Former Maine Public CEO to lead Nevada Public Radio

File photo / Courtesy, Kevin Brusie Photography Mark Vogelzang, who retired as president and CEO of Maine Public last July, is the new president and CEO of Nevada Public Radio.

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By Renee Cordes

Former Maine Public President and CEO Mark Vogelzang is coming out of retirement to lead Nevada Public Radio as its president and CEO. He starts his new position this week.

Vogelzang, a public broadcasting veteran who led Maine Public for close to a decade before retiring last July 1, started a consultancy to advise nonprofit leaders on fundraising. He also offered himself as an interim station manager for public radio and television stations in management transitions or in need of experienced help, as Mainebiz reported in December.

At the time, he described his new life chapter as "reinventing and rewiring yourself in retirement," adding that "this whole notion of taking some risk in life and stepping out of your comfort zone, it's one of the things that COVID has made us do."

Vogelzang was succeeded at Maine Public by Rick Schneider, who previously worked in broadcast journalism, philanthropy and public media, most recently for the National Center for Family Philanthropy in Washington, D.C.

At Maine Public, Vogelzang helped boost capacity for reporting and original journalism by adding news and digital staff, expanding news and public affairs programming and upgrading Maine Public's digital platform. He also added a first-time television channel covering the state Legislature, created a separate classical music channel, and led the company's rebrand in 2016 from the Maine Public Broadcasting Network to Maine Public.

Since retiring from Maine Public last summer, Vogelzang has spent a good deal of time traveling around the country. He recently served as interim general manager and CEO of Blue Ridge Radio in Asheville, N.C.

He noted on LinkedIn that he travelled 2,222 miles from Asheville to Las Vegas to take up his new post this week "with the talented teams at KNPR/Nevada Public Radio."

Vogelzang, a 1979 graduate of Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa, served on National Public Radio's board of directors for seven years and as interim executive director of the NPR Foundation for most of 2009, overseeing the foundation's entire fundraising operation.