Vinay Mehra serves as the Chief Financial Officer at WGBH where he presides over the financial strategy and operations of the Studio as well as the Broadcast businesses, which includes TV production, a DVD and merchandizing commercial business, Membership, and Administration. Mehra has played an important role in a wide variety of WGBH's strategic and operating initiatives and various WGBH strategic joint ventures and corporate transactions, including the acquisition of radio station WCRB. As CFO, he has spearheaded WGBH's realignment of its performance goals towards the contribution of revenue growth and strong long term capital return. He also leads the institutions efforts to drive greater cost and capital efficiency throughout the organization. Mehra joined WGBH in 2008 and previously was Chief Financial Officer and VP Finance at both publicly traded and privately held companies as well as a principal at the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers where he advised clients in the Media, Entertainment and Technology industries.
Mehra is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammy). He sits on the Board of Perkins School for the Blind and The Partnership.
What made you switch careers from the glamorous world of for-profit finance to become CFO of WGBH, a non-profit organization?
I had always been very impressed with the programs on PBS that came from WGBH. I felt they were on the cutting edge with topics audiences really wanted to see and couldn’t find elsewhere. When the opportunity came to join WGBH, I was eager to work with such creative, thoughtful people. I also felt my for-profit experience could be useful in that kind of non-profit setting which is so dependent on raising funds. I think it is important to evolve in your career, and to re-invent yourself. Some businesses do the same thing everyday, but at WGBH it is always something different, and I find that exciting.
What is the financial model for WGBH? What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your job?
WGBH is in two businesses; it is a program producer (the largest for PBS) and a local broadcaster, so our model includes production funding as well as local operational funding. For all of this we rely on a mix of public and private funding that includes individuals, corporations/foundations, and some government support. Having so many sources helps keep us editorially independent, as we are not reliant on any one source of funds for our content. And it allows us to bring in funds specifically to support activities in our community. The biggest challenge is raising enough money!
How important is the personal donations to WGBH?
The individual donations are critically important. For WGBH they make up nearly 60% of our local operating budget. That is key to being able to produce locally-focused radio and TV programs and extend our educational outreach in our community.
How does WGBH pick its productions?
Public broadcasting was designed as educational, and to be an alternative to traditional media. We serve that mission by producing programs with an educational core, and that cover topics, in-depth, that others won’t. In the children’s area for example, we aim at issues such as literacy, and created a program, Martha Speaks, with a talking dog that teaches children vocabulary. With the concern about enough future engineers we created Design Squad to help get young people engaged in and excited about this field.
We hear that Rebecca Eaton and you are interested in bringing "Passage to India" to Masterpiece. Could you share details of the making of this serial?
This is an idea that Rebecca Eaton, the executive producer of Masterpiece, has wanted to do for a long time. The film was made in 1984 and the book by E.M. Forster has been selected as of the 100 great works of English literature. It is a fit with Masterpiece Classic which brings great literature to TV, and we think bringing this history to life on PBS would be a wonderful presentation. We have had conversations about how we could do it. But of course the first thing, and big thing, is finding the funding for it. We’re open to offers!
What do you consider WGBH's greatest gift to the world?
WGBH has produced an enormous amount of important, compelling content – lately we’ve all been enjoying Downton Abbey. But I think its biggest contribution is in helping educate children. Our research documents that children have improved their reading and gained other critical skills as a direct result of our programs. That is significant. And WGBH has turned that broadcast content into online resources that student and teachers and parents can now access anytime in a service called Teachers' Domain. That’s true service and mission.
We were interested to hear about your involvement in the Perkins school for the blind. Could you tell us what challenges are you helping the school with ?
India has the largest number of blind people in the world, and they are largely uneducated, and sadly, dismissed. In my work on the Board of the Perkins School for the Blind I have learned about the use of braille. I feel that if blind people in India were able to have access to education through braille machines it would bring a value to their lives, and they would have a chance to become productive individuals. That is a big idea, but one I hope we can work toward.
What opportunities do you see for South Asian community get involved with WGBH?
WGBH fosters a workplace that embraces multiculturalism and pluralism as core values. We remain focused on facilitating a public service media system that includes the widest possible range of cultural and social perspectives of the people that make up our nation.
This is reflected in our programs which highlight different cultures from different perspectives — Latin Music USA traced that culture through its music; We Shall Remain profiled key points in the history of native Americans; and our children's program Buster visits cultures around the world and their connections to families in this country.
But gathering and presenting diverse content is not enough; we believe that it is our responsibility to integrate diversity within our organization, at all levels, through the policies we make, the resources we provide and the education we promote. We have made strategic investments in three key areas – digital, dialogue and diversity – to ensure that the climate for interconnection continues to evolve.
The South Asian community can get involved in multiple ways – by watching our programs and letting us know their feedback; by volunteering to participate with our activities; consider serving on our Community Advisory Board; or the always welcome financial support.
Any special message to our readers?
Become involved with WGBH, or in your community, through civic engagement or philanthrophy, so that collectively as South Asians we can have a bigger impact locally in Boston.
Thanks for your time.
Thank you.
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