Updated Feb. 23, 1:30 p.m.
Capital Public Radio’s Board of Directors elected nine new members on Wednesday, four months after a majority of the board resigned in the wake of a scathing financial audit of the Sacramento-based NPR member station.
Last fall’s mass resignation left the CapRadio board with only eight members, not enough to make major decisions, under the station’s bylaws.
“This is a major milestone in our efforts to try and bring CapRadio to the right course,” Dr. Mark Wheeler, chief-of-staff to Sacramento State President Luke Wood, said following the unanimous vote by the existing board to expand its membership.
Speaking to CapRadio on Thursday, Wood said the reconstitution of the station’s board is welcome news.
“When I’m looking right now at the state of CapRadio, I have to say it brings a smile to my face,” Wood said, citing recent increases in ratings and donations. “The sound of CapRadio from everyone I talk to is better now than ever before.”
Wheeler explained at a January board meeting the board must have at least 15 directors to be an official governing body and that a majority must be present to have a quorum and make decisions. Ten of those 15 directors must be community members, he said.
The nine new directors elected Wednesday are community members, several of whom have backgrounds in education, marketing, journalism and state government. (The names and biographical information for each new board member is included at the end of this article).
Sacramento State, which holds the FCC license for CapRadio, plans to appoint a tenth new director in coming weeks: Sac State biology professor Rob Crawford. The appointment does not require a board vote.
Over the past several months, CapRadio received letters from community leaders requesting to serve on the station’s board. Interim General Manager Tom Karlo said he and Wheeler followed the station’s legal guidance in reviewing and ultimately recommending the candidates.
Background checks were also conducted on all candidates, according to Bruce Scheidt, who serves as CapRadio’s legal counsel.
“We reviewed all public documents, social media postings, civil, criminal, any kinds of public records that are out there,” Scheidt said following the meeting. “Our law firm had databases just to make sure there were no obvious conflicts of interest or suspected [ones].”
In addition, Wheeler said all CapRadio board members are required to fill out conflict-of-interest statements to remain on the board. Wheeler said the forms would be completed during an onboarding period.
Background on financial audit and resignations
In October, 14 board members sent a joint letter to Wood and Karlo, detailing what the board members called "a failure of Sac State to inform and engage with the board in a good faith effort to resolve CapRadio's financial issues."
That followed the release of the audit in late September 2023 by the California State University Chancellor's office. It found numerous instances of financial mismanagement and questioned CapRadio’s ability to pay for the station’s two costly and long-delayed downtown projects.
Those include a new CapRadio headquarters at 730 I Street and a separate live event space at 1010 8th Street. Both remain unoccupied after years of renovations. CapRadio staff continue to work from the station's Folsom Boulevard studio on the Sac State campus.
The audit was made public one month after CapRadio laid off 12% of its staff and canceled four music shows. The layoffs affected staff at CapRadio in Sacramento and at North State Public Radio in Chico, which CapRadio also operates.
In a statement last week, Karlo announced that he plans to resign his position as CapRadio’s interim president and GM after joining the organization last August, but will remain on as a “special consultant.”
The station says it has seen ratings and revenue growth in recent months, but is “still in a precarious financial position” because of ongoing debt obligations and the expensive downtown projects.
“This moment is bittersweet for me,” Karlo said in a press release. “CapRadio is in a much better place than it was six months ago, but there is still a long road ahead for the organization.”
His last day as GM will be Feb. 29, and will be replaced by Frank Maranzino, the station’s director of technology.
The station has seen numerous leadership changes over the past few years. Rick Eytcheson retired as general manager in 2020 after serving in that role since 2006. He was replaced by Jun Reina, another longtime CapRadio employee, who had been the station’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer. Eytcheson stayed on at the station as president emeritus until June 30, 2023.
In March 2023, the CapRadio board announced that it would begin a search for a new general manager, with Reina staying on until the new leader was in place. Reina left CapRadio in June 2023.
Three months later, Karlo joined CapRadio as interim-GM after serving as general manager of San Diego’s NPR and PBS station KPBS from 2009 through 2020, when he retired following a 47-year career in public media.
Contact CapRadio reporter Chris Nichols at [email protected]
Disclosure: This story was reported and written by News Reporter Chris Nichols and edited by Digital Editor Claire Morgan. Following NPR’s protocol for reporting on itself, no CapRadio corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.
