New York Public Radio Welcomes Three New Board Members and New Board Leadership
John Rose Named Board Chair, Anna Quindlen and Carl Weisbrod Named Vice Chairs Gary Knell, Jeremy Kuriloff, and Jenna Weiss-Berman Join as New Trustees
Gary Knell, Jeremy Kuriloff and Jenna Weiss-Berman
(New York, NY – July 2, 2025) – New York Public Radio (NYPR) today announced the appointment of new leadership and three new members to its Board of Trustees.
Longtime NYPR Trustee John Rose was named Chair of the Board. Rose is a Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he served for 20 years as a Managing Director and Senior Partner and led the Global Media, US Private Equity, and Northeast State and Local practices. He is also a co-founder and active Board member of Tenetic, a leading syndicated data services company in the TV and radio space; an Executive Advisor at Rockefeller Global Investment Banking; an Adjunct Faculty member in Media at NYU Stern; and on the Boards of the Metropolitan Opera, Playwrights Horizons, and the Citizens Budget Commission.
The Board’s new Vice Chairs are Anna Quindlen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, columnist and author; and Carl Weisbrod, a former Chairman of the New York City Planning Commission and a national authority on city planning, affordable housing policy and urban development.
NYPR also welcomes three new members to its Board of Trustees. Gary Knell is a deeply experienced media executive whose career includes impactful tenures as President and CEO of Sesame Workshop, NPR, and National Geographic. Jenna Weiss-Berman is an esteemed leader in the podcasting space who co-founded Pineapple Street Studios, and is currently Head of Podcasts at Paper Kite Productions, the film and television production company founded by Amy Poehler. Jeremy Kuriloff is Managing Director and Partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), working at the intersection of consumer, media, and private equity.
“In my 30 years as a Trustee at NYPR, I’ve had the privilege of watching this organization become more innovative, vital, and essential to our city and our audiences,” said John Rose. “I’m honored to step into this new role as Chair at such a critical time for public broadcasting and to work alongside such a brilliant and dedicated group of leaders to protect and advance NYPR’s mission. Gary, Jenna, and Jeremy’s deep experience in the essence of what we do will be invaluable as we move into our 101st year, especially in the context of the challenges public media is facing right now. I am excited to have them with us as we forge the next chapter in NYPR’s evolution and that of the industry more broadly.”
“With his deep media and business experience and long tenure as a Trustee, John is the right person to steward the Board through this consequential moment for public broadcasting, as we face unprecedented threats out of Washington and rapid changes across the broader media industry,” said LaFontaine E. Oliver, President and CEO of New York Public Radio. “The essential services we provide—trusted local news, cultural and educational programming, and free and accessible classical music—are needed more than ever. I’m thrilled to work with John, Anna, Carl and our deeply talented new Trustees to secure our mission and serve our audiences.”
FULL BIOS HERE:
Gary Knell has been a leader in purpose-driven media for over four decades. Gary currently serves as Senior Advisor for Media and Social Impact at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). He is also the former Chairman of National Geographic Partners, the global joint venture owned by The Walt Disney Company and the National Geographic Society, which includes National Geographic television, print, and digital assets, and related activities including travel and consumer products.
From 2014 through 2018, Knell served as President and CEO of the National Geographic Society, where he oversaw the Society’s vast nonprofit activities in science exploration, education, and media innovation. Prior to that, he served as President and CEO of National Public Radio (NPR), promoting a new era of digital programming and podcasting. He served for 12 years as President and CEO of Sesame Workshop, the worldwide leader in children’s television, focusing on using the power of media to educate children. At Sesame, Knell was instrumental in groundbreaking international co-productions promoting public health, conflict resolution, and basic childhood education. He has been a leader in publishing at Sesame as well as Manager Media International, based in Southeast Asia. He also served as Senior Vice President at WNET/THIRTEEN in New York and served as Counsel to the US Senate Governmental Affairs and Judiciary Committees.
Knell currently serves on the boards of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee), the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee), the Society for Science (publishers of Science News and Regeneron Science Talent Search), Common Sense Media, StoryCorps, and the UC Berkeley School of Journalism. He was a longtime board member of Heidrick and Struggles, the executive search firm, AARP Services, Inc., and Save the Children.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from UCLA in political science (where he was Editorial Director of the UCLA Daily Bruin) and a JD from Loyola Law School, as well as honorary degrees from Kenyon College, Mercy College, and Franklin University in Switzerland.
Jeremy Kuriloff is a Managing Director and Partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in New York. At BCG Jeremy leads the topic of Growth in North America, and works at the intersection of Consumer and Media, where he supports clients on growth topics as well as go-to-market strategy and operating model. Prior to his time at BCG, Jeremy worked in Consumer Goods in a variety of sales and marketing leadership roles, and graduated from the University of Michigan. He lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with his family.
