NPR Names Zylstra As Chief Content Officer
• NPR announced the appointment of Nadine Zylstra as its new Chief Content Officer. In her new role, Zylstra will be responsible for developing and driving NPR’s content strategy, leading a collaborative organization of more than 600 journalists and storytellers that include news, arts and cultural programming, podcasts, and NPR Music.
The announcement was made by Katherine Maher, President & CEO of NPR, who remarked, “To meet the evolving needs of our audiences, we knew we needed a visionary leader who understands both the responsibility of our public service mission and the dynamic strategies required to serve audiences in a crowded ecosystem. Nadine brings an extraordinarily rare blend of creative foresight, business acumen, and deep personal commitment to mission-driven storytelling. She is the right leader at the right time to ensure NPR’s journalism and cultural programming find new ways of serving and enlivening American discourse.”
Zylstra comes to NPR having most recently served as Global Head of Programming and Originals for Pinterest. Zylstra earlier held top leadership roles at YouTube, including Global Head of YouTube Originals and Head of Kids and Learning Originals. Zylstra’s foundation in public-interest media was built during a distinguished decade-plus tenure at Sesame Workshop as Vice President and Supervising Producer for Sesame Street.
“I am honored to serve NPR as its new Chief Content Officer,” said Zylstra. “I feel like I have been in training for this role my whole career. At Sesame Street, I learned how content can change the way people understand the world around them. At YouTube I learned to put the user at the center of the storytelling. Finally, at Pinterest I learned that there is a business to build around positivity. I am humbled by the work NPR journalists and storytellers do and eager to learn all the ways in which I can help move our mission forward.” [Photo Credit: Jalene Zabrucky]
