Executive General Manager (Madison)

Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.

Job Category:

Limited

Employment Type:

Regular

Job Profile:

Director of Television

Job Summary:

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.

This position is full-time, 100%

Donor and outreach events will require statewide travel on a semi-regular basis, including weekends/evenings.

The expectation for this position will be onsite on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus in Madison, WI, though there will be an opportunity for occasional remote work.

Remote work requires an approved flexible work arrangement (FWA). A FWA requires successful candidates to possess their own high-speed internet and phone to perform the work on a university provided computer. Per University policy, transportation between home and assigned work location is not payable/reimbursable and will be at the expense of the employee.

It is expected that employees will make individual arrangements for transportation adequate to meet position responsibilities and essential job functions. Learn more at UW-Madion Driver Authorization.

For more information see our licensees’ and services’ websites.

• Licensees: Wisconsin Public Media and Educational Communications Board
• Services: Wisconsin Public Radio and PBS Wisconsin

Key Job Responsibilities:

• Develops the unit's budget for licensee review and approval, driving strategic investment in facilities, personnel, projects, and new initiatives
• 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
• Serves as a liaison to internal and external stakeholder groups representing interests of the unit and fostering community and educational partnerships
• 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
• Collaborates with leadership on content delivery, public safety, and emergency alert systems for the state's communication infrastructure
• Ensures compliance with broadcast/digital standards, institutional policies, and relevant federal and state laws and regulations including broadcasting rules and regulations
• 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
• 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

Department:

Wisconsin Public Media, Director’s Office, Administration

PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio are services of Wisconsin Public Media and the Educational Communications Board. The person in this position will be required to comply with the Wisconsin Public Media Code of Ethics: in addition to the UW-Madison code of ethics.

Compensation:

The minimum salary for this position is $205,000. Actual pay will depend on experience and qualifications.

This position offers a comprehensive benefits package, including generous paid time off, competitively priced health/dental/vision/life insurance, tax-advantaged savings accounts, and participation in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund. For a summary of benefits, please see

Required Qualifications:

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

Education:

Bachelor's Degree Preferred Minimum

How to Apply:

Click the Apply button to start the application process. Please note, there is only one attachment field. You must upload all of your documents in the attachment field, either as one combined document, or separate documents.

IMPORTANT APPLICANT INFORMATION - PLEASE ADHERE TO THIS:

The following must be received for your application to be complete. Please note that instead of a cover letter, we are requiring a narrative. Failure to submit the required documents will result in no longer being considered for the position:

• Resume
• A narrative outlining how your experience aligns with the following three required qualifications: Executive Leadership, Media Savvy, and Resource Management (750 words, maximum.) The application review committee will not consider more than 750 words.

We look forward to seeing how your experience aligns with this role. Initial screening will rely solely on your written materials, specifically focusing on Executive Leadership, Media Savviness, and Resource Management . Remaining qualifications will be assessed in subsequent interview rounds.

Please note that successful applicants are responsible for ensuring their eligibility to work in the United States (i.e. a citizen or national of the United States, a lawful permanent resident, a foreign national authorized to work in the United States without need of employer sponsorship) on or before the effective date of appointment.

Finalists will be asked to provide a list of at least three professional references with titles, emails, and phone numbers (including at least one supervisory reference). Note that references will not be contacted without your prior knowledge.

This position has been identified as a position of trust. The selected candidates will be required to re-check every four years.

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength,