Brian Sickora, president and chief executive officer of WSKG Public Media in Binghamton, New York, has been named director and general manager of UNC-TV, the 12-station public television network licensed to the University of North Carolina system. The appointment was announced today (April 27) by the UNC Board of Governors during a special called meeting in Chapel Hill. Sickora, who assumes his role on July 1, will succeed Gail Zimmermann, who has served as interim director and general manager since February 2014.
In his new position, Sickora will be responsible for the overall vision, leadership, strategic direction, and success of UNC-TV, which transmits four full-time digital program channels to all 100 counties in North Carolina. As general manager, he will oversee a $26.5-million budget and approximately 200 permanent, temporary, and contract employees statewide. He will also provide leadership and direction in the development and funding of programs and activities and compliance with all rules and regulations governing public broadcasting entities.
Sickora has led WSKG Media, a community-licensed network of two television stations and 13 radio stations, since 2007. During his nine-year tenure, he has launched a number of local programming initiatives and helped establish WSKG as a national model for partnership-focused enterprises.
Prior to joining WSKG, Sickora spent four years with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in Washington, D.C., where he served as vice president for system development and station grants administration. Earlier in his career, he served as president and chief executive officer of Florida-based Infinite Outsource, Inc., the first “outsourced” development service model in public broadcasting; executive vice president for operations and administration at Oregon Public Broadcasting; director of budget and finance for The Pennsylvania State University’s College of Outreach and Cooperative Extension; and finance director for Penn State Public Broadcasting. He has served on the national PBS Board of Trustees since 2013.
Sickora holds a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Penn State. Before entering the broadcasting field, he spent nine years as a business analyst for HRB Systems, Inc. in Pennsylvania, a division of Raytheon Corp.
About the University of North Carolina
The oldest public university in the nation, the University of North Carolina enrolls nearly 225,000 students and encompasses all 16 of North Carolina’s public institutions that grant baccalaureate degrees, as well as the NC School of Science and Mathematics, the nation’s first public residential high school for academically gifted students. UNC campuses support a broad array of distinguished liberal-arts programs, two medical schools and one teaching hospital, two law schools, a veterinary school, a school of pharmacy, 11 nursing programs, 15 schools of education, five schools of engineering and a renowned arts conservatory. The UNC Center for Public Television, with its 12-station statewide broadcast network, is also under the University umbrella.
UNC-TV MEDIA CONTACT: Rebekah Radisch (919) 549-7177