Executive General Manager

University of Wisconsin Madison • Madison, WI

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio seek an exceptional, visionary leader for a new Executive General Manager (EGM) position. The EGM will help lead Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) and PBS Wisconsin, two of our nation’s most respected public media brands, through a period of significant transformation into an even more successful future. WPR and PBS Wisconsin are services of Wisconsin Public Media (WPM), a division of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the Educational Communications Board (ECB), an independent State of Wisconsin agency. Our award-winning services reach communities throughout Wisconsin with trusted journalism, educational resources, history and cultural programming, community events, and public service. A central responsibility of the Executive General Manager is leading WPM’s ongoing evolution integrating distinct radio and television structures under a shared vision and leadership framework. The EGM leads the alignment and collaboration across content, audience development, technology, operations, and service delivery, ensuring WPM remains innovative, responsive, and financially sustainable in a rapidly evolving media environment. The EGM ensures WPM sets clear priorities centering the needs and interests of Wisconsin audiences. The EGM champions a culture of accountability, transparency, innovation, and continuous improvement. They guide their leadership team through change while maintaining WPM’s commitment to editorial integrity, public trust, regulatory compliance, and exceptional service to audiences. The EGM operates within a complex public-service environment reporting jointly to the Executive Director of WPM and the Executive Director of ECB to leverage the strengths of both institutions and advance public media service throughout the state. Successful candidates for the position will be proven transformational leaders with experience driving decisive organizational change and building a unified culture to evolve a public service mission. They will be mission-driven, committed to stewardship, innovation, editorial integrity, and meeting community needs. They will be adaptive, transparent, and skilled at fostering accountability, continuous improvement, and agility amid changing media and audience landscapes.

Requirements

• Executive Leadership: Experience leading in a complex media enterprise, preferably a public media organization.
• Media Savvy: Deep understanding of audience trends, technology, regulatory compliance, and public media structures.
• Resource Management: Experience developing and working within budgets, managing human, financial and other resources thoughtfully.
• Change Management: Experience successfully leading teams through significant change.
• Strategic Vision: Experience building high level strategic vision and aligning decision making across the organization to best serve audiences.
• Operational Excellence: Experience aligning systems, workflows and talent across a complex media organization.
• Stakeholder Diplomacy: Comfort working across dual-reporting lines, with boards and within university and state governance structures.
• Philanthropic Disposition: Proven success representing the philanthropic needs of an organization and stewarding donors.
• Bachelor's Degree

Nice To Haves

• The required qualifications marked with an asterisk will be assessed through your narrative submitted with your application.

Responsibilities

• Drives strategic planning, aligns operational priorities with strategic vision, evaluates programs against the unit mission, vision, and values, and builds a sustainable and relevant unit and service
• Develops the unit's budget for licensee review and approval, driving strategic investment in facilities, personnel, projects, and new initiatives
• Supports revenue goals and drives revenue generation across platforms, including priority development activities, solicits support, and stewards relationships with high impact funders, supports advocacy efforts, collaborates with donation and gifts board on budgeting, compliance, strategic investments, advocacy and community engagement
• Communicates and sustains editorial guidelines and protects the unit's reputation, sustains editorial integrity and editorial independence, advances plans to enhance the unit's public profile and community support
• Ensures compliance with broadcast/digital standards, institutional policies, and relevant federal and state laws and regulations including broadcasting rules and regulations
• Collaborates with leadership on content delivery, public safety, and emergency alert systems for the state's communication infrastructure
• Exercises supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees
• Serves as a liaison to internal and external stakeholder groups representing interests of the unit and fostering community and educational partnerships

Benefits

• generous paid time off
• competitively priced health/dental/vision/life insurance
• tax-advantaged savings accounts
• participation in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive