News
April 26, 2017WMHT Welcomes Chris Hays
WMHT Public Media announces new Vice President of Content and Community Engagement, Chris Hays.
Hays currently serves as the CEO of Panhandle PBS and Vice President, Communications and Marketing at Amarillo College, which holds Panhandle PBS’ license. He previously served as Director of Content at the station and held a number of television and digital programming positions in commercial broadcasting prior to his time in public media.
In his little more than two years with Panhandle PBS, Chris started as Director of Content before becoming General Manager, and then both CEO of Panhandle PBS as well as VP of Communications and Marketing at Amarillo College. He led the station through a rebrand, restructured the station to produce and offer more local content, and developed a multi-platform content and engagement strategy serving the Texas Panhandle on-air, online, in social media, and throughout the community. The renaissance at Panhandle PBS led to him helping Amarillo College with its communications and marketing strategy. During this time, the college increased enrollment and developed strategies and messages geared towards improving graduation rates.
WMHT launched a national search to fill this new position, emphasizing its commitment to community, partnerships, and multiplatform strategies, earlier this year.
‘We are excited to welcome Chris to our team,’ says Robert Altman, WMHT President and CEO. ‘He is one our industry’s leaders in developing a true multiplatform service and has a set of skills well aligned with our vision for WMHT’s future.’
‘I have followed WMHT from afar and I see great opportunity to work with the team to enhance and grow local content and community engagement in every platform available,’ notes Hays. ‘I’m both thrilled and grateful to be heading to such a vibrant region and to join an organization that has the desire to evolve and to explore the question of what public media can become in the future to be even more meaningful to the people we serve. ‘
Hays will begin his role as Vice President of Content and Community Engagement Tuesday, May 30, 2017 at WMHT Public Media located in the Rensselaer Technology Park, 4 Global View Troy, New York.
