Kate Riley Named President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Kate Riley has been named president and chief executive officer of America’s Public Television Stations. She will assume her new duties on October 1.

Riley, who has served as APTS vice president of government and public affairs since 2014 after joining the organization as director of government relations in 2010, was the unanimous choice of the APTS board of trustees.

Her selection followed an eight-month national search conducted by the board.

“Kate Riley is the ideal candidate to lead America’s Public Television Stations into the future,” said APTS board chair Franz Joachim. “She has the intelligence, the experience and the vision we need to succeed in an increasingly challenging and complex media environment, and her passion for public service will inspire us every day.”

Riley succeeds Patrick Butler, who is retiring after almost 14 years as leader of the organization.

“I’m thrilled that Kate Riley has been selected as the new president and CEO of APTS,” said outgoing president and CEO Butler. “She and I have worked closely together every day since January 2011, and Kate has been constructively involved in every aspect of our operations at Global Headquarters. This organization and the mission it pursues will be in very good hands.”

“I’m deeply honored to accept this new responsibility,” said Riley. “Local public television stations are part of the fabric of our nation, and I am thankful to the board for the privilege of serving in this role and the opportunity to broaden and strengthen support for public television. I am confident that our future holds extraordinary promise, and I am eager, along with my colleagues at APTS, to help our members succeed in serving their communities and our country as never before.”

Prior to joining APTS, Ms. Riley was legislative director for U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez (D-CA). She had previously served as legislative assistant to U.S. Representative Sam Farr (D-CA). She is a cum laude graduate of Marquette University, where she majored in political science, Spanish and Writing Intensive English.

“The search committee was fortunate to have many fine candidates to consider,” said search committee co-chairs Dolores Fernandez Alonzo, president and CEO of South Florida PBS, and David Steward II, founder and CEO of Polarity, both vice chairs of the APTS board. “But Kate’s superb work in securing federal and State funding for our stations, combined with her understanding of our system and her exciting vision of our future, made her our enthusiastic choice.”

Other members of the search committee were: board chair Joachim; DeAnne Hamilton, general manager of KBTC Public Television in Takoma, WA; former Peace Corps director Gaddi Vasquez; and former AT&T Wireless chairman and CEO John Zeglis. Alaska Public Media president and CEO and former APTS board member Ed Ulman served as a non-board advisor to the committee.

In addition to securing more than $1 billion in annual federal and State funding to support the work of public broadcasters, APTS leads strategic planning for the station community, pursues new service and revenue opportunities for member stations, leads the adoption of new technology, negotiates carriage agreements with cable television and other video platforms, manages regulatory policy, operates the Grant Center for Public Media, maintains a What Works best practices archive and a DEI resources initiative, and produces and hosts the annual Public Media Summit in Washington, D.C.