FINANCIAL INCLUSIONFinancial Inclusion
Wonya Lucas to be new CEO of Public Broadcasting Atlanta
By Maria Saporta
Wonya Lucas will be the new president and CEO of Public Broadcasting Atlanta – the entity that oversees WABE-90.1 FM and -Channel-30.
Lucas, an Atlanta native, will succeed Milton Clipper, who has been in that position since 1994. She was selected from a national search assisted by BoardWalk Consulting that ended up with 20 prospective candidates.
Wonya Lucas
Lucas has spent most of her career in the media and broadcasting industry, working for eight years at CNN and Turner Broadcasting System before going to the Weather Channel, where she served as executive vice president and general manager.
Then in 2008, she left the Weather Channel to become chief operating officer of the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel as well as the corporate marketing officer for Discovery Communications.
She then served as president and CEO of TV One from August 2011 through November 2012 before moving back to Atlanta to start her own company – Lucas Strategic Consultants. That firm focused on media strategy, content, marketing and distribution – many of the skills that she plans to bring to PBA.
“It is a blend of everything I love,” Lucas said in an interview with the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Tuesday. “I love education, especially math and science. And it’s all about Atlanta. It’s also about my love of media. I love branding as well.”
Wonya Lucas
The PBA board, chaired by Dr. Louis Sullivan, is expected to ratify Lucas’ appointment on April 13, and she will begin her new job on April 27. Attorney Kevin Ross chaired the search committee. Lucas was the unanimous choice of the search committee.
Lucas’ Atlanta roots go deep. Her late father was Bill Lucas, the first African American general manager in Major League Baseball (Atlanta Braves), and her mother is Rubye Lucas, who served on the board of Turner Broadcasting System, as well as in other civic posts.
Maria Saporta, Editor, is a longtime Atlanta business, civic and urban affairs journalist with a deep knowledge of our city, our region and state. Since 2008, she has written a weekly column and news stories for the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Prior to that, she spent 27 years with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, becoming its business columnist in 1991. Maria received her Master’s degree in urban studies from Georgia State and her Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Maria was born in Atlanta to European parents and has two young adult children.
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I am pleased to learn Milton Clipper has retired. He was a major stumbling block in resolving the duplication of services and competition between Public Broadcasting Atlanta and Georgia Public Broadcasting. A former GPB President told me during his term GPB and PBA met periodically to discuss cooperation and a potential merger but every time Clipper threw down the race card and walked out. Perhaps GPB's recent entry into metro Atlanta had something to do with Clipper's departure.
I wish Ms. Lucas well and hope she and GPB will be able to reach an agreement that benefits all public broadcasting users and supporters in metro Atlanta.Report
It's official http://saportareport.com/public-broadcasting-atlanta-names-wonya-lucas-ceo/Report