CEO Forum Series

ST.GEORGE & CARNEGIE – MANAGING PARTNER NAUTILUS GLOBAL SOLUTIONS, LLC – PRESIDENT & CEO

With over Twenty (20) years of legal experience in the public broadcast and nonprofit markets, Ardelle has served as General Counsel to a major PBS Station as well as Legal Counsel to other PBS and Public Broadcast Stations. Ardelle has also obtained certifications and programming from Harvard in Cybersecurity, Digital Transformation, Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence (including AR, VR and Mixed Reality.) Ardelle has had the honor and opportunity to work with PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and America’s Public Television Stations (APTS). Ardelle provides legal counsel to NETA as well as Legal Services through the NETA Business Center to the NETA Members.

Through her Law Firm, ST.GEORGE & CARNEGIE, the Solutions & Licensing Company, NAUTILUS GLOBAL SOLUTIONS, Ardelle handles General Counsel, Cybersecurity, Executive and Board Governance & Compliance, Data Privacy, Operations/Business/Legal Affairs/Legal Administration, FCC Matters, Regulatory Law, Sustainability, Intellectual Property Law, Digital/Experiential Transformation, Advanced Technology (AI, AR/VR/Mixed Reality), Production/Content Rights Management/Acquisition & Support, Real Estate, Fundraising/Membership Matters, Dispute Resolution and Other Legal & Professional Resource Services.

Talon Executive Services, Inc. - C.E.O.

Dedicating 22 years to the United States Secret Service, Ron Williams had the opportunity to work and supervise all divisions of the SS Treasury department in the Los Angeles Field Office. Gaining a wealth of security expertise and a highly regarded reputation within Federal Law Enforcement, Mr. Williams decided to start Talon Executive Services, Inc., a corporate security and investigations company. As a Secret Service Agent, Mr. Williams supervised the credit card and financial fraud squad, the counterfeit squad, and the elite Counter Assault Team (CAT) to combat terrorism. As the Lead Advance Agent, Mr. Williams was responsible for all advance security plans and logistics coordination for Presidential, Vice-Presidential, and foreign heads-of-state visits to Los Angeles. He personally protected Presidents Ford, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, as well as such noted dignitaries as Queen Elizabeth, Yitzhak Shamir, and Pope John Paul and was the recipient of numerous awards including the United States Secret Service Director’s Award for Special Achievement on eight occasions.

Focusing on the company he founded in 1994, Talon Executive Services, Inc., Mr. Williams has created a highly advanced team of former Secret Service and F.B.I. agents as well as other federal, state and local law enforcement officers. Threat assessment and physical site surveys performed by Talon include venues such as public transportation, entertainment and pharmaceutical. As a RAM-w certified agent, he performs threat assessments and develops remedial measures for water districts, identified as one of the nation’s critical infrastructures. Because of his expertise in the field of anti-terrorism, Mr. Williams was asked by the California Gubernatorial delegation in 2002, to meet with Tom Ridge regarding homeland security. His association with AFAUSSS (Association of Former Agents of the United States Secret Service), ASIS (American Society of Industry Security), ATAP (Association of Threat Assessment Professionals) American Water Works Association (AWWA) Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) to name a few, keeps him abreast of all matters involving security and threat assessment. He is also an active member of the FBI’s InfraGard program, U.S. State Department Overseas Advisory Council (OSAC) and OCPST (Orange County Private Sector Terrorist Response). Mr. Williams frequently appears on Fox News Channel as well as other national shows as a security analyst and terrorism expert. He was also the keynote speaker at the 1999 Alabama Governor’s Conference on Violence in the Workplace Prevention, has made presentations to the California Association of Water Agencies which included a White Paper, and continues to educate organizations on various security issues through specialized seminars and training.

Lesli Rotenberg is the founder and president of Unlock Inspiration, a leadership development and executive coaching service that helps CEOs develop patterns that transform them into more present, authentic, and impactful leaders. Lesli was trained in an original leadership development approach created by Punit Aggarwal, the visionary behind Founder Bay, based on insights from 10,000+ coaching conversations and experiences, including in his role as Head of Entrepreneur Development at Google.

