Name Patricia Harrison | Education American University | |
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Books A Seat at the Table: An Inside, Memories of Kate, Folens Powerpoint Works: M, Infant Non‑Fiction: Book Onl, UK Atlas | ||
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Patricia de Stacy Harrison is the president and chief executive officer of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in the United States. Her candidacy arose with backing from CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson following a CPB Inspector General report that Kenneth Tomlinson, then chair of the CPB, used "political tests" to select a president/CEO with conservative viewpoints.
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Background
Harrison is a native of Brooklyn, New York, and a graduate of the School of International Service of American University in Washington, D.C.
In 1973 she co-founded the PR agency the E. Bruce Harrison Company with her husband E. Bruce Harrison. While working with the company, which was sold in a merger deal in 1996, "she created and directed programs in the public interest comprising diverse stakeholder groups, including the National Environmental Development Association, a partnership of labor, agriculture and industry working for better environmental solutions together."
George H. W. Bush appointed Harrison to the President's Export Council in the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1990. She was elected co-chair of the Republican National Committee in 1997, serving until 2001, when she was appointed to the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Harrison's public relations skills were called upon to help with the U.S. government's public diplomacy program during the Iraq war:
As Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy during the Iraq conflict, Ms. Harrison also collaborated with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to bring the Iraq National Symphony Orchestra to Washington, and she has initiated a comprehensive renewal of the Baghdad National Museum.
Under Harrison's direction, the State Department initiated the CultureCommect program in which American celebrities including YoYo Ma, Denyce Graves, Doris Roberts and Frank McCourt acted as "cultural ambassadors" in trips to Pakistan, Russia, Israel, and other countries.
In June 2005 she was appointed president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Later that year, the process by which she was selected was called into question by a report from the Inspector General of the CPB. The report concluded that then-CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson "was strongly motivated by political considerations in filling the president/CEO position". Tomlinson resigned from the CPB board on November 4, 2005, and was replaced by Cheryl Halpern. Harrison remains CPB president and CEO as of 2015.
In 2015 Harrison gave public support to the work of the David Lynch Foundation. Of her practice of Transcendental Meditation she has said, "TM is a oasis, a life-preserver. It strengthens you."