CPBN is proud to introduce several new appointments and promotions to the leadership team, to further execute on the organization’s new promise.
HARTFORD, Conn. (August 11, 2015) – The Connecticut Public, has recently engaged the nation’s top digital design experts and the CPBN team to prototype and begin testing the next generation of public media products. This organizational transformation—based in what is known as “human-centered design”— is in response to the shifting and ever-competitive landscape of media.
To advance this work CPBN utilized a Knight Foundation grant, which resulted in an organizational study led by IDEO, a Palo Alto-based firm renowned for their work transforming organizations. The result of that study is a new audience promise to be one of the bravest public media organizations in the world.
The next step in advancing this organizational change meant that CPBN would rally a number of individuals, experts in their diverse fields—to begin to execute on the organization’s new promise. To that end, CPBN is proud to introduce several new appointments and promotions to the leadership team. These include: Anthony Hayes, Senior Vice President of Engagement; Dean Miller, Senior Vice President of Content; Allison Lantieri, Senior Vice President of Branding; Donna Sodipo, Senior Vice President of Education; and Matt Rose, Vice President of Media and Information Technology.
Anthony V. Hayes is an award-winning public media professional with more than thirty years of experience in engaging audiences. He joins CPBN from WAMU 88.5 (American University Radio) in Washington, D.C, where he was the Director of Corporate Marketing and Sponsorship Sales. His career in media began in New York commercial radio, and he has been associated with public media since 1999. In 2009, Anthony was named Development Professional of the Year by the Public Radio Association of Development Officers. In his new role, Hayes will lead corporate underwriting, audience care and engagement, and grants and foundations initiatives.
“This is an extraordinary tipping point in CPBN’s rich history,” says Hayes. “It is my sincere honor to be associated with an organization committed to exploring hard topics and shared curiosities; focused on empowering its audience to action; and brave enough to challenge itself to make a positive difference and leave a lasting impact.”
Dean Miller brings more than thirty years of experience as a journalist, teacher and non-profit director dedicated to building informed and engaged communities. He comes to this role with an intense focus on the needs of the audience. Prior to joining CPBN Miller was Director of the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism. During his tenure, the course spread to 65 university and community college campuses across the U.S., plus public school systems in more than 30 states. Before that, Miller was an editor and reporter in the northern Rockies for 25 years. Selected for a Harvard Nieman Fellowship in 2007, Miller studied documentary film-making, management and comparative religion. He will lead CPBN’s content team, which serves Connecticut’s news and information needs on WNPR, CPTV (Connecticut Public Television which includes CPTV4U, CPTV Kids and CPTV Sports,) and through the organization’s live events.
“I’m honored to join The Connecticut Public Broadcasting team, with its reputation for excellence and integrity in service to the public interest,” says Miller. “The leadership team has undertaken a bold project: to re-think and re-make public media. The content team has much to teach me about their crafts and deep understanding of Connecticut. I look forward to learning from them and learning from CPBN’s audience and partners.”
Allison Lantieri brings more than twenty years of strategic branding, inbound marketing and organizational culture change expertise to her role. She comes to CPBN from Digital Benefit Advisors (DBA), based in Atlanta, Georgia, where she was the Director of Field Marketing. In that role she led marketing operations for 27 insurance broker offices across the country. Prior to DBA, Allison was Principal of Marketing and Communications for Ovation Benefits in Farmington, Connecticut and Director of Marketing and Communications for the Institute for Caregiver Education in Chambersburg, PA. In her new role she will lead branding, marketing and communications for the organization.
“The brand loyalty that public media enjoys is unparalleled,” says Lantieri. “I am thrilled to be in a position to help steward that loyalty in a way that will help the organization and its talented team grow and respond to the changing world of media and the audiences that consume it.”
Donna Sodipo brings over twenty years of leadership experience in the fields of education, youth development, and nonprofit management. For that last four years, she has led all of CPBN’s educational programming, curriculum development, fundraising, strategic communications, and community relations for the Education department. Here, she designed and launched the network’s first innovative “Learning Lab” – a digital media facility for students and community partners. Prior to her work at CPBN, she served as Vice President of Integrated Programs and as Director of Talent Development and Experiential Learning at Our Piece of the Pie, Inc. (OPP) in Hartford.
“CPBN is at the forefront of leveraging the power of public media to invent bold educational initiatives, like the Learning Lab, to engage, inspire, and empower generations of learners,” says Sodipo. “I am fully dedicated to providing comprehensive programs that continue to shift the educational paradigm and expand CPBN’s new vision statewide.”
Matthew Rose is a Connecticut native and veteran technology innovator. He has spent the greater part of the last ten years successfully guiding IT initiatives in the public and private sectors. For the last two years, he has worked at CPBN to streamline and upgrade the IT infrastructure and applications as the Director of Information Technology. A relative newcomer to the public media space, he brings with him a fresh perspective brought from the commercial and education sectors. Previous at Glastonbury Public Schools, he helped bring significant change and upgrades in technology to the district.
“The media industry is at a crossroads in a landscape defined by commercial companies of enormous wealth and power,” says Rose. “Our organization faces the same difficult decisions that affect the entire industry of content creation and distribution. I am confident that our experience as a member-supported organization will be invaluable in the years to come as the media industry changes, and I look forward to integrating new and emerging technologies into our overall strategy.”
“This newly-formed senior team brings significant expertise and passion to making our vision—that of becoming one of the bravest public media organizations in the world—a reality,” says Dean Orton, CPBN’s Chief Operating Officer. This year, CPBN engaged Stanton Chase to lead the national search for three of these roles that culminated with the selection of Hayes, Miller, and Lantieri as the organization’s first Senior Vice Presidents of Engagement, Content and Branding.
About Connecticut Public Broadcasting
The Connecticut Public (CPBN) is home to CPTV, WNPR and the Learning Lab. CPTV is a locally and nationally recognized producer and presenter of quality public television programming, including original documentaries, public affairs and educational programming. WNPR is an affiliate of National Public Radio, Public Radio International and American Public Media. The Learning Lab serves high school seniors through a partnership with Hartford Public Schools and the Journalism and Media Academy Magnet School. It is also home to the Institute for Advanced Media, a program that provides the men and women of our armed forces and adult learners an opportunity to learn skills necessary for the 21st century digital media workplace. For more information, visit cpbn.org.