New APTS president: Patrick Butler

The Board of Trustees for the Association of Public Television Stations on Sunday (Nov. 7) approved its search committee's selection of board member Patrick Butler, chairman of the Maryland Public Television Foundation, as APTS president and chief executive officer. Butler formerly was a speechwriter for President Gerald R. Ford, and a special assistant to Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (R, Tenn.). He served on the National Council on the the Humanities during the Reagan administration. He chaired the public programs committee of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and recommended funding for projects including Ken Burns’s The Civil War.

Butler retired as senior vice president of the Washington Post Company in December 2008, where for 18 years he had managed public policy, new business development and special corporate projects.

He had earlier served as Washington vice president of Times Mirror, the corporate parent of the Los Angeles Times, and as government relations vice president of RCA, which owned NBC.

Butler takes the helm on Jan. 1, replacing Larry Sidman, who departed April 1 after 14 months in the position (Current, March 14, 2010).