John Rose is the CEO of Spectrum Advisors LLC, a strategic advisory service focused on
helping a broad set of media, ad-tech, mar-tech, and information services clients address issues related to the ongoing disruption of the media landscape. In addition, John is a Senior Advisor at BCG, an Executive Advisor at Rockefeller Global Investment Banking, and an Adjunct Faculty member at NYU’s Stern School of Business. He serves on the Boards of ViewLift, The Metropolitan Opera, Playwrights Horizons, and New York Public Radio.
Prior to his current roles, John was a Managing Director and Senior Partner at BCG from 2004 through July 2024. At BCG, John co-founded and led the US Private Equity practice, ran the Global Media practice, and was a BCG Fellow focused on data privacy. The focus of John’s work with clients at BCG was on strategy and transformation in the face of disruption and the development of adjacent businesses and new strategies for growth.
Before BCG, John was Group Executive Vice President at EMI, where he built and ran EMI’s digital music business. John spent the first 20 years of his career at McKinsey, where he was a Senior Partner, leading McKinsey’s Global Media practice, and helping build their Private Equity practice.
John received a BA from Wesleyan University and a Master’s in Public and Private Management from Yale.
Anna Quindlen is the author of 11 bestselling novels. While a columnist at The New York Times, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. She has served on the boards of Barnard College, the Collegiate and Nightingale-Bamford schools, and Planned Parenthood. She holds honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities.
Carl Weisbrod, a Senior Advisor at HR&A Advisors, is a national authority on city planning, affordable housing policy, urban development, and public-private real estate development. In his four decades of experience, Carl has brokered and led complex public-private partnerships and created innovative governance strategies to spur economic development. His record of visionary, innovative, and successful urban development initiatives has made him an internationally sought-after advisor.
Throughout his career guiding public agencies and transformative development initiatives, Carl has served the City of New York in many capacities– most recently, as Chairman of the New York City Planning Commission and Director of the New York City Department of City Planning. Prior to these appointments, Carl was a Partner at HR&A, where he managed the successful rezoning of the Hudson Square area in Manhattan, which has transformed the neighborhood into a dynamic hub for creative industries and new housing, including up to 700 affordable units.
Preceding his initial tenure at HR&A, Carl led efforts to revitalize two of New York City’s most iconic neighborhoods – Times Square, from the late 1970’s through the early 1990’s, and Lower Manhattan, both pre- and post-9/11. His former positions include: President of New York State’s 42nd Street Development Project; Founding President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation; Founding President of the Alliance for Downtown New York; and President of the Real Estate Division for Trinity Church and Executive Vice-President of Trinity Church-St. Paul’s Chapel.
Carl is the former chairman of the New York State Health Foundation, a non-profit entity which funds innovative healthcare programs throughout New York State. He is also a former Trustee of the Ford Foundation and the Urban Land Institute, as well as a former full-time faculty member at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, where he served as Academic Chair of the Concentration in Global Real Estate.
Carl was the inaugural recipient of the 2017 John E. Zuccotti Public Service Award from the Real Estate Board of New York, which recognizes citizens who have displayed exceptional accomplishments and service in the public’s interest. In 2011, Carl was recognized by the Center for an Urban Future as “one of New York’s most innovative economic development leaders over the past three decades” and, in 2002, Carl was honored by Crain’s New York Business as one of the “100 Most Influential Leaders in Business.” He has received both the “Chairman’s Award” by the New York Landmarks Conservancy (2000) and the “Public Interest Service Award” by New York University (1993).
Carl holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law. He serves as a board member for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and for the Trust for Governors Island. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Marron Institute of Urban Management.
Jenna Weiss-Berman is Head of Podcasts at Paper Kite Productions, and co-creator of Good Hang with Amy Poehler. She started her career in public radio, developing and producing shows such as The Moth and Hidden Brain, before starting a podcast department at BuzzFeed. In 2016, Jenna co-founded Pineapple Street Studios, known for acclaimed series like Missing Richard Simmons, Wind of Change, Hysterical, and The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow. When Pineapple Street sold to radio giant Audacy in 2019, Jenna became Head of Podcasts at Audacy. Jenna serves on the board of The Moth.
ABOUT NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO With an urban vibrancy and a global perspective, New York Public Radio (NYPR) produces innovative, critically acclaimed programming for local and national broadcast, on-demand and live streaming audiences. NYPR’s brands include WNYC, WQXR, WNYC Studios, Gothamist, New Jersey Public Radio, and The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space. The WNYC newsroom and Gothamist produce award-winning local journalism for New York City, New Jersey and the surrounding region. WQXR, the City’s only all-classical radio station broadcasts new and archival classical recordings and makes live performances from New York City’s esteemed performance venues available to all. WNYC Studios is a premier producer of on-demand and national broadcast audio, and home to some of the industry’s most impactful, award-winning podcasts and national radio shows, including Radiolab, On the Media, and The New Yorker Radio Hour, among others. The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space is NYPR’s intimate street-level broadcast studio and live event space. Further information about programs, podcasts, and stations may be found at www.nypublicradio.org.