Kathleen Pavelko has been President and CEO of WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania since October 1999. WITF serves 2 million citizens in south central Pennsylvania with public television, public radio, statewide networks of public and commercial radio (Pennsylvania Public Radio and Radio PA), and production services (Media Solutions). Pavelko secured $21 million in capital campaign contributions to build the Public Media Center, which opened in April 2007. Two spectrum agreements (the lease of EBS spectrum and a channel-sharing agreement) have brought more than $65 million in assets to WITF. Ms. Pavelko launched WITF’s first daily interview program (Smart Talk) in 2008. Three multi-year, multi-partner multimedia collaborations are underway: Transforming Health (begun 2012), StateImpact PA (launched 2013) and Keystone Crossroads (from 2014). WITF’s journalism has been awarded 13 national Edward R. Murrow Awards and the duPont-Columbia Silver Baton for Multimedia Excellence.
Ms. Pavelko has also served as president of Prairie Public Broadcasting (1996-99), where she created Prairie Public Radio, North Dakota’s first statewide public radio network, and served in a variety of roles at Penn State Public Broadcasting, including as chief operating officer. She was executive producer for public affairs for West Virginia Public Broadcasting and a freelance print and broadcast journalist working in Athens and London. Ms. Pavelko taught courses in broadcast/cable history and broadcast management as an assistant professor of communications at Penn State. She has also served as a director of the Archaeological Institute of America, the Station Resource Group, America’s Public Television Stations, and Greater Public. She served on the board of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber of Commerce and currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Harrisburg Corps of the Salvation Army.
Ms. Pavelko earned a B.A. in ancient history and an M.A. in Journalism from Penn State University, certificates in non-profit management from the U.C./Berkeley and the Harvard Business School and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Elizabethtown College. She is married to Eugene Borza, professor emeritus of ancient history at Penn State. They make their home in New Cumberland.