Chief Executive Officer

New York, NY

New York Public Radio has grown from a municipal radio station into an independent, multi-business line media company with a diversified revenue model and local, national, and international reach and aspirations. Working closely with the Board of Trustees and talented and dedicated staff, the new CEO will have responsibility for the leadership of all critical strategic, operational, and business-building areas of the organization. This leader will continue to develop a collaborative and cohesive culture that prizes diversity, equity, and inclusion and the amplification of underrepresented voices. All of this must be achieved in the context of NYPR’s mission, its unwavering commitment to journalistic excellence and integrity.

The next CEO will shape the culture and lead the team that supports a collective vision and builds upon NYPR’s tremendous strengths, ensuring that the organization stays true to its mission while asserting its entrepreneurial spirit and ambition to be a leading institution in the dynamic media landscape. Effectively setting and communicating NYPR’s vision, values and aspirations for the future will be a critical component of the position.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Set and execute a strategy and roadmap that articulates how NYPR will compete and win in a media environment that grows more competitive every day.
Ensure that NYPR has the diverse team, equitable organizational structure, and inclusive culture to deliver mission-driven content in ambitious and innovative ways and the operating platform and financial strength to maintain its leadership position in news, podcasting, and classical music
Invest in and manage relationships with key stakeholders including staff, talent, listeners, donors, and trustees.
Lead all fundraising and revenue generating efforts – enhancing existing revenue streams and building new ones – to further NYPR’s mission.
Infuse the organization with a sense of energy, optimism, and pride; build a culture that promotes and amplifies underrepresented voices and creative excellence at the core of its value set.
Develop a productive working partnership with the Board and the staff, both unionized and non-unionized.
Maintain strong relationships with the larger public radio ecosystem and existing and potential media and technology partners.
Create a strategy that deepens relationships with existing member listeners while expanding the organization into previously untapped audiences.
Reinforce NYPR’s already leading position as a major cultural institution in New York City; continue to build audiences and enhance the newsroom, firmly establishing NYPR as a leading voice in “the New York Conversation.”
Be a prominent voice and advocate for public media locally, nationally, and globally.
Communicate with NYPR staff graciously, regularly and transparently.
Grow and expand our reach to the next generation audiences who reflect the diversity of our communities.

The next CEO of NYPR will build a culture of trust, inclusion and belonging within the organization and create clarity around its vision and strategy going forward. The organization requires an authentic and empathetic leader with strong listening skills and the ability to motivate, inspire and reenergize the NYPR team. Developing a robust business model and bringing the fundraising and business development skills required to sustain it, will be essential.

IDEAL EXPERIENCE

While the next CEO may come from a wide variety of backgrounds, ideally, they will have a proven track record that includes:

Building strong, healthy organizational cultures and diverse and inclusive communities, both internally and externally.
Demonstrating strategic acumen coupled with a strong mission-driven orientation.
Forming a passion for New York City and a commitment to the vibrant and diverse communities that animate the City.
Participating in journalism, media, mission-driven content, classical music, and understanding the digital landscape and its key players.
Leading organizations of meaningful scale and complexity, including developing and empowering collaborative, high-performance teams.
Generating revenue either through philanthropic fundraising or commercial business development.

CRITICAL LEADERSHIP CAPABILITIES

Strategic Leadership

In an organization operating in the fast-changing media landscape, the successful candidate will:

Create strategic clarity and, in collaboration with staff, identify and capitalize on opportunities to advance NYPR’s mission in innovative and financially sustainable ways, building support and commitment across the organization.
Build on NYPR’s powerful brand to drive new initiatives and approaches that support NYPR’s mission and enhance its ability to attract resources, both financial and human, ensuring that NYPR continues to make distinctive and significant contributions to journalism, high-quality public media, and classical music going forward.
Have a vision for how WNYC can excel in a now crowded audio & podcasting landscape.
Deeply understand – and be able to articulate – the mission of NYPR both internally and externally.
Be able to understand NYPR’s delicate balance between being a New York Station and a global voice – and build strategy accordingly.

Leading People

In an inclusive, people-driven organization, the successful candidate will:

Build a collaborative, high-performance organization where people are engaged, accountable, productive, and fulfilled.
Communicate clear expectations for individuals and teams; articulate the context for those expectations, both in terms of organizational objectives and linkages to work in other areas of the organization.
Develop, manage, focus, and empower leaders and creative talent throughout the organization.
Take a community-oriented, consultative approach to leadership, make yourself accessible to employees across all levels of the organization and create a culture of empathy, listening and transparency.
Demonstrate a long-term view and commitment to the organization. Make an effort to understand the organizational history of WNYC and use that to inform future strategy.

Driving Innovation and Adapting to Change

Given the dynamic and highly competitive media landscape and the challenges of leading an organization out of the pandemic era, the successful candidate will:

Work with staff to develop and implement post-pandemic modes of working and rebuild NYPR’s organizational culture after a long period of largely remote work for much of the staff.
Instill an entrepreneurial spirit while establishing processes and practices that encourage data-driven and mission-enhancing innovation throughout the organization.
Accelerate NYPR’s progress towards becoming an inclusive organization that is reflective of and responsive to the incredible diversity of the community it serves.

Other Personal Characteristics

Exceptional communication skills – verbal, written, and listening – both internally and externally
High EQ as well as IQ
Unwavering commitment to integrity and ethics – journalistic or otherwise

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion/2021 Race Equity Action Plan

In 2020, to help New York Public Radio better serve its communities, we set a focused and ongoing practice of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as core to our mission. This practice informs all decisions across the organization, at every level and on every team.

Central to these efforts is our Race Equity Action Plan, a set of tangible commitments for DEI work at the organization, and a roadmap for how to achieve them—thoughtfully and with haste. Having first launched the plan for Calendar Year 2021, NYPR is continually evaluating our work, and publishing a revised plan each year, based on our progress and guidance from the staff. Notable accomplishments thus far include the addition of several key HR roles responsible for equitable hiring, recruitment, and employee retention; a standardized interview and training practice to remove unconscious bias from the hiring process; and the organization-wide adoption of The Source Project, an initiative to track and improve the racial diversity of featured guests on our programs, carried out alongside our work to increase the diversity of our own staff community.

Ultimately, the work outlined in this Race Equity Action Plan represents a significant step in NYPR’s ongoing efforts to weave DEI into everything we do in a meaningful and lasting way. More on the Race Equity

Action Plan can be found here: https://nypublicradio.org/diversity-dei-overview/

Equal Opportunity

New York Public Radio is an equal opportunity employer committed to achieving the goal of equal employment opportunity for all. Applicants and employees are considered and evaluated for positions without regard to mental or physical disability, race, creed, color, religion, gender, national origin, citizenship status, age, genetic information, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, marital status, employment status or any protected federal, state or local status unrelated to the performance of the work involved.