WETA Names Tom Chiodo New Senior Executive Director for National Program Development

ARLINGTON, VA — Sharon Percy Rockefeller, president and CEO of WETA, announced today that Tom Chiodo will join the WETA Corporate Marketing Department as senior executive director for national program development on August 31st. Chiodo will report to WETA vice president for corporate marketing, Adam Gronski, and develop sponsorships and new business opportunities for WETA national projects. Chiodo was most recently the senior vice president for business development with the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF).

      “We are delighted that Tom Chiodo will be joining our WETA team,” said Rockefeller. “For the past few years we have been able to work closely with Tom and Stand Up To Cancer at the Entertainment Industry Foundation as part of our major Emmy Award-nominated documentary series Ken Burns Presents Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies A Film by Barak Goodman. I knew Tom would be a wonderful fit to communicate to new business partners the value of the public broadcasting mission and our engaged audience.”

      WETA is one of the largest producing stations of new national content for public television in the United States, creating more than 350 hours of national programming annually. WETA Corporate Marketing was responsible in fiscal year 2015 for more than $20 million in national programming sponsorship. Chiodo’s national production portfolio will include the nightly PBS NewsHour, the weekly Washington Week with Gwen Ifill, performance specials, and other future major documentary projects.

      “WETA is in a strong position of growth for our national production portfolio,” said Gronski. “Tom’s diverse experience will help WETA expand the opportunities available to corporate America to invest in public broadcasting while we continue to develop new relationships with businesses in different industries and major digital media partnerships.”

      “I am honored to join the WETA team and to work alongside individuals whose talent, commitment and extraordinary programming history are so important to informing the national conversation on critical issues of our time,” said Chiodo. “And I am grateful to Sharon Rockefeller for her confidence in my work.”   

      Chiodo will join WETA with more than thirty years’ experience in public health, communications, entertainment/media and business development. He brings an expertise in developing ancillary benefits for corporate sponsors in the non-profit arena. At EIF, the 73-year-old foundation that serves as one of the leading charities of the entertainment industry, he was instrumental in raising significant funds for key national initiatives in health care, volunteerism, veteran’s services, childhood hunger and education, including Stand Up To Cancer & SU2C Canada, iParticipate, Rise and Honor, HungerIs.org and ThinkItUp.org. He has also held senior positions at Rubenstein Communications; Manhattan Repertory Company; and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Massachusetts State Office for Children & Department of Public Health. Past clients include numerous documentary projects with PBS and HBO; TIME, Inc.; AMC; Wenner Media; Columbia University Humanities Festival; Major League Baseball; (RED); Al Roker Entertainment, Inc.; The Tony Awards; ABC’s Good Morning America; Chances for Children; American Express; Jaguar International; Pepsi-Cola Company; and The Apollo Theatre.

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