Board of Directors

Heather Birks

Heather is the executive director of the Broadcast Education Association, an academic media association supporting development for faculty, students and professionals. She has been involved in media for over 25 years. She serves on the LABF’s executive committee.

Pierre Bouvard

Pierre is chief insights officer for Cumulus Media and Westwood One, leading the marketing and advertising strategy for the radio company. Previously, he was senior vice president of sales for TiVo Research & Analytics where he worked with Procter & Gamble, Comcast, Turner Broadcasting and NBCU. As president of sales for Arbitron Inc., he launched the Portable People Meter and created the out-of-home and custom research divisions.

Sally Brown

Sally is the former general manager of WSTB-TV South Bend, Ind., and current vice president of the Schurz Communications Foundation. During her distinguished career, Brown has also served on the boards of the National Association of Broadcasters and the Arbitron/Nielsen Advisory Committee and is a past president of the Indiana Broadcasters Association. Brown began her career as an announcer at a South Bend radio station while still in high school.

Sam Bush

Sam is EVP, treasurer and CFO of Saga Communications, a publicly traded radio group with 114 stations in 28 markets. He joined Saga in 1997 as CFO and rose to his current position in 2024. Prior to Saga, he was a senior executive at AT&T Capital Corp., which provided financing to broadcasting and other telecommunications companies. He also volunteers as vice chairman of Gleaners Community Food Bank in Detroit.

Michael Carter

Michael is president and general manager of the Carter Broadcast Group in Kansas City, Mo. The group owns and operates KPRS-FM and KPRT-AM. KPRS is the oldest existing African American owned-and-operated radio station in the United States, founded in 1950 by Michael’s grandfather, Andrew “Skip” Carter.

April Carty-Sipp

April is executive vice president of industry affairs for the National Association of Broadcasters with more than 20 years of experience in the industry in marketing, branding and programming. Prior to working at NAB, she was vice president/director of programming at Disney ABC-owned WPVI-TV Philadelphia where she led local programming, production and the public affairs departments. Carty-Sipp has received numerous awards in her career, including six Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.

Gary Chapman

Gary is the former chairman, president and CEO of LIN TV Corp., a major publicly traded TV station group. Gary joined LIN's former parent in 1988 as president of television and was named CEO of television in June 1994 and chairman in August 2000. LIN was absorbed by Media General, which, in turn, was acquired by Nexstar Media. Gary served on the board of the National Association of Broadcasters for four years (1989-93), the last two as joint board chairman. He serves on the LABF’s executive committee.

Chandra Clark

Chandra is an assistant professor at the University of Alabama in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media. She teaches electronic news, producing and community journalism. Chandra started in a TV station when she was 16, and her passion for broadcast journalism led to a career as a senior producer at the ABC affiliate in Birmingham, a freelance producer and a broadcast media marketing specialist for the university. Chandra has produced a series of award-winning videos in partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters and the Broadcast Education Association about the role broadcast TV and radio play in disasters.

Heather Cohen

Heather is president of the Weiss Agency, a talent agency representing local and syndicated radio personalities. She joined Weiss from GreenStone Media, where was vice president of programming. Prior to GreenStone, she was the assistant program director at WOR New York and executive producer of The Joan Hamburg Show. Radio Ink has recognized her as one of the “Most Influential Women in Radio” every year since 2014. She is the former chair of the Women in Media Foundation.

Tony Coles

Tony is president of BIN: Black Information Network, a full-time news service “with a Black voice” and president of multi-cultural business and development at iHeartMedia. In the latter role, he works to support and grow multicultural audiences and revenue. Coles has more than 35 years’ experience in the radio industry, from on-air programming to senior management. He currently also serves on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation, and the Radio Advertising Bureau.

Mary M. Collins

Mary is the former president and CEO of the Media Financial Management Association and its media industry credit association subsidiary, BCCA. A media industry veteran with more than 30 years’ experience, Collins joined MFM/BCCA in January 2003. Collins’ previous experiences encompass sales, marketing and business development positions at several cable programming networks, including the Television Food Network and Rainbow Programming Services’ Sports Channel Chicago, Bravo and American Movie Classics. She began her career in media with a marketing management position with a cable system in Champaign-Urbana, Ill. She is the treasurer of the LABF.

