WGBH COO Ben Godley Gets Expanded Role

Noncommercial WGBH on Wednesday announced the promotion of Ben Godley to the newly created position of president, WGBH Business Services. Godley will continue to serve as COO, in addition to leading the expansion of new initiatives and business services that he has forged and led for the flagship public media producer.

“The landscape for public media is evolving faster than ever, with new technologies and a vibrant environment for audiences with greater expectations than ever before,” said Jon Abbott, WGBH president-CEO. “By elevating this portfolio of vital enterprises under Ben’s vision and leadership, we are furthering WGBH’s ability to lead, to innovate, and to serve our mission, expanding the reach and impact of our award-winning work.”

The station said that during his nine years at WGBH, “Godley has developed and driven innovative services and new models of success that bring in critical revenue for the institution, as well as for other stations and the larger public media community. He has led WGBH’s business strategy, financial and operational management, and helped guide the significant expansion of the local newsroom and broadcast services.”

Godley has built and focused key ventures that strengthen the public media system overall, including: the Contributor Development Partnership (CDP), a national data reference file of 20 million public media contributors and best practice fundraising services that WGBH manages on behalf of more than 200 public TV and radio stations across the country; Public Media Management (PMM) a partnership between WGBH and Sony offering a cloud-based media management service that helps stations manage their content, operations and media delivery;  the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) and Media Access Group (MAG), mission-based centers that develop inclusive solutions and services for all audiences.

WGBH also said that Godley’s vision to develop NGO Connect, a Salesforce application from RoundCorner, “is now used in managing the fundraising relationships of more than one-third of public television donors.  This, and other WGBH-led technology initiatives under Godley’s guidance, have helped public stations move forward with more sophisticated and more successful fundraising and audience engagement practices.”