NPR has appointed Michael Beach, director of Program Management at commercial satellite operator Intelsat S.A., as its vice president of distribution.
He succeeds Pete Loewenstein, who retired from the vice president role in December.
In this senior management role, Beach will oversee the Public Radio Satellite System, which distributes 450,000 hours annually of news, music and specialized audience programming to some 1,600 public radio stations.
Beach will join NPR on May 27, reporting to Vice President of Technology Operations & Broadcast Engineering Marty Garrison, who says Beach “has the strong technical and leadership experience to guide the distribution division and the system-critical PRSS infrastructure. His experience at Intelsat and in public media will be a huge asset as we plan future delivery options for public radio.”
Beach joined Intelsat in 2006. As director of program management, he led multidisciplinary teams on revenue-generating and technical projects.
He was as assistant general manager and chief technology officer for Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, the statewide PBS and NPR broadcast network, from 1998 to 2006. Prior to that, Beach held technical and security roles for NSN Network Services of Avon, Colo., which is now a service of Clear Channel Communications.
As a lieutenant in the Navy, he served as a communications officer on the USS Duluth.
