Public Media Bridge Fund Announces Stabilization Coaches
Eight experienced public media leaders will provide hands-on coaching to Bridge Fund grantees to help them achieve greater operational sustainability
March 16, 2026 – The Public Media Bridge Fund (Bridge Fund) today announced the eight experienced public media leaders they have engaged to serve as coaches, providing hands-on advising to the 74 local organizations that received funding through the Bridge Fund’s initial round of stabilization grants announced late last year.
"The path toward sustainability looks different for each of the grantees in our stabilization program,” said Allie Vanyur, program officer of the Public Media Bridge Fund. “We built this coaching program to ensure that each station receives targeted support calibrated to their specific needs to help them work towards greater operational sustainability.”
The Bridge Fund’s eight coaches bring more than a century of combined experience in public media, with areas of expertise spanning station management, strategy, operations, local journalism, audience development, technology and finance.
Each coach will work directly with a cohort of grantee stations, offering tailored guidance based on the operational and strategic needs of the organization. This guidance will be informed by the Bridge Fund’s in-depth analysis of financial and organizational information from each of the 74 grantee organizations, including financial dashboards, benchmark reports and landscape analyses of local media markets.
“Our coaches understand firsthand the challenges facing public media leaders today,” said Erik Langner, executive director of the Public Media Bridge Fund. “Their wealth of experience will help guide our grantee stations identify a vision for the future and a strategy to achieve it.”
More information about each coach follows below.
Bridge Fund Stabilization Coaches
Brenda Barnes brings decades of experience in public media, most recently serving as CEO of Classical KING in Seattle. Brenda has led stations of various sizes and geographies, including WMRA in Harrisonburg, Virginia, WGUC in Cincinnati and University of Southern California Radio Group in Los Angeles.
Steve Bass is a longtime public media leader with deep experience in public television, radio and station management, having spent nearly 19 years as president and CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) in Portland, Oregon. Prior to joining OPB, Steve held leadership roles at Nashville Public Television, WGBH in Boston, WGBY in Springfield, Massachusetts, and PBS.
Mikel Ellcessor brings decades of experience building new audiences for public media organizations. Mikel previously led local programming for WNYC, co-founded Radiolab with Jad Abumrad, launched RadioMilwaukee and led WDET, Detroit, among other roles. He currently serves as an executive coach and works with a range of media organizations to grow audience and revenue.
Scott Finn has two decades of public media experience, most recently as president and CEO of Vermont Public in Burlington, Vermont. He brings expertise in local journalism, having previously worked as a reporter, news director and general manager for public media stations in Florida and West Virginia. Scott is currently the University of Vermont's Lecturer in Journalism and Democracy and works for UVM's Center for Community News.
Dennis Hamilton has more than 40 years of experience in public media, most recently as managing director at Public Media Company. Previously, Dennis spent 25 years in executive leadership positions at Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he oversaw local, regional and national programming.
Ron Hetrick is a public media leader with expertise in strategy, technology and nonprofit finance. Ron brings 25 years of experience at joint licensee WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he held a series of leadership roles that culminated as president and CEO of the organization.
Steve Holmes brings extensive experience across the public media system, including in his current role as managing director at Public Media Company, where he oversees the Local News Catalyst initiative. Steve previously worked at PBS, where he was the senior director of strategy and insight.
Nikki Swarn is a veteran of Colorado radio with more than two decades of experience at both commercial and non-commercial stations including KS1075, KYGO, ESPN and Alice 105.9. Most recently, Nikki served as general manager of the historic jazz station 89.3 KUVO JAZZ and the urban alternative station THE DROP 104.7, both owned and operated by Rocky Mountain Public Media.
About Public Media Company
Public Media Company is a nonprofit strategic advisor and partner to public media organizations nationwide. Through financial services, strategic planning, partnerships, and innovative initiatives, Public Media Company helps stations expand their impact, improve their sustainability, and strengthen local service. Since its founding, Public Media Company has worked with more than 400 public media organizations to advance public service media and ensure that audiences everywhere have access to trusted, independent information. For more information, visit publicmedia.co.
For more information, please contact:
Resnicow and Associates
pmbf@resnicow.com