Bill has been a leader in U.S. public radio management, local and national program development, and fundraising for more than thirty years. His professional tenure includes twelve years of experience in international media development in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa.

A founding member of the National Public Radio Board of Directors and author of the network’s original mission and goals, Bill led the development of All Things Considered as NPR’s first Director of Programming. From 1987-92, he was executive producer of a national weekly documentary series, Soundprint, which earned over 25 national and international awards. He also served as Vice President and Radio Station Manager of WHYY Inc. in Philadelphia, where he developed a five-year plan for the station’s growth, secured a $1 million development grant, and applied it to surpass all of the plan’s objectives. Under his leadership, Fresh Air and Terry Gross gained a nationwide audience.

Bill began his international work in 1993 by assisting community radio stations in South Africa’s townships as a 1993 recipient of a five-year MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. He returned to South Africa in 1995 as a Knight International Journalism Fellow. From 1996-97, he served as president of the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Journalists, a leading print and broadcast journalism training program.

Most recently, Bill served for five years as a senior radio advisor for the Open Society Institute (OSI), which funds civil society initiatives in more than fifty countries and is among the world’s largest private foundations. His work with OSI took him to Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Ukraine, Macedonia and Moldova and included assessing station news and information programming, management and technical needs, journalism and management training and mentoring. He has spent most time in South Africa and Mongolia.

Sharon Smith, Director of Programs & Administration

Sharon has fourteen years experience in administrative, budget and project management in the private, public and non-profits sectors. Her experience includes work in the fields of international education and information technology. She has worked at a variety of organizations including the Council on International Educational Exchange and the YMCA of Greater New York. Sharon was most recently Regional Manager, Asia/Pacific for First Voice International and her graduate work focused on information communication technologies (ICTs) and community information models used in international development.

Jean Fairbairn, Project Leader, Researcher, and Writer for DRP’s Handbook on Station Sustainability

Jean is the project leader, researcher and writer for DRP’s handbook on station sustainability. She is also a key DRP Associate in strategic planning. During her time as director of the media program for the Open Society Foundation for South Africa, she designed, developed and wrote training materials on election coverage and radio station management for community radio. She developed the strategic vision for media support by the foundation and was in charge of the grants program. During this period, OSF-SA was the lead donor for community radio and was actively engaged with developing the sector, including lobbying for a free and democratic media in South Africa.

Jean, a South African, brings experience as a journalist and specialist in organizational development to this assignment along with a deep understanding of the challenges and accomplishments of community media. Other work includes her role as coordinator of the Natal Worker History Project at the University of Natal, Durban, and lecturer in the School of Journalism at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. She holds a post graduate degree in community adult education and a Master’s Degree in Globalization and Communications in the UK.

Virginia Prescott, Principal Associate (West Africa)

Virginia will be the principal associate for DRP’s work in West Africa. Virginia designed and presented seminars on management, finance, and editorial issues for personnel from four Francophile West African nations over a 14 month period. She was selected by program participants to travel to Burkina Faso, Niger, and Senegal to conduct workshops with extended groups at stations in host countries. Project goals included sustainability, fostering free and responsible media, and enriching public dialogue in these burgeoning democracies.

Virginia had helped in the development of the Healthy Station Project of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters in the U.S. In addition to work as an independent producer, she founded and was director of the Interactive Media Department for WNYC, New York, the nation’s largest public radio station. She designed interactive content and community dialogue forums to deepen listener access to news and information.

She was also a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Design School, where she focused on using public broadcasting and new media to integrate community dialogue into social networks and urban development.

Virginia is presently the Arts and Culture Editor for Here & Now at WBUR-FM, Boston.

Charles Rice, Principal Associate (Mongolia)

Charles is the principal associate for DRP’s World Bank funded project in Mongolia. He is a journalist with nearly 30 years of experience. More than half of his career in journalism was spent as a reporter, writer, and news anchor for The Associated Press Radio Network, where he wrote and hosted a daily three-hour radio news block and was AP Radio’s main news anchor during breaking news coverage. His assignments have included the President of the United States, Congress, Space Shuttle launches and disasters. He anchored live coverage of the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics in Japan and Salt Lake City, respectively and, also, produced features and documentaries.

In 2003 – 2004, Charles worked for 15 months as a Knight International Press Fellow in Mongolia, training urban and rural broadcast journalists. He conducted dozens of workshops and lectured regularly at the Press Institute – an NGO that trains journalists. He has visited nearly all the local radio stations, giving workshops and assessing the stations capabilities.

He designed and created a web site geared specifically for Mongolian journalists. It includes a discussion forum, tutorials, and the Radio Exchange Project -- an area at the site where journalists can upload and download radio features. Under his guidance, the Radio Exchange Project has partnered Mongolian radio stations with stations in the U.S. in an effort to create a continuing dialogue between journalists.

Charles conducted several court reporting training workshops under the auspices of the Judicial Reform Project – a project, overseen by the National Center for State Courts, whose mission is to reform the Mongolian court system. The workshops featured lectures, discussions on ethics issues, writing and the participants covered an actual trial.

Charles is currently an independent international media consultant.