FOR RELEASE: December 14, 2018
Contact: Susanna Coto
The Media Institute
703-243-5700
Arlington, Va., December 14, 2018 – The Board of Trustees of The Media Institute has designated Richard T. Kaplar as President and Chief Executive Officer of the organization. The appointment was announced by Board Chairman Richard E. Wiley following the Board’s annual meeting in Washington.
Kaplar had served as Executive Director since 2016 and kept that title when he became head of the Institute in January 2018. He joined the Institute in 1981 and served as Vice President from 1984 to 2016.
Kaplar has written, edited, or produced more than 40 books and monographs on a variety of topics in the communications policy field. His areas of interest include the First Amendment and freedom of speech; competition and market economics; and government regulation of the communications industry.
Kaplar is the third president in the history of the nonprofit organization, founded in 1979. Communications attorney and former FCC chairman Richard E. Wiley will continue as Chairman of the Board.
“Rick Kaplar’s new title is a testament to the extraordinary leadership that he has provided to the Institute, as unanimously recognized by our Board,” said Dick Wiley.
A former U.S. Army officer, Kaplar holds a bachelor’s degree in English (magna cum laude) from John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, and a master’s degree in public administration from The American University in Washington, D.C. He has two grown sons and four grandchildren.
The Media Institute is a nonprofit research foundation working to advance sound communications policy, freedom of speech, and excellence in journalism. For more information, visit the Institute online at www.mediainstitute.org.
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