Editor’s note: CapRadio is licensed to Sacramento State, which is also an underwriter.
New CapRadio board members and biographies, as provided by Sacramento State:
Name: Lynn Belzer
Job Title: Retired
Biography: Between 1982-2013 Lynn was a private consultant, coach, psychotherapist, providing services to individuals, private/public organizations, employee assistance and wellness programs.
Organizational work included strategic planning, capacity building, faciRPation, conflict resolution and leadership skill development. She has extensive experience with community boards having served on boards for the YMCA, Planned Parenthood, Congregation B'nai Israel, and the Albert Einstein Residential Center.
Name: Jim Bolt
Job Title: Senior Vice President of Marketing & Sales, O2 Hydration
Biography: Jim Bolt has held marketing leadership roles at well-known consumer brands including CenturyLink, Jack in the Box, Wham-O, and LeapFrog. He has over 25 years of extensive, cross-industry experience in the areas of consumer goods, food & beverage, sporting goods, toys, retail, and consumer tech. Jim’s expertise is in driving rapid growth for startups, private equity-backed ventures, and Fortune 500 companies.
Beyond his corporate endeavors, Jim is equally committed to developing the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders. As an advisor, mentor, and judge for the University of Notre Dame’s McCloskey New Venture Competition, he has mentored numerous teams in several categories, from social ventures and emerging markets, to disruptive technologies and consumer product innovations. Jim successfully mentored one team to win the McCloskey Grand Prize and another to win the Klau Social Impact Award.
Board experience: Jim served as a board member for the Mendoza Graduate Business School at the University of Notre Dame, where he collaborated with the dean, and senior staff, on the formation, structure, and mission of the board. His specific areas of focus included business school curriculum, MBA skills development, professional networking, corporate recruiting, and career services.
He also served on the board of Club Sportiva, a membership car club startup in San Francisco, CA.
Jim holds an MBA from the University of Notre Dame and a BA in Marketing & Media Communications from Sacramento State, where he founded KSSU, Sacramento State’s student-run radio station.
Name: Susan Catron
Job Title: Dean Emerita - UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education
Biography: Susan Catron is the Dean of UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education, a self-supporting academic division with a $40 million budget. With over 20 years of experience at UC Davis, she has pioneered online academic programs and forged successful partnerships with industry and campus stakeholders. In her role as the division's chief academic officer, she leads a team of 230 academic and professional staff who annually serve 50,000 learners from over 100 countries. Susan holds a doctorate in educational leadership from UC Davis and a master's in public policy from California State University, Sacramento. Her research centers on program innovation, online educational quality, and educational accountability. Throughout her career, she has held various roles, including director of Marketing, department chair, associate dean for Program Innovation, and senior associate dean for Academic Affairs. Her expertise spans K-12 education, autism, public policy, health services, public health, business, technology, and management, complemented by her previous experience as a policy analyst in the California State Legislature.
Name: Martin Clevenger
Job Title: President/Founder - The Westerra Group
Biography: Martin was recently a 10-year Board member of the Crocker Art Museum serving as co-chair of the Buildings & Grounds Committee's oversight of CAMA's $100M expansion, and members of its Audit and Investment Committees. He was also Audit Committee Chair (established the Committee) for the California Institute for Nursing and Healthcare. He is a licensed CPA (Inactive) in the state of California, and has successfully engaged in commercial real estate development and investment since the mid-1990s.
Name: Nick Llanos
Job Title: Training Section Chief - EDD
Biography: Nick is a dedicated faculty administrator and teacher who values a forward-thinking attitude. As Math Department Head at the Shanghai Wenlai International School, he developed a Common-Core aligned math program to hyperfocus vertical alignment within their overall curriculum. He then went on to work as an administrator in a number of high schools, spearheading math departments through integration of technology and emerging teaching practices. For example, Nick included the use of Microsoft suite in his statistics classes to show how people use statistics in the real world. At the EDD, Nick manages operations for two teleworking teams: the Management & Staff Development Unit, and the Training & Program Development Unit.
