NCPB Senior Management

Jeff Clarke
President and Chief Executive Officer

Jeff Clarke was appointed President and CEO of KQED Public Broadcasting in June 2002. A Wisconsin native, Clarke has a broadcasting career that spans 44 years with more than 31 years in public broadcasting. Prior to joining KQED, Clarke spent twelve years in Houston, Texas, where he was chief executive officer and general manager of Houston PBS/KUHT, holding that position since 1992. Clarke led a successful capital campaign to support digital conversion and built a brand-new state-of-the-art facility, the LeRoy and Lucile Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting, which now houses both Houston PBS/KUHT (one of the first public television stations in the nation to deliver its digital television signal into homes via Time Warner cable) and KUHF-FM, its sister National Public Radio station.

Before his arrival at HoustonPBS/KUHT, Clarke served as director of programming and production and Deputy Director of Television for Wisconsin Public Television, a six-station public television network. He also served as executive producer of the national PBS series The New Tech Times, and was manager of news and public affairs at KETC-TV, St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to his work in public broadcasting Clarke worked as a journalist, correspondent, and news anchor in commercial radio and television and with the American Forces Radio and Television service.

Clarke was a member of the PBS board of directors from 1997-2004, serving on the executive and membership committees, and as chair of the technology and distribution committee. Clarke serves as chair of the board of directors of the PBS subsidiary, National DataCast Incorporated (NDI). Clarke served on the board of directors for the Boston based programming distribution service, American Public Television (APT). In addition, Clarke has served on the boards of America's Public Television Stations (APTS), the Southern Educational Communications Association (SECA) and the Central Educational Network (CEN). Clarke is also an American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow.

In the Bay Area Clarke serves as a Governor of the Commonwealth Club of California, was a Trustee of the World Affairs Council of Northern California (2003-2009), and is a member of the Asia Society Advisory Board. He and his wife Gail have been longtime Habitat for Humanity volunteers and were a "wish team" for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Texas Gulf Coast while in Houston. Clarke also is an avid aviator who flies missions for Angel Flight as a command pilot. He also is a founding father with the Family Violence Prevention Fund in San Francisco.

Clarke has won numerous awards in his distinguished career, including five local Emmy nominations; a silver medal from the New York International Film Festival for the national PBS series, The New Tech Times; Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) local program awards; and numerous Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI) news awards during his career as a television anchor and correspondent.

Clarke graduated cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a BA in radio, television, and film. He earned an MA in communication arts - with an emphasis in film - from the University of Wisconsin.

Clarke received an honorable discharge as a staff sergeant in the United States Air Force after his service during the Vietnam era from June 1966 to November 1969.

Clarke and his spouse Gail have one daughter, Melissa. She and her family reside in Houston, Texas. Clarke and his wife live in Mill Valley, California.