PBS SoCal Announces New Leadership for Board of Directors With Five New Members Added
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JP Shields
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Los Angeles, Calif. – March 6, 2024 –PBS SoCal, Southern California’s flagship PBS station, today announced its leadership for the Board of Directors as well as the election of five new members. The announcement revealed that global consumer products veteran and former MGA Entertainment President
Anne Gates has stepped up to the role of Chair of the Board of Directors, while Principal of True North Charitable Advising’s Susan Erburu Reardon has agreed to serve as Vice Chair. Gates will succeed arts philanthropist and entertainment business leader Louise Bryson, who stepped down after almost three years as Chair and continues to serve as a Board Member. New Board of Directors members include Global Head of Programming and Originals for Pinterest Nadine Zylstra, CEO of Baker Media, Inc. Bridget Baker, President and CEO of Segerstrom Center for the Arts Casey Reitz, global business leader Nairi Gardiner and Partner at Fox Rothschild, LLP Heidy Vaquerano.
“We are excited to have Anne Gates and Susan Reardon take these leadership roles for this dedicated group of community and business leaders. Their efforts are invaluable to our Southern California flagship PBS station in our efforts to grow and pursue our mission to serve Southern California using the power of public media to serve our community,” said Andrew Russell, President and CEO of PBS SoCal. “The new members who are joining the Board are dynamic professionals whose leadership and commitment will help strengthen and expand our efforts in this exciting time for our organization.”
“It has been a pleasure to welcome each of these individuals who bring their unique perspective and expertise to this Board that is essential to our mission in public media: to educate, engage and inspire our audiences,” commented Board Chair Anne Gates. “This exceptional group of people will bring a rich diversity of perspectives and experiences and play a critical role in guiding our organization forward.”
Anne Gates has served as Vice Chair of the Board for the past two years and has been in global consumer products businesses for over 35 years with roles as President, MGA Entertainment (the largest privately held toy company in the United States) as well as Executive Vice President and CFO of The Walt Disney Company’s Consumer Products Division. Additionally, Gates was the Managing Director for Disney Consumer Products Europe and Emerging Markets based in London. She also worked for Pepsi, in both the US and European markets, Bear Stearns (VP, Investment Banking), AT&T (Marketing) and Bell Labs (Research). She is currently also on Boards representing Save the Children, Kroger, Tapestry Inc., the Raymond James Financial Board, Cadre, the UC Berkeley Foundation, the Packard Foundation, Columbia University Engineering School and Salzburg Global Seminar (SGS). She has served on additional international Boards that include German entertainment company Super RTL. Gates was named to the Power List of Britain’s 100 most influential black people. She received her MS degree from the Engineering School at Columbia University, where she also completed post-graduate work. She has her BA in Applied Mathematics from UC Berkeley.
Susan Reardon is Principal of True North Charitable Advising, which she has established to provide philanthropic advice to individuals and consulting services to nonprofit organizations, with a particular focus on arts and culture and public media organizations. Reardon previously served as Director, Gift Planning of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (“LA Phil”) from September 2013 to April 2022. In her almost a decade with the LA Phil, she created and managed a reinvigorated legacy giving program where she had an overall responsibility for all solicitation, documentation, recognition and stewardship of gifts, working with donors and their financial and legal advisors. Reardon was a nonprofit executive for 15 years with KCET (now part of PBS SoCal) joining in 1997 as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and eventually shifting roles in December 2010 to Chief Development Officer, with responsibility for management of KCET’s fundraising efforts, including planned giving, major gifts, foundations and government grants, membership, corporate underwriting, and special events. She has over 40 years of experience as an attorney, including with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she practiced law for seventeen years and was a firm litigation partner. Her numerous community activities include serving on the Board of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Board of Directors for Lorelei Ensemble, Idyllwild Arts Foundation and the Pfaffinger Foundation. Reardon was recently elected to the Board of Directors for America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) and will remain Chair of PBS SoCal’s Advancement Committee.
