WHRO Public Media congratulates President and CEO Bert Schmidt on 15 years with the organization. At a recent board of directors meeting, Yvonne Allmond, WHRO's Treasurer and Executive Vice President and Community Financial Engagement Officer, Towne Bank, presented Bert with his 15-year pin.

CEO announcement

Bert Schmidt's photo from 2007.

Bert came to WHRO from Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he was the president and general of manager of public television station WVPT. Prior to that, he held leadership positions at WCNY TV/FM in Syracuse, New York, and WSKG TV/FM in Binghamton, New York.

It was WHRO’s stellar reputation as a model public media station that first attracted him to the position, Bert said in a welcome letter posted on the station’s website in 2007. Once he arrived, he found himself impressed with the employees.

“There’s a remarkable staff here, with talent and dedication in equal measure, and, I have discovered, boundless energy and enthusiasm,” he wrote.

He was also impressed with the station’s emphasis on education and use of educational technology. “What we’re able to do with distance learning, virtual classrooms and teacher training is amazing, and the possibilities to expand our service to educators and students is almost limitless.”

As he embraced his new role, he encouraged both staff and community members to reach out with their ideas. “WHRO is a great organization – and we’re on our way to becoming a world class one,” Bert wrote. “Expect great things from us!”

In 15 years under his leadership we have indeed seen many great things! A few highlights of his accomplishments include:

  • Added 4 new school divisions to WHRO’s ownership
  • Developed 27 online courses
  • Created eMediaVA — an online library of multimedia learning resources available to all Virginia teachers, students and parents free of charge
  • Created a $15M+ endowment
  • Added new radio frequencies increasing service from 1.7M people to 2.1M people
  • Created a newsroom
  • Added Time Machine Radio Network, WFOS FM

We look forward to many more good things for WHRO under his future direction.

Congratulations, Bert!