Lesli’s experience on both sides of the board room table gives her a unique perspective on the challenges that leaders face. As a director of public company and non-profit boards, Lesli guides CEOs and leadership teams to sharpen their strategy, strengthen their brand equity, and transform their business models to meet rapidly changing market and audience needs. In her role as an executive, Lesli led teams who built the reputations of some of the most iconic and respected media brands today including PBS, PBS KIDS, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.

Bio: Brig. Gen. Shawn W. Campbell is the Director of Manpower, Organization and Resources, Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel and Services, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. He leads the management and oversight of the Air Force’s manpower enterprise encompassing more than 694,000 Total Force personnel and the programming of more than $61 billion in annual funding for the manpower portion of the Air Force Program Objective Memorandum. Additionally, he sets standards and policy for strategic manpower sourcing, performance management, organizational structure and manpower data systems.

Brig. Gen. Campbell received his commission from the United States Air Force Officer Training School in May 1996. He has served in a variety of positions and functions at national, theater and unit levels, including having commanded the 10th Air Base Wing at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the 375th Mission Support Group at Scott AFB, and the 62nd Services Squadron at McChord AFB. He has deployment experience supporting Operations Northern Watch, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. Additionally, Brig. Gen. Campbell was an Air Force Strategic Policy Intern at the Pentagon, and a National Security Fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Dr. Tara Nattrass is a Senior Education Strategist at Dell Technologies. An experienced educator focused on eliminating opportunity gaps, reinventing learning, and ensuring every student is engaged, Tara most recently served as Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning for Arlington Public Schools (VA). She has held multiple roles including as a classroom teacher; literacy facilitator; school administrator; and Director of Elementary Education. She has experience implementing programs including Language Immersion, Montessori, and International Baccalaureate and supports educators implementing innovative practices such as virtual and hybrid schools, competency-based learning models, redefined teacher roles, and skill building programs such as cybersecurity. Tara earned a Doctorate in K-12 Educational Leadership and Policy from Vanderbilt University.

Eric Hyyppa is the President of the National Educational Telecommunications Association. Prior to joining NETA, Eric served for 11 years as Director and General Manager of MontanaPBS in Bozeman, Montana. He has a background in Information Technology, including a BS in Computer Science from Montana State University. He is a PBS veteran, with over 25 years in public broadcasting and extensive experience in television production, including work for every major network and many independent companies. He is a former member of the Society of Motion Picture Television Engineers and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

Eric is past chair of the board of directors of the National Educational Telecommunications Association, past chair of the board of trustees of America’s Public Television Stations, past chair of public television’s Affinity Group Coalition, and past co-chair of the Organization of State Broadcasting Executives. He has also served on the board of directors of PBS as well as the board of directors for the Montana Broadcasters Association.

Eric resides in Columbia, South Carolina with his wife Alexis and daughter Annika.

Molly Phillips is Executive Director and General Manager for Iowa PBS, where she is responsible for leading Iowa’s only statewide broadcast network since 2013. Molly has served Iowa PBS since 1990, devoting her career to the advancement of public television and Iowa PBS’s mission to educate, inform, enrich and inspire Iowans. She was previously the Director of Communications and Community Engagement at Iowa PBS, where for nearly 15 years she was responsible for the network’s state and federal public policy advocacy. America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented Molly with its National Advocacy Award in 2010.

Molly has volunteered her time and talents to a long list of organizations advancing the vision and goals of public media. She was elected to and served as chair on the APTS Board of Trustees and is an active member of the Organization of State Broadcasting Executives (OSBE). Molly was elected to and currently serves on the Public Broadcasting Service Board of Directors where she is vice-chair of the PBS Station Services Committee. She also served on the National Education Telecommunications Association (NETA) Board of Directors. She serves on the Affinity Group Coalition of Public Media Organizations where she is leading an initiative to create professional development training opportunities for public media employees.