Following is background on the newly elected Board members:
Bridget Baker
Bridget Baker is a media CEO and former President of NBCUniversal Inc.'s cable and broadcast subscription revenue business, a multibillion-dollar portfolio she oversaw from 2006 to 2013. Baker had a distinguished 23-year career at the company, where she was instrumental in the development and launch of CNBC, MSNBC, the Olympic Games on cable, and in 2005, the company's first ever employee resource groups. As a top executive and member of the Management Committee, Baker was at the forefront of key business initiatives that ranged from fifty-billion dollars of corporate acquisitions to the creation of Hulu.
Baker serves as an independent director on the board of entertainment subscription platform, LiveOne, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVO), where she is a member of the Committees on Nominating and Governance and Compensation. From 2019 to 2023, she was the only woman to serve on the board of Edge Networks, an early-stage wireless company, and chaired the Nominating and Governance Committee. Baker was the only woman elected to the board of GCI Alaska, where she was Vice Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee and one of three directors named to the Special Committee for shareholders, at the time of the company's sale to Liberty Broadband (Nasdaq: LBRDA). She served as an advisor to subsidiary Denali Media, owner of broadcast stations around Alaska and was pivotal in establishing the company’s first and only employee resource group, GCI Women’s Network. Baker is also on the boards of Syndeo Institute and Pitzer College, where she earned her B.A. in Political Studies.
Baker was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame in 2020 and is the only female member of the Cable TV Pioneers Class of 2008. She is a recipient of the Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership from the National Cable Television Association and the Distinguished Alumni Award from her alma mater.
With roots in Alaska’s remote capital city of Juneau, where her interest in public media was first sparked, Baker began her career on Capitol Hill as an aide to the late U.S. Senator Ted Stevens.
Nairi Gardiner
Nairi Gardiner brings a strong command of strategic considerations, business challenges and financial acumen within the rapidly evolving media, entertainment, licensing, consumer products and retail industries worldwide. She is experienced with internal controls and GAAP as practiced on a global scale, qualified as an Audit Committee Financial Expert (ACFE), able to lead audit and enterprise risk management committees.
Gardiner’s expertise overseeing large-scale transformations that leverage cross-functional teams and require a culture shift, coupled with her experience building new business and operating models while evaluating risk and capital allocations, make her a trusted and highly valued thought partner to global companies. In short, she enables organizations to bring their vision to life.
During her accomplished career at Warner Bros. and WarnerMedia, Gardiner served on the Executive Leadership Team of several operating units, where she led new market entries and strategic global transformations, drove innovation, developed best-in-class partnerships and modernized legacy business systems. Under her leadership, the business delivered global growth of high double-digit CAGR, 23%+ margin improvement, 2.5x profit growth, 3x greater consumer touchpoints and enhanced DTC impact enterprise-wide. Gardiner also championed DE&I initiatives and actively mentored associates to develop the next generation of leaders.
A lifelong learner, her passion is exploring the history and unique evolution of world cultures through travel, food and books. She enjoys sharing her diverse interests to create special experiences for family and friends celebrating milestone moments.
Casey Reitz
Casey Reitz is President and CEO of Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the largest, innovative, and renowned multi-disciplinary nonprofit arts organization in Orange County. He joined the Center in December 2019, a few months before the world went into lockdown facing a pandemic like no other. Despite the challenges throughout these tumultuous times, his steadfast leadership saw the Center safely and securely through the pandemic. His effective communication and determination maintained a solid financial footing keeping the Center running and reopening; welcoming patrons safely back to enjoy live performances. His forward-thinking secured ABT as the Official Dance Company of Segerstrom Center for the Arts and launched the Headliners and Speaker series. His life-long love of the performing arts drives his vision to build an inclusive, creative and impactful arts community where everyone is welcome.