Mike Conway

Mike is a media historian specializing in the history of broadcast news in the 20th century. He is an associate professor of journalism at Indiana University’s Media School. His latest book, Contested Ground: ‘The Tunnel’ and the Struggle Over Television News in Cold War America, won the LABF’s Broadcast Historian Award and the American Journalism Historians Association’s book award. Conway is currently serving as 2nd vice president of the American Journalism Historians Association. Before becoming a professor, he spent more than 15 years in local television news, working as a reporter, photographer, anchor, producer and news director.

Dave “Chachi” Denes

Chachi is president and co-founder of Benztown, a leading international radio imaging, production library, programming, podcasting, jingles and voiceover services company with over 2,900 affiliations on six different continents. With studios in Los Angeles, New York, and Stuttgart, Benztown was named to the exclusive Inc. 5000 for five consecutive years as one of America’s Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies, and one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. Media sector.

John Dille

John is president and CEO of Federated Media, which serves Indiana and Michigan through radio, online products, smartphone apps, advertising and marketing. The radio group comprises 12 stations. John has been an industry leader, serving as chair of the National Association of Broadcasters Radio Board, which awarded him its 2005 National Radio Award. He also is past chair of the Radio Advertising Bureau and past director and president of the Indiana Broadcasters Association.

Erica Farber

Erica is president and CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau, helping radio to drive business, grow advertising revenue and communicate its digital transition. She joined the organization in January 2012 as executive vice president. Prior to that, she was CEO of the radio consulting and Internet service provider, The Farber Connection LLC, a firm she founded in 2010. During her 15 year at Radio & Records, she held various positions including COO, president, publisher and CEO.

Dr. Caroline Frick

Caroline is an associate professor in the Radio-TV-Film Department at The University of Texas at Austin. She is also founder and executive director of the Texas Archive of the Moving Image, an organization devoted to the discovery and preservation of media related to Texas. In addition, she has worked in film preservation at Warner Bros., the Library of Congress, and the National Archives in Washington; programmed films for American Movie Classics and served for four years as board president for the Association of Moving Image Archivists.

Harry A. Jessell

Harry is co-founder and editor at large of TVNewsCheck., an 18-year-old news service covering the TV broadcasting business. He is a former editor-in-chief of Broadcasting & Cable (formerly Broadcasting). He serves on the LABF’s executive committee.

David Kennedy

Dave is co-founder and managing director of Aspire Ventures, a healthcare technology venture capital firm focused on mobile, machine learning and cloud computing. Prior to his work with Aspire, he was CEO of appMobi, a developer tool and cloud platform company, CEO/vice chairman of Interep National Radio Sales and CEO of major market radio, cable and internet company Susquehanna Media, where he held positions for 33 years. He has served on numerous boards, including the National Association of Broadcasters and the Radio Advertising Bureau. He is a recipient of the Ward Quaal Award from the Broadcasters Foundation of America. He is on the LABF’s executive committee.

Dr. Judy Kuriansky

Judy is a renowned radio advice host, clinical psychologist, certified sex therapist, lecturer, newspaper columnist and author of many books. She is a pioneer of radio call-in advice who is now also active on the internet. She is a frequent commentator on international media. She is also an adjunct professor at the Clinical Psychology Program at Columbia University Teachers College and visiting professor of Peking University Health Science Center in Beijing.

Leo MacCourtney

Leo is president of Katz Television Group, the nation’s leading television representation company. In this role, he oversees Katz’s national sales for more than 800 TV stations in more than 196 markets. He began his career in sales at WERE-AM Cleveland, but in 1981 joined Blair Television as a national rep. In 2007, Leo jumped to rival Katz and worked his way up to his current position in 2012. Over the years, he has served on the boards of the IRTS, the Broadcasters Foundation of America, the Washington Media Scholars Foundation, and the Television Bureau of Advertising.