Name: James Richardson
Job Title: Journalist, Retired Episcopal Priest, Author
Biography: James, a former senior writer for The Sacramento Bee, focused on covering the state Capitol and California politics. He gained recognition for his critically acclaimed biography of political leader Willie Brown, published by the University of California Press.
In 1997, James transitioned to a new chapter of his life, attending seminary and eventually becoming an Episcopal priest. He has dedicated his time to serving on various non-profit boards, including Francis House, which has provided essential support to Sacramento's unsheltered population for many years.
James also served as a trustee for the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley and the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. In his role as a priest, he assumed the position of Rector (senior pastor) in several large churches with budgets exceeding $1 million. His impressive career culminated as the Interim Dean of Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento, a vibrant and socially engaged congregation.
During his tenure as a trustee for the diocese, James authored a financial oversight policy that emphasized stringent review by trustees for significant contracts and expenditures. His multi-faceted career reflects a deep commitment to journalism, spirituality, and community service.
Name: Stacey Schwartz
Job Title: Career Counselor - Your Career Doc
Biography: Stacey made her name initially as Project Director for Department of Education Grants at Coastline Community College. She worked her way through the special education program to achieve the title of Dean of Instruction, Special Programs. From there, Stacy moved on to multiple Executive Director positions - first to Lawrence Children's Choir and then to Independence, Inc. In 2015 Stacey leveraged this experience to co-found Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, a charter school focused on providing dropouts with a marketable education. Currently, Stacy provides counseling for professionals looking to change professions or who are struggling to get their career off the ground.
Board Experience: At Independence, inc., Stacey was able to cut costs by 25%, developed a for profit arm of the organization, and increased volunteer participation by 600%. She also wrote and directed grant projects exceeding $3 million. In 2016, Stacy relocated to Laguna Hills where she started as Chief Operating Officer of Brain Education Strategies & Technology (BEST), inc. There she wrote and successfully applied for IRS 501(c)(3) status on behalf of BEST. She also created the start-up's board policies, procedures, and budget.
Name: Leigh White
Job Title: Semi-Retired / Director, Board of Directors - Paratransit, Inc.
Biography: Leigh is a wizard when it comes to network turnarounds. At Fox40, she was responsible for the complete overhaul of the network over a 5-year period before selling the station to Nexstar in 2019. At the time of sale, Fox40's revenue had increased by 38% ($72 M station) with EBITDA growing over 46% in 5 years. They were producing 9.5 hours of local news each day, with a 90-person news department, and 145 FTEs overall. This overhaul included a complete rebuild of both revenue and marketing teams.
Board Experience:
- Sacramento Metro Chamber: Board Member 2017-2021; acting board chair Jan 2020 - Dec 2020.
- Salvation Army: Board Member 2017 - 2022
- California Capital Airshow: Board Member 2021-2023
- Five Star Bank: Director, Board of Directors 2021 - Present; also ALCO Committee chair 2022 - Present
- Royal Electric Company: Director, Board of Directors 2022 - Present
- Paratransit: Director, Board of Directors 2023 - Present
Name: Erike Young
Job Title: Risk Manager - California Intergovernmental Risk Authority
Biography: Erike Young serves as the Risk Manager for the California Intergovernmental Risk Authority (CIRA). With over two decades of experience in risk and safety management, Erike possesses a wealth of knowledge from both the public and private sectors to his current role at CIRA.
Board Experience: Erike Young is the Risk Manager for the California Intergovernmental Risk Authority (CIRA). CIRA is a statewide, risk sharing Joint Powers Authority (JPA) that provides comprehensive coverage to cities, towns and non-municipal public agencies through the state of California. CIRA operates with an exclusive staff whose only focus is this organization and its members. Erike was elected to the El Dorado Union High School Board at the age of eighteen, and later was elected to the El Dorado County Board of Education and Rescue Union School District Board
Erike also served as the Chair for the US Technical Advisory Group for ISO 31000- Risk Management. and Convenor for ISO TC 262 Workgroup 8 for Terminology. He has served as the past president of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) Sacramento Chapter and was elected to the ASSP Board of Directors of ASSP. Erike was elected to the El Dorado Union High School Board at the age of 18, and later was elected to the El Dorado County Board of Education and Rescue Union School District Board.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Board Member Susan Catron was an active dean at UC Davis. She is a dean emerita. The story has since been updated.
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