Prior to Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Reitz served as the Executive Director of Second Stage Theater, one of the leading non-profit theater companies in New York City dedicated to the production of adventurous contemporary plays and musicals. Reitz was responsible for all administrative, marketing, fundraising and financial efforts. During his nine years at Second Stage, he successfully led the acquisition, renovation and re-opening of Broadway's Helen Hayes Theater. With the launching of the Hayes, Second Stage became only the 4th non-profit with a permanent home on Broadway. The designs by David Rockwell and the Rockwell Group for the 106-year-old landmarked theater featured extraordinary improvements to ADA access, usability and comfort for artists and patrons as well as an innovative visual style. The project achieved LEED Gold status. He not only expanded the company to Broadway but also oversaw its significant growth, tripling the company’s annual budget while retiring its accumulated deficit. During his tenure at Second Stage, the Hayes Theater was the proud home of the commercial runs of Tony winner “The Humans” by Stephen Karam and Tony nominee “What the Constitution Means to Me” by Heidi Schreck.
Before coming to Second Stage, Reitz was the Director of Development at The Public Theater. He was responsible for all contributed support representing 70% of the Public's annual revenue, which sustained all activities at its landmark five-theater downtown venue that includes Joe's Pub and the world-famous Free Shakespeare in Central Park. Other positions have included the Director of Individual Giving at the Manhattan Theatre Club, the Director of Development at Actor's Express in Atlanta, Georgia and Consultant for Webb Management Services, an Arts Management Consulting Firm in New York. Reitz has also served as an Associate Consultant at the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland and has been a guest lecturer at Yale University, Columbia University, Brooklyn College, New York University and the University of Alabama.
A three-time nominee, Reitz won a Tony Award® for Best Musical Producer of “Dear Evan Hansen.” Previously he was a member of the League of Resident Theatres. Currently, he is a member of the Broadway League, a member of the Performing Arts Center Consortium and is a Tony Awards voter. In 2021, he was named one of the most influential individuals in Orange County Business Journal’s OC500. In May 2022, Modern Luxury Riviera Magazine named him one of the Top 50 Power Players in Orange County.
Reitz holds an MFA in Theater Management from Yale University and a BA in Theatre from the University of Alabama. When he is away from the Center, he can be found spending time exploring the many adventures sunny Southern California has to offer.
Heidy Vaquerano
A partner in the Los Angeles office of Fox Rothschild LLP, Heidy Vaquerano provides strategic advice and representation on a wide variety of intellectual property and transactional matters to clients in the music, technology and entertainment industries. Clients rely on Vaquerano to review, negotiate and enforce agreements covering music publishing and recording, live tours and merchandising as well as NFTs, web3, metaverse and software licensing along with a full range of other critical business matters
An experienced entertainment attorney who provides advice and representation on a broad range of intellectual property and transactional matters, Vaquerano reviews master use and synchronization licenses, marketing and promotion agreements, as well as work for hire agreements, merchandising agreements and production agreements. She also handles a wide range of deals related to all aspects of live tours, including sponsorships, personnel, marketing and promotion as well as photography and video licenses. In addition, Vaquerano registers recordings with the Copyright Office and performance rights organization, and handles copyright, trademark and name and likeness licensing.
Her clients have included Grammy®-nominated musicians, actors, global merchandise companies, film and television producers, writers, production companies, independent record labels and tech startups.
Heidy serves as a professor at various Los Angeles area colleges, designing courses that integrate passion for technology, entertainment and new media and its associated legal components. She is a sought-after speaker, and has lectured at MIDEM in Cannes, Silicon Beach Fest, Techweek LA and Innovate LA.
In 2023, Heidy Vaquerano was named to Billboard Magazine's Top Music Lawyers list, Variety’s Dealmakers Impact Report and the Imagen Foundation’s Influential Latinos in Media list. In 2022, she was selected to a list of "Hollywood's New Leaders" by Variety, named a Cryptocurrency / Blockchain / Fintech Trailblazer by The National Law Journal and was named among the "Women of Influence: Attorneys" by Los Angeles Business Journal. 2021 honors included being named among the "Top Women Lawyers" by Daily Journal and was among the "Top Lawyers Under 40" by the Hispanic National Bar Association (2021). Prior to joining Fox Rothschild, she worked as a senior attorney in the entertainment & intellectual property practice.
