Peggy O'Brien to Join Corporation for Public Broadcasting;
Will Depart Cable in the Classroom September 29
WASHINGTON , D.C. – Dr. Peggy O'Brien, Executive Director of Cable in the Classroom (CIC) since 2001, has accepted a position as Senior Vice President, Educational Programming and Services, at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and will leave her CIC post effective September 29, 2004.
O'Brien this week conveyed her decision to the CIC Board of Directors and the Board of Directors of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), under whose administrative auspices CIC operates.
“I have valued greatly the chance to work at CIC and in the cable industry,” O'Brien said in her memo to the NCTA Board. “I have been offered, however, a senior management position at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). This offers me an opportunity to oversee a substantial enterprise that is critically important to the American public. It was too good an offer to turn down.”
“We have benefited immensely from Peggy's leadership for more than three years,” said Robert Sachs, President & CEO, NCTA. “Peggy has been a wonderful partner for NCTA, successfully managing a transition that saw CIC raise its profile nationally in the policymaker and education communities. We'll miss her greatly, and we wish her the best in her new position.”
Sachs noted a number of accomplishments for CIC during O'Brien's tenure, including the creation of demonstration projects that emphasize to the education community the cable industry's technology and content; collaboration with groups such as the National PTA and the Federal Communications Commission on educating families about cable's robust resources for learning; development of the cable industry's first-ever national education awards program, Cable's Leaders in Learning Awards , which commences this coming school year; and significant work in promoting media literacy and responsible television viewing for families through the Cable Puts You in Control initiative and other projects now under way.
After O'Brien's departure, the existing CIC management team – comprising Carol Vernon , Director of Public Affairs; Carolyn Wapnick, Director of Technology; and Maria Huppe, Director of Operations – will be sharing management responsibilities on an interim basis.
“We'll continue to keep CIC in the forefront of the education community and work with all of our industry companies to sustain cable's contribution to schools, students, teachers, and families,” Sachs said.
CIC represents the cable telecommunications industry's commitment to education - to improve teaching and learning for children in schools, at home, and in their communities. This is the only industry-wide philanthropic initiative of its kind; since 1989, 8,500 cable companies and 39 cable networks have provided free access to commercial-free, educational cable content and new technologies to 81,000 public and private schools.
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