Molly holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business degree from Grand View University in Des Moines. She was raised in Southwest Iowa and she currently resides in Grimes with her husband Steve. They have three grown children together: Courtney and twin boys Taylor and Trevor.

Mark Memmott has been a reporter, editor and newsroom leader at two of the nation’s largest news organizations.

While serving as NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices from 2014 to 2019, he was a resource for the network’s journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

As the NPR Ethics Handbook states, the Standards & Practices editor is "charged with cultivating an ethical culture throughout our news operation." This means he or she coordinates discussion on how we apply our principles and monitors our decision-making practices to ensure we're living up to our standards."

Before becoming Standards & Practices editor, Memmott was one of the hosts of NPR's "The Two-Way" news blog, which he helped to launch when he came to NPR in 2009. It focused on breaking news, analysis, and the most compelling stories being reported by NPR News and other news media.

Prior to joining NPR, Memmott worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor at USA Today. He focused on a range of coverage from politics, foreign affairs, economics, and the media. He reported from places across the United States and the world, including half a dozen trips to Afghanistan in 2002-2003.

During his time at USA Today, Memmott, helped launch and lead three USAToday.com news blogs: "On Deadline," "The Oval" and "On Politics," the site's 2008 presidential campaign blog.

In January 2020, Memmott became the first Managing Editor of The Texas Newsroom, a collaboration between NPR and member stations across the Lone Star State. He retired from that role in February 2021 and now works as a consultant, helping public media newsrooms navigate the ethical issues they encounter.

Terry is General Manager of WyomingPBS, the Wyoming state network located in Riverton.

Before moving to Wyoming, he was Manager of Content Distribution for NET in Lincoln, Nebraska for six years, responsible for NET’s broadcast, cable, internet, social media channels and TV promotion.

Previously, he was head of Interactive Media and Education at NET for nine years where he managed a five million US Department of Education project to create a full four year distance learning high school degree and a seven million dollar project for the US Department of Defense to create online training for America’s Reserve forces. He was also Executive Director of a three state, fifteen college consortium focused on distance learning.

Before Nebraska, he was Director of Web and Multimedia Educational Services for FGCU and Associate Director for Distance Learning for four years. Prior to that, he was Associate Director of WGCU-TV (PBS) for eleven years. Before moving to Public Broadcasting, he spent ten years in commercial television in different management positions.

He recently retired as an Adjunct Professor of Communications at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) after teaching courses for over 20 years through distance learning on the relationship between Media and Culture. He has held full time and Adjunct positions at Seton Hall University, the University of South Carolina, and Edison State Community College.

He has a Masters of Arts in Medieval Literature from the University of South Carolina. He’s also a certified Brunswick A7 Pinsetter mechanic and was a professional video gamer, before they started making the big bucks.

As Vice President, Education for NETA, Timothy leads NETA’s team to strengthen and amplify Public Media’s education mission. His team supports Professional Development, Education Services, NETA Peer Learning Communities, NETA Awards, and the NETA Conference. Prior to NETA, he was the Director of Development and Marketing with WGVU Public Media where he led the Development & Business Development team as well as Marketing, Outreach, Art, and Education areas. He was with WGVU for twelve years, two as an Underwriting Sales Representative and the past ten years as Director of Development and Marketing. Timothy is a proud Air Force Veteran, having served from 1990 – 1998 working with the 439th Military Airlift Wing and the 127th Air Wing as a PERSCO Team Member and the 110th Fighter Group as a Weapons Loader on A-10 Aircraft and has been deployed domestically and overseas in support of several Air Force operations.

Talia Rosen oversees the PBS Standards & Practices team as it implements the twin pillars of the PBS Editorial Standards and the PBS Funding Standards in order to uphold the mission of independence and trust for all PBS content. Talia additionally manages PBS’s regulatory affairs strategy and engagement work with the Federal Communications Commission.

