NPR has announced the appointment of Ryan Merkley as its new Chief Operating Officer.

NPR’s Member Partnership, Network Growth (including the NPR app and New Platform Partnerships), Technology Operations and Distribution, and Product and Audience Technology team will report to Merkley, who will also oversee its AI strategy. Merkley previously was CEO of biotech non-profit Conscience that uses AI and collaborative science to address areas of market failure in drug development. He has also held roles as Senior Technology Fellow at the Aspen Institute, Chief of Staff of the Wikimedia Foundation, CEO of Creative Commons and Mozilla Foundation, Director of Corporate Communications for the City of Vancouver during 2010 Winter Olympics, and a Senior Advisor to Toronto Mayor David Miller.

Merkley commented, “”I believe deeply in collaboration – especially things we can only do together – and I’ve spent my career in organizations that do just that. Public media is a collective effort, beginning with communities and local stations across the country, and connecting across the network. Public media and its unique mission of service is essential to give people the information and context they need to make choices about their lives and their families, and to understand each other at home and around the world. We need that connection and understanding more than ever, and I’m so inspired by this team and our mission to ensure we protect and grow it.”

NPR CEO Katherine Maher added, “Throughout his career Ryan has demonstrated a commitment to the public trust, leading organizations that prioritize universal access to the common good. He has a proven track record in helping companies with ambitious missions achieve high-performance outcomes, and his success working with complex distributed network organizations and fluency in product and emerging technologies make him an ideal COO for NPR at this moment in time. I look forward to working with Ryan to build the NPR Network into a truly national public media network with local audience services at its core, and to develop and sustain the technologies that make this work possible.”