Jason Daisey Named Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of WETA, the Flagship Public Broadcasting Station in the Nation's Capital

ARLINGTON, VA — WETA President and Chief Executive Officer Sharon Percy Rockefeller today named Jason R. Daisey as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of WETA, effective immediately.  Daisey joined WETA on August 23, 2017, as Chief Financial Officer, overseeing the Finance, Facilities and Human Resources departments while providing fiscal and operational counsel for the organization.  In his new role as COO, Daisey will provide executive level management, leadership and strategic direction to WETA and its wholly owned subsidiary, NewsHour Productions LLC (“NHP”).  Daisey will direct staff and operations across 16 departments, including television, radio and digital content and the fundraising, engagement, engineering and administrative areas supporting those initiatives.

“I am very happy to name Jason as our new Chief Operating Officer,” Rockefeller commented. “Over the past year, WETA has benefited from Jason’s incisive management, strategic planning skills, and his thorough study of our operations and opportunities.  After an extensive national search for the WETA COO position, I have concluded that Jason has the right mix of innovation, prudence and drive to help me shape WETA’s future.  I value his counsel and look forward to our working together in the years to come.”

As WETA Chief Operating Officer, Daisey will oversee the ongoing operations and guide the strategic direction of a creative telecommunications company that is also a highly-respected not-for-profit institution. WETA operates four digital television channels, Classical WETA 90.9 FM, innovative literacy websites, and educational content for learners of all ages. WETA is also the second-largest station producer of content for the public television system; productions and co-productions include PBS NewsHour, Washington Week, documentaries with Ken Burns, history and genealogy series with scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and performance and arts specials from the nation’s leading cultural venues. WETA, licensed to the District of Columbia to serve the Greater Washington community, operates on an annual budget of more than $100 million, employs approximately 300 staff members, and bases its headquarters and production studios in Arlington, Virginia.

“Today’s media landscape makes public media’s work more important than ever before,” Daisey commented.  “I am excited to play an increasingly strategic role in WETA’s future and to ensure that our critical programming and services strengthen local and national communities for many years to come.”

Daisey succeeds Joseph B. Bruns, who has been serving as interim Chief Operating Officer since September 2017, and was WETA COO from 2001 to 2013 before joining the WETA Board of Trustees from 2013 to 2017.

Before joining WETA in 2017, Daisey was Chief Financial Officer at Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc., a national trade association representing 22,000 members engaged in commercial and industrial construction.  He served as CFO there since 2009, leading all corporate operations, including the Finance, Accounting, Facilities, Administration, IT and Human Resources functions.  Daisey formerly served for two years as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at KERA/North Texas Public Broadcasting in Dallas.  From 2000 to 2007, Daisey worked for PBS as Senior Director of Financial Planning and then Vice President of Finance and Planning.  At PBS, Daisey was responsible for spearheading a strategic planning initiative for PBS and the system.  He also built financial models to inform strategic and tactical decision-making for the $325+ million operating budget and a $10 million capital budget.

Daisey received both his B.B.A. in Finance, Magna Cum Laude, and his M.B.A. in Business Strategy, from Loyola University in Maryland.  He is a Certified Public Accountant and has been honored with industry awards from BisNow as a 2015 Trending 40 CFO in Non-Profits and Associations and as the 2012 winner of Association Trends! Non-Profit Chief Financial Officer of the Year Rising Star Award.  Daisey lives in Jefferson, Maryland, on a­­ historic farm he shares with his partner, Malcolm Harkins, and he is passionate about his efforts to save the rare Cleveland Bay breed of horse.

More information on WETA and its programs and services is available at www.weta.org.

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