Dr. Ken Duckworth serves as the medical director for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. He is double board certified in adult and child and adolescent psychiatry. He has also completed a forensic psychiatry fellowship. Dr. Duckworth is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor at Harvard University Medical School and has served as a board member of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists. Dr. Duckworth has held clinical and leadership positions in community mental health, school psychiatry and now also works as Medical Director for Behavioral Health at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts. Prior to joining NAMI in 2003, Dr. Duckworth served as Acting Commissioner of Mental Health and the Medical Director for Department of Mental Health of Massachusetts, as a psychiatrist on a Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) team, and Medical Director of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. Dr. Duckworth attended the University of Michigan where he graduated with honors and Temple University School of Medicine. Ken won the Patient Advocacy Award from the APA and is a distinguished fellow of that organization.

Darcy Gruttadaro, J.D. joined the APA Foundation in 2017 as the director of the Center for Workplace Mental Health. As director, she is developing and implementing the Center’s strategic direction and continued growth. In this role, she will develop strategic relationships and collaboration with employers, business groups representing employers, colleague organizations and other key stakeholders. Before joining the Center, Ms. Gruttadaro served in multiple senior level positions with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). This work focused on initiatives to expand access to effective mental health services and supports for people impacted by mental health conditions. Ms. Gruttadaro has extensive experience in advocacy, policy and programmatic approaches to expanding evidence-based practices, improving early intervention, securing insurance coverage for mental health services and building a broader array of effective services and supports that promote resiliency and recovery.

Darlene Ifill-Taylor is a Psychiatric Physician, Founder of Three Strand Wellness, LLC, in Charlotte, NC and author of “Get Well! Making the Wellness of Our Mind, Body and Spirit a Priority”. She has treated Children and Adults for over 25 years and feels strongly about the integration of Mental Health into the overall wellness of individuals, families and communities. She is also a singer songwriter.

Joe Weston is the founder of The Weston Network, Executive Director for the Fierce Civility Project, author of Mastering Respectful Confrontation, and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University teaching a masters level course: Body-Based Skill Building for Navigating Stress and Confrontation.

Growing up in a pugilistic environment led Joe on a quest to deeply understand the roots that underlie conflict; and subsequently, ways in which it can be safely addressed, or even prevented, through processes including confrontation and collaboration. These explorations took him around the world, where he studied diverse traditions, and learned from masters in the martial arts. Joe synthesized a body of knowledge and practices that combine theory with somatic exercises.

Drawing on these, along with his experience in theater and interest in neuroscience, Joe and his team have been working with organizations and movements around the world, including more than a decade of programs with NASA.

Joe’s work with women’s rights and other humanitarian organizations in the Middle East and the US, focuses on empowerment and leadership, reframing power/masculinity, and overcoming gender-based violence. He has also worked with veterans’ organizations in processes of integration and healing, and has also volunteered for the Liberation Prison Project, teaching meditation and leadership to inmates.

Dr. Millie Myers is Teaching Professor of Management Communication Emerita at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, where she taught in the MBA and Ph.D. programs and extensively in the Program for Executives, whose clients came from business and government organizations in North and South America, Europe, and Asia (including Russia and China). She continues to guest-lecture at Carnegie Mellon in both the Tepper School and the Heinz College.

Dr. Myers is also an active management consultant, working primarily with senior executives on business relationships with the news media, crisis communication responses, persuasive oral and written communication, non-verbal communication, and intercultural communication.

The companies and professional organizations with which she has worked include the American Bankers Association; BNY Mellon; Brookstone, Inc.; Giant Eagle Corp.; the Hillman Company; the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and other local and regional hospitals; several high-technology and law firms; multiple colleges and universities in the U.S. and in Asia; the City of Pittsburgh (Mayor’s Office and City Council); and many non-profit organizations in the arts, social services, and recreation. Most recently she conducted media training for the University of Utah’s lead researcher on a Covid-19 medication trial.

She has been quoted as an expert in management communication in The Wall Street Journal and in regional newspapers such as The Baltimore Sun, The Indianapolis Star, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Pittsburgh Business Times, and The Syracuse Post. Her eight-part radio series on communication was broadcast on American Entrepreneur Radio.

