Paula Kerger
President and CEO, PBS
First recorded October 27, 2017
Paula Kerger joined PBS in March 2006 and is the longest serving president and CEO in PBS history. During her tenure, she has made particularly strong commitments to the arts, news and public affairs, high-quality educational content for children and the classroom, diversity, and the use of new digital platforms to bring public media into the lives of all Americans.
Under her leadership, PBS has been growing its audiences across genres and platforms. In the course of a year, 82% of all television households in America watch PBS, and nearly 70% of all children watch PBS.
Among her accomplishments are the pop-culture phenomenon “Downton Abbey” on Masterpiece, Ken Burns’s The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, the original American drama series “Mercy Seat,” the documentary Hamilton’s America about the Broadway smash hit musical, and acclaimed children’s programs such as “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” and “Curious George.”
In addition, Paula led the historic launch of the PBS KIDS 24/7 channel in January 2017, ensuring that PBS’ educational programming can reach children anytime and anywhere through local stations.
She is a director of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and chair of the board of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. She is regularly included on Hollywood Reporter’s “Women in Entertainment Power 100,” an annual survey of the nation’s top women executives in media. In 2005, she was named to the Women’s Forum, an organization of 300 leading women in New York’s arts and business scenes.
