NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller announced her resignation today. NPR sent us the following statement:
The NPR Board of Directors announced today that it has accepted the resignation of Vivian Schiller as President and CEO of NPR, effective immediately.
Board Chairman Dave Edwards said: “The Board accepted Vivian’s resignation with understanding, genuine regret and great respect for her leadership of NPR these past two years.”
According to a CEO succession plan adopted by the Board in 2009, Joyce Slocum, SVP of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, will be appointed to the position of Interim CEO. The Board will establish an Executive Transition Committee to develop a timeframe and process for the recruitment and selection of new leadership.
It sounds like Schiller was forced out. Here’s a tweet from the NPR Twitter account:
@NPR
NPRRT @davidfolkenflik: LISTEN to my discussion in a few minutes on Morning Edition. To repeat: NPR CEO Vivian Schiller forced out by board
13 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
@davidfolkenflik
David FolkenflikBREAKING: The board for NPR NEWS has just ousted CEO Vivian Schiller in the wake of video sting by conservative activist of a top exec. 32 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
Schiller was ousted following comments made by NPR exec Ron Schiller, who referred to Tea Party members as racist.