WASHINGTON, D.C. — NPR has selected a seasoned technology expert to serve as its next President/Chief Executive Officer. It’s an individual who since June 2022 has been a Member of the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board and in October 2023 took the role of CEO of Web Summit.
The board of directors of NPR has selected Katherine Maher to fill the role.
Maher will begin her latest new role on March 26 and succeeds John Lansing, who had been President/CEO since 2019.
Maher’s resume includes no time spent in media. However, it is extensive. From September 2004-May 2005, she was a research intern on the Council on Foreign Relations, her first post-collegiate role. From there, she would serve as a Syria and Lebanon Associate for Eurasia Group as an intern before joining HSBC for a London-based role as an International Manager, later moving to Dusseldorf and, after that, Toronto. Two years after joining HSBC, Maher became Innovation and Communication Officer for UNICEF.
The UNICEF role ended in June 2010, which saw Maher then spend 13 months as ICT Program Officer at the National Democratic Institute. From June 2011-January 2013, she would serve as an ICT Innovation Specialist for The World Bank. After 16 months as Advocacy Director for Access Now, a job Maher took to start 2013, she would join Wikimedia Foundation, rising from Chief Communications Officer to CEO in March 2016 after two years in the prior role.
Maher left Wikimedia in April 2021. Since then she has served as a Stanford University lecturer, a Security Fellow on the Truman National Security Project, and as Board Chair of the private messaging app Signal.
“We are delighted to welcome Katherine Maher to lead NPR into its next chapter,” said KCRW in Santa Monica, Calif.-based Jennifer Ferro, who chairs the NPR board. “The board searched for a leader with the ability to reach audiences on new and existing platforms and leverage the network of local organizations that are providing high quality, relevant content to 99% of the country. Katherine is an extraordinary leader who has tackled the issues around reliable and accessible information for all.”
Maher commented, “NPR has been a lifelong part of my soundscape, expanding my worldview and stoking my curiosity. NPR inspired in me an appreciation for the power of civic institutions and a commitment to free inquiry and information. As NPR’s mission of informing America continues to grow more essential; so too does our need to reinvent and reimagine ourselves in step with our ever-changing world. I am tremendously excited to take on this challenge and join NPR as a steward of our mission and founding values of news, curiosity, and culture for a diverse, robust public trust.”
