Gary Evan Knell (born 27 February 1954) is a senior advisor at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Media and Social Impact. He was previously the Chairman of

National Geographic Partners National Geographic Partners, LLC is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns 73% of the company) and the namesake non-profit scientific organization National Geographic Society (which owns 27%). The company oversees all comm ...

. Formerly, he was president and CEO of the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

. He joined National Geographic as chief executive in January 2014. He has been a member of the Society's board of trustees since April 2013 and has been on the board of governors of the National Geographic Education Foundation since November 2003. From 2011 to 2013, he was president and CEO of National Public Radio (

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

). Prior to that, he was CEO of

Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and Television station, television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's ...

from 2000–2011.

Early life

Knell graduated from Grant High School in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and earned a BA in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

in 1975, followed by a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit university in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Academics Degrees offered include the Juris Doctor (JD); Master of Science in Legal ...

in L.A. in 1978. While at UCLA, he worked on the school's newspaper, the ''

Daily Bruin The ''Daily Bruin'' is the student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles. It began publishing in 1919, the year UCLA was founded. The ''Daily Bruin'' distributes about 6,000 copies across campus three times a week. It also publ ...

''.

Career

Before joining National Geographic as president and CEO in 2014, Knell was president and CEO of National Public Radio from December 2011 to November 2013. Knell was CEO of

for 12 years before joining NPR in 2011. He joined the company in 1989 and assumed the role of COO in 1998 before moving into the CEO role in 2000. During his tenure at Sesame, the organization expanded its revenue base, audience and global recognition. Knell was instrumental in focusing the organization on Sesame Street's worldwide mission, including the creation of co-productions in South Africa, India, Northern Ireland and Egypt. Before joining Sesame Workshop, Knell was managing director of Manager Media International, a print and multimedia publishing company based in Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Singapore. He has also was senior vice president and general counsel at

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...

/Channel 13 in New York, was counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary and Governmental Affairs Committees in Washington, D.C., and worked in the California State Legislature and Governor's Office. Knell is Executive Chairman of Common Sense Networks. He is also Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, is a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

., and a board member of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and StoryCorps. He is also cochair of the Aspen Institute's Climate and Education initiative. A Gordon Grand Fellow at Yale University, Knell has been a guest lecturer at Harvard University, Duke University, Southern Methodist University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Puerto Rico. He received honorary degrees from Kenyon College in Ohio and Mercy College in New York and has been the commencement speaker at Johns Hopkins University, UCLA, Columbia University, the University of Redlands, and the University of Texas at Austin. Knell received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from UCLA, where he was editorial director of the UCLA Daily Bruin and a stringer for the Associated Press. He received a JD from Loyola University School of Law in Los Angeles.

Personal life

Knell is married to Kim Larson, a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

board member. They have four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knell, Gary 1954 births Living people Loyola Law School alumni New York (state) lawyers Businesspeople from Sacramento, California NPR Sesame Workshop people University of California, Los Angeles alumni Lawyers from Sacramento, California Grant High School (Los Angeles) alumni Disney executives Mercy University alumni American chief executives in the mass media industry