FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, July 15, 2019

WNED ǀ WBFO Media Contact: Heather Hare Director, Corporate Communications (716) 845.7155 • [email protected]

WNED | WBFO Prepares for Future with Staff Changes

WNED | WBFO is making changes to staffing to an even stronger future for in Buffalo and . Several positions within the non-profit company have been upgraded or modified and a Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer position has been created to address specific fundraising efforts.

“We are strategically positioning WNED | WBFO for the next five years to take advantage of fundraising, programming, and production opportunities at the local and national levels,” said Donald K. Boswell, President and Chief Executive Officer of WNED | WBFO. “Making these changes will help us with plans for new series, such as Reading Rainbow and a Blues performance production, while also increasing our binational news coverage.”

Staffing changes include:

 Sylvia Bennett, who returns to WNED | WBFO after a stint at University of California, Berkeley, will become the Senior Vice President & Chief Development Officer for WNED | WBFO on Aug. 12.

 Michael Holley, who joined WNED | WBFO a little more than a year ago, will become the Vice President of Corporate Support in the wake of the retirement of Gordon Bayliss, who was Vice President of Sales & Marketing, effective August 12th.

 Bree Bové, who began her career at WNED | WBFO in 2000 as the auction operations coordinator and has grown into many roles within Development, will become the Vice President of Membership, effective August 12th.

 Kathryn Larsen, who joined WNED | WBFO in January 2016 as Director of TV & Radio Programming and shortly after took over programming for the company’s Classical station in addition to its NPR and PBS stations, will become the Vice President of Broadcast Services, effective August 12th.

“We’re excited about our future and how our whole team at WNED | WBFO will help us tackle the challenges of a new media landscape that is more fractured by streaming and time-shifted viewing and listening [consumption] but that also opens up whole new opportunities for public broadcasting in Western and Southern ,” Boswell said. “We will continue to enlighten, inspire, and entertain our audiences with trusted and educational programming -- wherever they listen or watch.”

# # #

About WNED | WBFO The WNED | WBFO family of stations broadcasts PBS, NPR and Classical music programming throughout the Western New York and Southern Ontario regions. These high-quality programs and community outreach services inform, enlighten, entertain and educate our local and regional communities. Our member-supported stations include WNED-TV (PBS), WBFO-FM 88.7 (NPR), Classical 94.5 WNED, JazzWorks, WNED thinkbright Create and PBS KIDS 24/7. WNED-TV is also a national producer of award-winning documentaries. Additional information about WNED ǀ WBFO can be found at wned.org.