Ken Stern is the chair of the Longevity Project. He also leads the creative and business teams at Palisades Media Ventures, focusing on creating new and innovative programming for digital platforms and television.
Stern is the author of “With Charities For All: Why Charities Are Failing and A Better Way to Give” (Doubleday 2013). He is also a frequent contributor to publications such as The Atlantic, Slate, the Daily Beast, the Washington Post and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Prior to launching Palisades, Stern was the CEO of National Public Radio. During his tenure, NPR’s radio audience more than doubled, from under 13 million weekly listeners to more than 26 million weekly listeners. Revenues during his nine years at NPR grew from $75 million to $210 million. Stern also launched NPR’s world class digital efforts which included two satellite channels, its mobile and podcast services, NPR Music and oversaw the successful expansion of NPR.org. During a period of significant retrenchment and downsizing at major news outlet, Stern led the dramatic expansion of NPR News, both domestically and abroad, and its evolution as a key daily news source to tens of millions of people.
Prior to joining NPR, Stern was a senior executive in American International Broadcasting. Earlier in his career, he held positions in Democratic politics. He began his media career with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich. Stern, a lawyer by training, holds degrees from Haverford College and Yale Law School. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife Beth Cooper and their son Nate.