 1992 to 1993. Dr. Aron received a B.A. from Moscow State Pedagogical Institute and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

He has served on the Broadcasting Board of Governors since December 2014.

Michael W. Kempner

Michael W. Kempner is the Founder, President, and CEO of MWW, a public relations firm he founded in 1986. He is board member of Goodwill Industries International and a Founding Board Member of ConnectOne Bancorp. He served on the White House Council for Community Solutions from 2010 to 2012. In 2013, he was named Agency Leader of the Year by PR News, Executive of the Year by American Business Awards, and Agency Professional of the Year and Communications Professional of the Year by Bulldog Stars of PR. Mr. Kempner received a B.S. from American University.

He has served on the Broadcasting Board of Governors since December 2014.

Karen Kornbluh

Ambassador Karen Kornbluh is the Executive Vice President of External Affairs for Nielsen, responsible for global public policy, privacy strategy, and corporate social responsibility. Prior to joining Nielsen, Kornbluh was the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 2009 -2012. Previously, she was Policy Director for then Senator Barack Obama. In the Clinton Administration, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Treasury and Director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Federal Communications Commission. Additionally, Kornbluh founded the New America Foundation’s Work and Family Program and is a senior fellow for Digital Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. She has a bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College and a Master of Public Policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

She has served on the Broadcasting Board of Governors since December 2014.

Broadcasting Board of Governors Background Image Captions

BBG Chairman Jeff Shell presents an award for Alhurra’s 10th Anniversary at the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. MBN
BBG Storytelling Panel October, 2014 with Ben Silverman, Frank Cooper III, Morgan Spurlock, Soledad O’Brien, Charlie Corwin, Howard Thomas Owens.
BBG Governor Matthew Armstrong in Ukraine with then-RFE/RL President Kevin Klose, January 2014 . RFE/RL
BBG Governors Karen Kornbluh and Kenneth Weinstein, December Board meeting. BBG

BBG.gov