Fabiola Arredondo
Four new members have joined the NPR Board of Directors: Fabiola Arredondo, managing partner of the private investment firm Siempre Holdings, and Chris Boskin, a media consultant; Kerry Swanson, station manager of Northwest Public Radio; and Howard Wollner, the new chairman of the NPR Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
The new members were elected or confirmed to three-year terms by NPR member stations and inducted at the November meeting. Also joining the investment committee is NPR Foundation Trustee John Buoymaster, chairman and managing director of Hall Capital Partners, LLC.
The board — chaired by Kit Jensen, chief operating officer of ideastream in Cleveland — guides the direction of NPR by setting policies and overall strategy, providing financial oversight and monitoring performance.
Public Director Fabiola Arredondo brings strategic and operational experience in the Internet and media sectors as well as extensive board directorship experience to NPR, a release said. She is currently the managing partner of the private investment firm Siempre Holdings, and previously held senior operating roles at Yahoo!, the British Broadcasting Corp. and Bertelsmann Entertainment Group.
Chris Boskin
Public Director Chris Boskin currently serves as a consultant to several media companies. When Boskin joined Worth as publisher in 1992, she helped to develop and launch Equity, Civilization and the American Benefactor, among other magazines. She also launched Countryside and Bon Appetit. She has been the San Francisco, Pacific Northwest and Asia manager for Hearst Magazines, and has also served The New Yorker in similar capacities.
Northwest Public Radio’s Kerry Swanson is the most recent station manager to join the NPR Board of Directors. In his 30-year broadcasting career, Swanson has worked in new media, programming, management and fundraising. He has assisted in planning broadcast facilities and in building community engagement. Swanson currently directs and manages the public radio network of 19 stations and 12 translators serving audiences in Washington, as well as parts of Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia. Swanson began his career working in commercial radio at KXLE(FM) in Ellensburg and at KNBQ(FM) in Tacoma. He then spent more than 20 years at KPLU(FM) in Seattle/Tacoma, during which he worked in various capacities, including as an on-air host for jazz, operations manager, development director and chief operating officer. He has also served as director of radio at WABE(FM) in Atlanta.
Howard Wollner
As the Chairman of the NPR Foundation, Howard Wollner oversees a 40-member board of trustees, made up of supporters who work to enhance financial support for NPR. The foundation serves as steward of NPR’s endowment and also works to strengthen the fundraising success of member stations and recognize donors. Wollner retired as senior vice president of the Starbucks Coffee Co. in 2005.
NPR Foundation board member John W. Buoymaster is now serving as a member of the Board’s Investment Committee. Buoymaster is chairman and managing director of the investment management firm Hall Capital Partners, LLC. He serves on the firm’s board of directors and also has direct portfolio management and relationships with clients. Before joining Hall Capitol Partners in 1998, Buoymaster was a vice president for J.P. Morgan & Co., and a partner with law firm Cooley Godward Castro Huddleson & Tatum. He also sits on the board of directors for KQED in San Francisco.
