John Boland was named president and chief executive officer of KQED in March 2010. A media executive and journalist, Boland is a leader in the transformation of public media to serve the rapidly changing needs of the American public in the digital age. He has articulated a vision for twenty-first century public media that combines mobile, social and Internet media with robust digital radio and television broadcasting; and has initiated experiments and inspired innovation at both the local and national levels.
Boland served in several executive positions at KQED for more than a decade, including executive vice president and chief operating officer, and vice president of marketing, development and communications. He created the role of chief content officer at KQED in 2002 – the first such position in public media – and went on to become the first chief content officer of the national Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 2006.
Boland began his multi-faceted media career as an award-winning daily newspaper reporter and editor in his native New Jersey. He was a newspaper publisher and owner, a senior executive with two major international marketing and communications firms: Burson-Marsteller and Hill & Knowlton, and publisher of San Francisco Focus (now San Francisco magazine).
He serves as a director of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the World Affairs Council of Northern California, American Documentary Inc. (producers of the PBS series, POV), California Public Television, and is on the board of governors of the Commonwealth Club of California.
Boland has been a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 25 years. While his primary passion is public service media, he and his partner, James Carroll, own and operate Dos Reis Ranch, an organic apple orchard in Sebastopol. Boland also swims competitively with the University of San Francisco Masters Team.
