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.

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.”

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.