Career Conversations

Laura Walker was the founding President and CEO of New York Public Radio and held that position for 23 years until earlier this year. She is now an Executive Fellow in Residence at the Yale School of Management and an advisor to New York Public Radio, Common Sense Media and a range of startups. New York Public Radio is an independent non profit that owns the nation’s largest public radio station group and is one of the world’s preeminent producers of podcasts and national radio stations and reaches 26 million people each month, including Radiolab, On the Media, and The New Yorker Radio Hour. Under her leadership, NYPR increased its annual budget from $8 million to $95 million, its employees from 55 to 425 and its monthly audience from one million to 26 million and led the acquisitions of The Gothamist, 4 stations of New Jersey Public Radio and of WQXR Radio from The New York Times. Since 2000, NYPR has been honored with 10 George Foster Peabody Awards and five Alfred I. DuPont Columbia Awards. A pioneer in po