FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2024
CONTACT: Chris Dayyani, Comm. Coordinator
Email: christinadayyani@rmpbs.org
Phone: 303-529-3478
Top Media Executives Join Rocky Mountain Public Media Team
New roles focus on audience journeys and continued innovation in technology and human-centered design.
Denver – Rocky Mountain Public Media (RMPM) is pleased to announce Nikki Jones as Chief Digital Officer and Corey Ford as Chief Product Officer. These leaders are joining RMPM at a time of continued growth and innovation in the face of seismic changes in the media industry and continued social divides within the communities we aim to serve. Jones will support RMPM’s team through an ongoing digital transformation that continues to shape the way audiences engage with their media sources.
“I imagine a future where technology is focused around reshaping communities, reducing the digital divide, and fostering an environment where every voice can be heard and every idea can flourish. My goal is to establish a culture of endless learning and readiness at RMPM, ensuring that we not only keep pace with digital trends but also anticipate and shape the digital landscape for the future of public media,” Jones said.
Prior to joining RMPM, Jones was the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of change management consultancy, Changility LLC. She also served as Vice President of Change Management and Transformation at National Public Radio (NPR), Director of Program Management-Digital Marketing at SiriusXM Radio, and Technical Program Manager at National Geographic Society. In addition, she is a founding member of the D.C. chapter of the global women’s executive network, Chief, and holds a Master of Science, Information Systems Technology/Advanced Business Technologies from George Washington University School of Business.
Ford will lead RMPM’s ongoing strategies to expand local content and experiences through human-centered design, which strives to ensure RMPM is directly addressing the needs of Colorado communities through our work.
“In my ongoing work with the leadership, staff, and board of RMPM, I have been thoroughly impressed with their willingness to experiment with what the future local public media
model should look like in service of their mission to create a place where everyone is seen and heard,” said Ford, “I am excited to help RMPM build a culture, process, and strategy to continually create content and experiences for its audiences across its brands that fit into their daily lives, helps them achieve their aspirations, and elevates their experience of their communities.”
Ford will conduct this work in his continuing capacity as the founder and CEO of Matter Ventures, a company providing consultation, coaching, and instruction to media executives and entrepreneurs on innovation leadership, process, and strategy. Through Matter, he also founded the first media and journalism-focused start-up accelerator, investing in and supporting early-stage entrepreneurs and leaders at critical journalism institutions to foster a more informed, empathetic, and inclusive society. Throughout his career, Ford has worked to champion the concept of venture design, which enables organizations to build cultures, processes, and strategies to constantly understand the needs of its customers, leverage emerging technologies to prototype and test different solutions to those needs and build business models that appropriately sustain the organization to continue to deliver on its mission of solving for those needs.
Ford also continues to lead the Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program at Columbia Journalism School, the media industry’s top executive program. Ford’s roots are in public media. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill as a Morehead Scholar, he began his career in documentary television production at PBS FRONTLINE and National Geographic before receiving an MBA from Stanford.
Both executives will begin their work at RMPM in May.
About Rocky Mountain Public Media
Rocky Mountain Public Media (RMPM), the parent company of Rocky Mountain PBS (RMPBS), KUVO JAZZ and 104.7 THE DROP, is Colorado’s largest statewide, membersupported, multimedia organization. Rocky Mountain Public Media has more than 90,000 members representing every county in Colorado and reaches 98 percent of the state’s citizens through television, radio, and digital platforms. A non-commercial media organization by and for the people of Colorado, RMPM creates high-quality local and multimedia content through Regional Innovation Centers in Denver, Colorado Springs, Durango, Grand Junction and Pueblo.
In addition to its statewide network RMPBS, RMPM-operated KUVO JAZZ broadcasts jazz, blues, and a lineup of locally produced diverse music programs (89.3 FM Denver, 89.7 FM Breckenridge and streaming on the KUVO JAZZ App). Launched in 2019, 104.7 THE DROP is the People’s Station for R&B and Hip Hop (104.7 FM and streaming on Google Play and Apple).
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