DRiWaterstone Human Capital Recruits New Leader for Michigan Radio
November 16, 2023 – Following an extensive nationwide search, Arlington, VA-based DRiWaterstone Human Capital has placed Wendy Turner as the new executive director and general manager of Michigan Radio, the public broadcasting service of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. She replaces Stephen Schram, who retired as Michigan Radio’s leader in late 2022. “Michigan Radio’s legacy of excellence has been recognized by nearly 50 awards from the Michigan Associated Press, Michigan Association of Broadcasters, Michigan Press Association and others, including being a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist,” said Richie Hunter, University of Michigan’s vice president for communications. “Wendy brings the enthusiasm, experience and vision to lead this extraordinary team to bold new successes.”
Ms. Turner is currently a member of the executive team at Ideastream Public Media in Cleveland, OH, and general manager of Ohio Public Media Services. In that role, she oversees statewide initiatives on behalf of Ohio’s 15 public TV and radio stations, including The Ohio Channel, The Statehouse News Bureau, and The Ohio Newsroom.
Prior to that, Ms. Turner was the executive director and general manager of WKSU for five years before consolidation with Ideastream Public Media. Under her leadership at WKSU, the station reversed its financial trajectory by growing membership and increasing philanthropic support. She championed numerous new content initiatives at WKSU, including recurring features and podcasts Exploradio: Origins, Shuffle, The Akron Initiative and Mark’s Almanac.
As Michigan Radio’s new leader, Ms. Turner will be charged with leading and inspiring a strong, talented team of more than 50 creative individuals, including on-air staff, content creators, fundraisers, news, marketing, and digital, operations, managers, and technical staff, said the search firm. She align the vision and daily operations to the future needs of the community, members, and funders, with a focused intent on the value of public radio; develop and communicate goals; and take healthy risks.
“I am truly honored to join the staff of Michigan Radio. Michigan Radio has an extraordinary legacy of courageous reporting, commitment to community, and spearheading innovation,” said Ms. Turner.” I am eager to help support and accelerate these efforts.”
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Founded in 1948, Michigan Radio is an award-winning public radio station licensed to the Regents of the University of Michigan that “works to uncover the facts, share the stories, and create the connections that give meaning to our complex world.” Michigan Radio has positioned itself as the largest public radio station in Michigan, reaching some 80 percent of Michigan’s population. Michigan Radio has reporters/bureaus in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Flint, Detroit and Lansing, a syndicated daily newsmagazine/public affairs program, and has won the prestigious Peabody, DuPont-Columbia, Murrow Awards, among others.
A Look Inside the Rewarding Work Serving a Non-Profit
Jennifer Dunlap is co-founder, president, and CEO of DRiWaterstone. After spending decades as a senior executive at non-profit organizations, she was convinced that the sector needed a dedicated and proven partner that could build capacity for organizations. Over the last 15 years, Ms. Dunlap has led executive searches for CEOs who have reinvented non-profit business models at blue-chip organizations such as AARP, Heifer International, League of Women Voters, NPR, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Ms. Dunlap recently sat down with Hunt Scanlon Media to discuss how working for a non-profit can be a fulfilling career and what it takes to find senior talent in the sector.
Created through a recent merger between DRi and Waterstone Human Capital, DRiWaterstone Human Capital is a culture-centric executive search, leadership advisory, and human capital firm focused on helping mission and purpose-driven organizations across the U.S. build high performance teams and cultures.
The firm offers executive search services focused on helping clients achieve sustainable organizational and cultural growth by finding leaders who align to the organization’s purpose, and who can help take the organization and its culture to the next level. DRiWaterstone Human Capital also offers a full portfolio of cultural talent management and leadership advisory services (including culture assessment, culture measurement, and culture curation) – to help organizations put culture at the center of strategy and drive success.
“By joining together, we can offer clients expertise in non-profit and social enterprise executive recruiting, and more than 20 years of experience in building high performance teams and cultures,” said Jennifer Dunlap, president and CEO of DRiWaterstone. “That expertise allows DRiWaterstone to serve mission and purpose-driven organizations in both the non-profit and private sectors with a broad portfolio of services designed to inspire leaders to build high performance teams and cultures.”
Related: DRiWaterstone Human Capital Leads CFO Search for the Academy of Management
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor; Lily Fauver, Senior Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
