Kathleen Pavelko

Kathleen Pavelko has been President and CEO of WITF, Inc. in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania since October 1999. Since her arrival at WITF, Pavelko secured $39 million in funds to build the 72,000 square foot Public Media Center, which opened to regional acclaim in April 2007.  Under Ms. Pavelko’s leadership, WITF’s total assets have grown from $8.6 million to $41.4 million.

Service initiatives include the capital region’s only weekly prime-time public affairs program (Smart Talk on WITF-TV), a statewide public radio network (Pennsylvania Public Radio) and WITF-FM’s first daily news interview program, Radio Smart Talk, which premiered in October 2008.

From 1996 to 1999, Ms. Pavelko was president of Prairie Public Broadcasting, which serves North Dakota, western Minnesota, eastern Montana and Manitoba. During her leadership there, Kathleen restored the organization’s finances and created North Dakota’s first statewide public radio network. Ms. Pavelko has also been a freelance journalist in Athens, Greece and in London, England.

Ms. Pavelko earned a B.A. with distinction in ancient history and an M.A. in Journalism from Penn State University as well as certificates in Advanced Strategic Management and Non-Profit Management from the University of California/Berkeley (1992) and the Harvard Business School (1998).  

Ms. Pavelko was appointed to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. She is member of the Society of Professional Journalists and a former trustee of the Archaeological Institute of America. She currently serves on the boards of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Harrisburg Area Corps of the Salvation Army.

Ms. Pavelko is married to Dr. Eugene N. Borza, emeritus professor of ancient history at Penn State and former president of the Association of Ancient Historians.

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