NPR CEO Mohn Stepping Down In 2019
• NPR‘s Chief Executive Officer Jarl Mohn announced Tuesday he would step aside in June 2019 at the end of his five-year term to focus on a newly created position to lead the public radio network’s fundraising drive ahead of its 50th anniversary in 2020. Mohn also announced that he and his wife Pamela would contribute $10 million from their personal fortune toward the effort. “I’ve had a chance to work at some great companies, but this has been the most important and rewarding thing I’ve done in my career,” Mohn said in a telephone interview. “It really has been remarkable.”
The Mohn years at NPR have also been marred by a crisis sparked by sexual harassment allegations against NPR’s former top news editor, Michael Oreskes. Some staffers said Mohn and his management team failed to register warning signs with sufficient speed in ways that allowed a toxic work environment to fester under Oreskes, whom Mohn hired in the spring of 2015 and fired in November 2017. NPR has subsequently put in place a series of far-reaching reforms to address workplace concerns. Those workplace changes have been led by NPR’s COO, Loren Mayor, who is seen by many NPR insiders as a strong potential internal candidate to replace Mohn.
The decision by Mohn, who turns 67 later this month, to step down cuts short speculation about his future and sets in motion a search for a fresh leader. Mohn said NPR’s board of directors had offered him a second term, a characterization supported in interviews with two members of the board. “It was a very tough decision, because I am conflicted,” Mohn said in the interview. Mohn mentioned that his commute from Los Angeles, where he and his wife live, was taking its toll. Mohn also suffered a near-fatal aorta rupture in March 2017 and had to take medical leave late last year to address his high blood pressure.
“His five years is up and we’re thrilled that he’s going to be able to continue, although not in the same CEO capacity,” Paul Haaga, Chairman of NPR’s board of directors, said of Mohn. “He’s leaving us in fabulous shape, financially and newswise.” [Photo credit: Stephen Voss/ NPR]