Mike McVay

Mike is president of McVay Media Consulting, which offers clients help with audio content creation, programming, syndication, digital distribution, podcasting, talent coaching and media training. He is a partner in Benztown + McVay Media Podcast Network. He is former executive vice president of content and programming for Cumulus and Westwood One. In addition to the LABF, he serves on the boards of the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, the Country Radio Broadcasters and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

James Morley

Jim’s career in radio has spanned more than four decades. He was founder of NewCity Communications, a radio group based in Bridgeport, Conn. He retired from Cox Radio Inc. in 1999, and, until 2015, was involved with several regional radio and media initiatives in the New York area. He is on the LABF’s executive committee.

Ginny Morris

Ginny is the chair and CEO of Hubbard Radio, which operates 30 radio stations in Chicago, Washington, Seattle, Phoenix, Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. She is a member of the Hubbard family whose roots in broadcasting extend to 1923. She is a former chair of the LABF and continues to serve on the executive committee.

Ernesto Mourelo

Ernesto is vice president of digital news for Hearst Television, responsible for the digital content and distribution strategies at the group’s stations in 27 markets. He also oversees production of the group’s national digitial content.

Deborah Parenti

Deborah is president and publisher of the Radio, TV & Podcasting Division of Streamline Publishing. In the role, she oversees Radio Ink, Radio + Television Business Report, and Podcast Business Journal in addition to the annual Hispanic Radio Conference and the Radio Ink Forecast conferences. After years in radio station management, she joined Streamline in 2007 and was elevated to her current post in September 2001.

Brian Philips

Brian is executive vice president of content and audience for Cumulus Media. He joined the radio group from Viacom/MTV Networks’ CMT, where he began in 2001 as SVP/general manager, rose to president in 2009 and remained so until 2018. Before joining MTV Networks, Philips enjoyed a diverse, award-winning radio career, rising to Susquehanna Radio’s head of FM programming, Atlanta/ Dallas, in 2001.

Walter Podrazik

Walter is a respected television historian, analyst, curator and media logistics planner. He teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His 10 books include the history Watching TV.

Patricia Smullin

Patsy is president of California Oregon Broadcasting, owner of five TV stations, including NBC affiliate KOBI Medford, Ore., and Fox affiliate KLSR Eugene, Ore. It also owns Pilot Rock, a video production company.

Jeffrey Smulyan

Jeff is founder, CEO and chairman of Emmis Corp., an Indianapolis-based publicly traded diversified media company, which formerly owned large groups of TV and radio stations. Today, its holdings include two AM radio stations in New York; Lencore Acoustics, a worldwide leader in sound masking technology; and a controlling interest in Digonex, which provides dynamic pricing solutions across multiple industries. He has been honored by the LABF as a Giant, the NAB and the Broadcasters Foundation of America. In addition, he is a member of the Broadcasting & Cable and Indiana Business halls of fame.

Dan Spears

Dan is VP of industry relations and licensing at Broadcast Music Inc. In this capacity, he works closely with BMI’s licensing management team and serves as a bridge between it and the writer/publisher and business affairs teams. Prior to BMI, Dan was a morning news anchor and talk show host at WCBM-AM in Baltimore. 

Julie Talbott

Julie is president of Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, overseeing its roster of more than 100 radio programs and services, including the Total Traffic & Weather Network and the 24/7 News Network.  She joined Premiere in 1999 as senior vice president of integrated marking solutions, focusing on advertising sponsorships. In 2003, she was promoted to executive vice president, affiliate relations. In that role, she increased distribution of shows hosted by Glenn Beck, George Noory, Steve Harvey, Keith Sweat, Elvis Duran and others. In 2009, Talbott was named president, content and affiliate relations. She became president in January 2014.

John Taylor

A long-time board member, John leads external relations, government affairs and corporate communications at LG Electronics USA. He has been involved in broadcasting and technology for four decades.

Dennis Wharton

Dennis retired as the longest-serving spokesman in the history of the National Association of Broadcasters. Before NAB, he was the long-time Washington bureau chief for Variety/Daily Variety. He is on the board’s executive committee.