WQED Multimedia Pittsburgh Names President-Elect and CEO

PITTSBURGH, July 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The WQED Board of Directors today announced the appointment of Deborah L. Acklin as president-elect and chief executive officer of WQED Multimedia Pittsburgh, effective September 23, 2010. Acklin, currently executive vice president and chief operating officer of WQED Multimedia succeeds George L. Miles, Jr., who has led WQED, the nation's first community-supported public broadcasting station, for more than 16 years.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100722/DC39014)

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100722/DC39014)

"Deborah Acklin has served WQED with loyalty, dignity, passion and dedication since she first came here in 1996," said Richard L. Stover, chair of the WQED Board of Directors.  "We are firmly committed to continued strong leadership and sustainability, and there is no one more qualified to assume this role at WQED than Deborah Acklin. The board was unanimous in support for her as uniquely qualified to guide us through the next decade and beyond."

Acklin has served in multiple executive roles at WQED and has successfully managed the day-to-day operations and strategies for its three TV channels, two radio stations, an interactive Web-based learning channel, an education department, fundraising, finance, engineering, publishing and marketing communications.    

Acklin has a distinguished background in television, media production and management, having first served WQED as executive producer and later as the senior vice president of production and technology. She developed the programming that became the highly popular "Doo Wop" music specials for PBS (www.pbs.org); oversaw the production of national documentaries including "The War That Made America," (www.thewarthatmadeamerica.org), one of public television's first high-definition (HD) docudramas; and she conceived and launched WQED's nightly television magazine program, "OnQ" (www.wqed.org/onq).

A Pittsburgh native, Acklin has been honored with a national Emmy award nomination for a documentary about the legendary Mister Rogers, seven Emmy awards (Mid-Atlantic), a CINE Golden Eagle, White House Press Association honors, The Gabriel Award from the Catholic Communicators Conference,  the Pearl Award from the descendants of the Warner Brothers,  the Pennsylvania TV/Film award from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh's Tribute to Women Award for Leadership in Arts and Culture.  

In addition to her work in public media, Acklin worked in cable and in commercial television news.  She was a member of the Washington, D.C.-based team that developed and produced original programming for the National Geographic Channel and she also worked in Pittsburgh at KDKA-TV.  

Ms. Acklin is active in the Pittsburgh community on a variety of nonprofit boards. She holds a B.A. from Duquesne University and attended Harvard Business School where she completed the prestigious Advanced Management Program.  

WQED Pittsburgh, honored with the 2007 and 2006 Mid-Atlantic Emmy® Award for Station Excellence, was founded in 1954 as the nation's first community-supported broadcaster.  The employees of WQED create, produce and distribute quality programs, products and services to engage, inform, educate and entertain the public within its community and around the world.  WQED Pittsburgh is one of the first broadcasters in the country to be fully high-definition (HD) in its studio and field production capabilities.  It is the parent company of WQED-TV (PBS); WQED: The Neighborhood Channel; WQED: The Create Channel; WQEX-TV (A ShopNBC affiliate); Classical WQED-FM 89.3/Pittsburgh; WQEJ-FM 89.7/Johnstown; local and national television and radio productions; WQED Interactive (www.wqed.org); and The WQED Education Department.

SOURCE WQED Multimedia Pittsburgh