NPR Announces New Chief Development Officer

This announcement from NPR President Gary Knell was widely distributed this morning:

Colleagues—

I would like to share with you some important personnel news at NPR.

After an extensive national search that surfaced many strong candidates, I am thrilled to announce the appointment of an outstanding new leader for our Development division who I’m confident will help us achieve our many ambitions for NPR and public radio. Monique Hanson, who currently serves as the SVP/Chief Development Officer for the YMCA of the USA, will join us in October as our new Chief Development Officer. For the past two decades, she has dedicated herself to raising the national visibility and fundraising achievements of civic and community-focused organizations. She has the skills – and passion – to take all of us to the next level in fundraising.

While at the YMCA, Monique raised the organization’s philanthropic profile by building high impact programs through robust, outcome-driven sustainable funding streams; tripled contributed revenue; and collaborated with 1,400 local chapters of the YMCA to leverage the power of the organization in the philanthropic community. During her tenure, she led a team that raised more than $225M for national programs at the YMCA.

Prior to her leadership at the “Y”, she held a key development role at yet another of America's largest non-profit organizations, the Alzheimer’s Association. She served as Senior Director of Development for this national organization, which is comprised of 75 chapters and supported by more than one million donors worldwide. Monique increased annual institutional giving by more than 85% and instituted a national/chapter consolidated service and fundraising model, with the goal of aligning fundraising efforts across regions to increase efficiencies of scale and revenue for local chapters.

Before joining the Alzheimer’s Association, she served as Executive Director, Corporate Foundation and Government Relations at Roosevelt University. Earlier, she was the Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at The Newberry Library, and prior to that, she was Director of Development for the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. She earned her B.A. in History from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Today there are millions of people and hundreds, if not thousands, of institutions and corporations who have the potential to support local public radio stations and NPR. This enormous prospect pool is within our reach if we commit to working together across our individual organizations to grow the resources we all need to thrive over the coming years. Monique is a leader who will partner with me and my senior team on this strategy. She has what it takes to create a new partnership with Member Stations across the country starting from Day One.

My enthusiasm about Monique is only matched by my appreciation for the service that Chris Howie and the Development team have given during this interim period. Chris has kept our fundraising on course these past few months, and the Development managers and staff – from Institutional Grants to Major Gifts, Planned Giving, and the NPR Foundation – have all been pulling together to deliver as strong a year as possible. Please join me in thanking them for their commitment and professionalism.

Another significant transition is also right around the corner.  Debra Delman, who came to NPR in 2009 as Senior Vice President for Strategic Operations and Finance, and now serves as our Chief Strategy Officer, has accepted a new position as Executive Vice President, Finance, and Chief Financial Officer for Arbitron, Inc., the publicly traded company that measures radio performance.

In her strategic and financial roles, Debra led NPR through major organizational achievements including first and foremost overseeing NPR’s successful bond rating and leading every aspect of building our new HQ. She helped establish our corporate goals and planning processes, and strengthened our technology and support groups. She has brought a laser focus to decision making in each of her roles, bringing a big picture view as well as attention to important details in the areas and projects under her direction, the new headquarters project in particular. These are no small achievements, and we all owe her thanks and appreciation. She begins her new position later this month. At that time, Joyce Slocum, Chief Administrative Officer, will oversee the new HQ project. I will reassess the workflow around our strategic planning in the coming months. For now, this work will be taken on by Joyce MacDonald, my Chief of Staff.

Please join me in welcoming Monique to her new role, thanking Chris, and wishing Debra well in her new position.

Best,

Gary