Ken Stern

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This article is about the NPR CEO. For other people named Ken Stern, see Ken Stern (disambiguation)‎.

Ken Stern is a former Chief Executive Officer of National Public Radio.

A native of Washington, D.C., Stern grew up in South Korea and Germany. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Haverford College with a B.A. in political science. He also holds a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Prior to entering broadcasting, Stern was an attorney specializing in litigation with Wilmer Cutler and Pickering (now Wilmer Hale) in Washington. He also served as chief counsel for the 53rd Presidential Inaugural Committee and deputy general counsel for the Clinton/Gore 1996 Campaign.

From 1997 to 1999, Stern served as Senior Advisor to the Director of the International Broadcasting Bureau in Washington D.C., the umbrella organization overseeing American worldwide broadcasting operations including Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, Voice of America and Radio and TV Marti. He previously was legal and management consultant to Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, based in Munich and Prague.

He joined NPR in November 1999 as Executive Vice President and, since then, has played a key role in its expansion and audience growth. During his tenure, NPR also achieved financial stability for the non-profit organization. Additionally, he oversaw the April 2006 launch of NPR Berlin, an FM channel in Germany that marked the organization's move into international broadcasting.

On 2008-03-06, the NPR Board announced that Stern would be stepping down from his role as Chief Executive Officer^[1].