Her doctoral thesis was a study of professional and managerial communication in a Fortune-100 firm. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a business librarian/information specialist at the University of Pittsburgh, PPG Industries, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and taught communication courses for the American Institute of Banking. Dr. Myers is also an experienced business writer and editor. She is the author of two books and co-author of three others, and her articles have been published in several professional and academic journals. Her reviews of new books on organizational communication, marketing and public relations, women in business, and corporate social responsibility appear regularly in CHOICE, a book-selection journal for academic libraries.

Dr. Myers currently serves as Board Chair of WQED Multimedia and represents WQED on the APTS (America’s Public Television Stations) Leadership Council. She also serves on the boards of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy (Vice Chair) and ARCS Foundation Pittsburgh. Formerly, she was a Board and Executive Committee member for the Pittsburgh Symphony (2003-2017), YWCA Pittsburgh, and Carlow University.

Edward Ulman is the President & CEO of Alaska Public Media (AKPM), Alaska's largest PBS, NPR, and statewide news organization. Ulman joined AKPM in May 2016. Since his arrival, AKPM revitalized local television production, expanded statewide enterprise journalism efforts, has become a CPB-PBS Ready To Learn station, and redefined community engagement, while increasing TV, radio, and online audiences. In addition, membership, major giving, and grant funding continue to grow year over year. AKPM also earned its first NATAS Regional Emmy, Regional Edward R. Murrow Award, two National Edward R. Murrow Awards for journalism, and a PBS Development Award for Membership.

Ulman shifted community engagement activities by focusing on localizing PBS national content while also delivering Alaskan stories to national audiences. Examples include Indie Alaska - PBS Digital Studios with over 3.8 million YouTube views, live-action interstitials produced for the first season of Molly of Denali, ENG packages aired on PBS NewsHour. AKPM reporters regularly contribute stories to various NPR programs and AKPM partnered with NPR to distribute Midnight Oil, an eight-part podcast covering the 40-year history of the Alaskan Oil Pipeline, that garnered over 1 million downloads.

Previously, Ulman served as Development Director and then General Manager for KBTC Public Television in Tacoma, Washington. In 2013, PBS President Paula Kerger acknowledged KBTC's Ready To Learn partnership with the Tacoma Housing Authority in an interview on CNN and again, at the PBS Annual Meeting. With his Seattle counterpart at KCTS 9, Ulman received the Association of Public Television Stations 2015 National Advocacy Award. He began his public broadcasting career, first as volunteer fundraising talent on KUAT-TV and KUAZ-FM in Tucson, Arizona, and then at New Mexico PBS in Albuquerque, where as Education and Outreach Manager, he led teams that earned a National Educational Television Association award for Take One Step: A Women's Health Initiative in 2007 and a PBS Development Award for KNME Science Central in 2008. Ulman has served on the PBS Teacher's Advisory Panel, the WGBH Teacher's Domain Implementation Advisory Committee and KCET's A Place of Our Own Station Advisory Committee.

Ed continues to build programming, support and connections to public media for all.

Jim has been the General Manager of WGVU Public Media since August 2022. He began his public media career at WGVU in 2002 and has spent the majority of his time in fundraising roles. First in underwriting sales, then in membership and philanthropic giving. In late 2015 he moved to WCMU Public Media where he was Director of Development and later Assistant General Manager, then General Manager before returning to WGVU. He currently serves as the Chair of the PBS Development Advisory committee, and is on the board of the Small Station Association.

Akhil Chhatre, MD is a board certified physiatrist. He is appointed at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as a faculty member and Assistant Professor with the Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Neurosurgery, and Orthopaedic Surgery. He is Director of Spine Rehabilitation and also Fellowship Director for the Interventional Spine and Musculoskeletal Medicine Fellowship. He is an active member of the North American Spine Society and Spine Intervention Society. In addition to his busy clinical practice and teaching, he has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.