A graduate of Southwestern Law School, where she sits on the board of trustees, Vaquerano has served as member of the advisory boards of SXSW Pitch and is active in the non-profit tech community in Los Angeles. She is an active member with Women in Film, Women in Music and the National Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Nadine Zylstra
Nadine Zylstra is the Global Head of Programming and Originals for Pinterest. Her team is the editorial voice for the visual inspiration platform that serves over 498 million active users every month. In her time at Pinterest, she has launched their first linear streaming series, inked strategic deals with publishers like Conde Nast, Dotdash Meredith, Rolling Stone and Billboard and built their originals division from the ground up.
Previous to her current role, Zylstra was the Global Head of Originals for YouTube and the visionary behind all original content produced for Kids, Families, Learning and Impact on YouTube. In her role, she pioneered a content strategy that enabled the launch of more than 100 original series in four years, amassing over 2.6B views and driving success for priority business units including YouTube Premium, YouTube Kids, YouTube Learning and Impact, The Black Voices Fund and The Kids and Family Fund.
Prior to YouTube, she served as Vice President of Sesame Street Production and Programming as well as Supervising Producer of “Sesame Street.” Perhaps her most significant impact to “Sesame Street” was spearheading the ‘Format Overhaul’ which resulted in updating the 45-year-old hour long format to the new half-hour format and redesigned the street itself.
Zylstra was named to Marie Claire’s Inaugural Annual Power List in 2023. Her body of work has been recognized with more than 85 nominations and 30 awards, including Peabody, Prix Jeunesse, Emmy®, PGA, Gracie and GLAAD Awards. Some of her most acclaimed projects include ‘The Age of AI with Robert Downey Jr,’ ‘BTS: Burn the Stage’ from the K-Pop sensation BTS and ‘Dear Class of 2020’ (which featured more than 150 celebrities including Barack and Michelle Obama, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and many more).
Zylstra remains passionate about Public Media. She serves as a Strategic Advisor to CPB and could not be more excited to join the PBS SoCal Board.
PBS SoCal is currently governed by a Board of Directors, currently with 32 members, that is responsible for governing and setting policy for PBS SoCal. In addition, the Board manages the business affairs of the organization, including its two offices in Los Angeles County and Orange County. The Board meets for regularly scheduled meetings several times a year, and its committees meet as necessary. Meetings of the Board and its committees are open to the public, though some portions of meetings may be held in closed session. Board members of PBS SoCal serve on a volunteer basis and may serve three consecutive three-year terms.
The full Board of Directors roster also includes: Deborah Arnold, Gordon M. Bava, JoAnn Bourne, Larry Chung, Richard Cook, Paul A. Gomez, Helen Hernandez, Todd Hollander, Bill Imada, Janet Jones, Joanne Kozberg, Ellen Lee, Mary A. Lyons, Robert V. “Bobby” McDonald, William S. O’Hare, Michael Riley, Robert Romney, Dr. James Rosser, Basit Sheikh, Leticia Solis, Charles Steinmetz, Dr. Marilyn Sutton, Val Zavala and David J. Zuercher.
About PBS SoCal
PBS SoCal uses the power of public media for good, strengthening the civic fabric of Southern California and providing our community with an essential connection to a wider world. As a local, donor/member-supported non-profit organization, PBS SoCal manages 7 channels — including 2 primary broadcast channels, PBS SoCal and PBS SoCal Plus as well as 5 digital subchannels. With a commitment to make content available anytime and anywhere for free, PBS SoCal is reaches nearly 19M viewers in the region with programming that reflects the diversity of Southern California and showcases the full schedule of beloved and trusted PBS content spanning Education, News, Environment and Arts & Culture. PBS SoCal programming is available to viewers over-the-air, on all key streaming platforms via the free PBS App and PBS KIDS App. PBS SoCal also sparks the sharing of ideas at in-person cultural events and community conversations as well as prepares children for kindergarten and beyond by bringing bilingual, hands-on learning experiences to the community for free.