Mark Contreras, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Connecticut Public and a member of the board of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), will speak to us on the role of public television in the State of Connecticut.
Mark has led several media businesses through digital transformation. Prior to his role as dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University, Contreras served as CEO of Calkins Media, a privately-held local television, digital and local newspaper publishing company. Calkins developed innovative strategies to maximize audience reach, engagement and revenue by embracing streaming media platforms such as Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV. He previously led local newspaper publishing and digital businesses for three public companies including Capital Cities/ABC, Pulitzer, Inc. and The E.W. Scripps Co.
In addition, he served as chairman of the News Media Association and the American Press Institute. He is a fellow of the Millennium Class of Henry Crown Fellows of the Aspen Institute. He serves on the board of directors of Highlights for Children in Columbus, Ohio and Woodward Communications, Inc in Dubuque, Iowa.
The son of an Irish-American school teacher and a Mexican immigrant, Mark grew up in the Midwest—first in Minneapolis and later Chicago. He has an A.B. in History from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Mark and his wife, Marybeth Sughrue, have one adult son, Michael.
Arranged by Tom Igoe and Charles Salmans