Arkansas educational TV chief Courtney Pledger, building her national profile even while facing a professional standoff back home, has been elected to the board of directors of PBS.
The Arkansas Educational Television Network executive director will be a “professional director,” PBS’ term for board members who are station leaders from the public TV system.
Pledger, who will serve a three-year term on the national board, has been at an impasse at home with the board of AETN’s nonprofit fundraising arm, which removed her as foundation CEO in a vote earlier this year. Discord at the network and foundation’s headquarters in Conway has been evident since Pledger dismissed longtime foundation COO Mona Dixon, who has contested her firing and declared herself a whistleblower.
Those troubles were on the back-burner, however, as AETN and PBS announced Pledger’s appointment. “We are thrilled to have Courtney Pledger join the PBS board,” Paula Kerger, the PBS president and CEO, said in a statement. “A highly respected leader, Courtney brings a wealth of experience and strategic savvy that will help PBS and our system thrive amid a dynamic media landscape.”
PBS stations generally vote to elect professional directors on the PBS board, except in cases of filling midterm vacancies. The full board elects general directors and the PBS president.
“I am hugely honored to be able to represent AETN and my fellow PBS member stations by serving on the PBS Board of Directors,” Pledger said. “I look forward to joining the national conversation and to helping shape the future of public media in our country.”
A film producer and former executive director of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Pledger joined AETN as executive director and CEO in 2017, named by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. In her tenure, AETN has begun streaming state government proceedings via the Arkansas Citizens Access Network (AR-CAN); started broadcasting and streaming high school championship football and basketball games on AETN Sports; and spearheaded the national PBS program “State of the Art,” the story of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Pledger is also on the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) executive committee.
But Pledger’s time at AETN has been complicated by employee complaints that she alienated longtime staff, flouted procedures and fired Dixon, who had questioned Pledger’s financing mechanism for paying a content consultant, Rachel Raney.
That dispute and related matters preceded Dixon’s firing and Pledger’s removal as foundation CEO. In mid-August, Pledger said a compromise with the foundation board was pending.
The proposal would put Pledger back on the foundation board but not restore her as foundation CEO. In an email to Arkansas Business on Monday, Pledger said there was nothing new to report.
Pledger spent more than 30 years in film and television industry management, story development and production. An Arkansas native, her first job was as an intern at a public television station while attending Millsaps College. She worked in Los Angeles, London and New York before returning to Arkansas in 2012 to revitalize the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. She’s a recipient of Women in Film’s Lillian Gish Producing Award, a Christopher Award and a nomination for a Primetime Emmy.
The PBS Board of Directors, responsible for governing and setting policy, has 27 members: 14 professional directors; 12 general directors; and the PBS president. All PBS Board members serve three-year terms, without pay.
With more than 330 member stations, PBS reaches more than 120 million people through television and 26 million people online monthly.
AETN is Arkansas’ statewide public media network. It is broadcast on KETS in Little Rock, KEMV in Mountain View, KETG in Arkadelphia, KAFT in Fayetteville, KTEJ in Jonesboro and KETZ in El Dorado.
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