Protected: Patricia Harrison

The Honorable Patricia de Stacy Harrison is the longest-serving president and chief executive officer of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which serves as the steward of federal funding for more than 1,500 public radio and television stations and producers throughout the United States. Under her direction, CPB has increased support for education and journalism and advanced public media in three major areas: Digital innovation and acceleration, Diversity of content, talent, and service, and Dialogue, focused on local community engagement and increased public-private partnerships.

Prior to joining CPB, Ms. Harrison served as assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and acting under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs. She received the U.S. Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award for her leadership in creating “Partnerships for Learning” (P4L), a global initiative providing young people with education and career opportunity, and CultureConnect, a program utilizing American leaders from business, government, sports, and the arts to provide mentoring and master classes for young people worldwide.

Ms. Harrison is the recipient of many awards and honors, most recently in 2020 the Cavaliere of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, the David Lynch Foundation Lifetime in Service Award, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor Award in 2017. Ms. Harrison was named a 2019 George Chaplin Fellow in Distinguished Journalism by the East West Center for her significant contributions to promoting quality journalism.

Ms. Harrison received her Bachelor of Arts from American University, Washington, D.C., and honorary doctorates from the American University of Rome in 2002 and the School of Public Affairs, American University, in 2017. She is a former Thomas Colloquium on Free Enterprise guest lecturer at Youngstown State University in Ohio and was a visiting fellow at the Institute for Public Service of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, in 2000, and at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, in 1992.

In 2022, Harrison was named to the Arts & Culture Council of America250, the nonprofit partner of the Semiquincentennial Commission, which was established by Congress to organize the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. She is the chairman emeritus and a board member of the National Italian American Foundation.