Mid-Atlantic Chapter of Natas Elects New Officials

Mid-Atlantic Chapter, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS)
Announces New Officers and Governors to Lead Organization of Regional TV Professionals


Philadelphia, PA (June 23, 2010) – The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) elected new officers and chapter leaders and announced the election of new members to its Board of Governors, all of whom begin their terms in July 2010. Beginning her second year as President of NATAS’ Mid-Atlantic Chapter is Amy Burkett, Senior Vice President of Production at WLVT PBS39. Burkett’s television career spans 19 years and includes work in front of the camera as a host, news anchor and reporter and behind the scenes as a producer and writer. The organization of over 650 television industry professionals will celebrate its 28th year of honoring excellence in regional television during Emmy® Awards festivities on Saturday, September 25th at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel.

Serving as Officers for NATAS Mid-Atlantic Chapter for 2010-11 will be:

NATAS President Amy Burkett, Senior VP of Production, WLVT PBS39

Over the past 19 years Amy Burkett has worked at CBS and NBC affiliates in Ohio and North Carolina as well as a national syndicator of medical news Medstar Television. She’s traveled the country writing, reporting and anchoring television news. She joined PBS 39 10 years ago to create and host its weekly newsmagazine show Tempo. As the Senior Vice President of Production, she and her team have garnered four regional Emmy® Awards, 15 regional Emmy® nominations, four national public television awards, seven Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters Awards, and one regional Edward R. Murrow Award. Active in the community, she works with youth at her church and across the region and has served on several disadvantaged youth programs. The Bethlehem, PA resident earned a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Vice President Brad Nau, Executive Producer, Special Projects, Comcast SportsNet

Brad Nau has served as the Executive Producer at Comcast SportsNet since 2002. Prior to joining the CSN staff, Brad was the Director of Photography at Fox29 Philadelphia where he started as a photographer in 1986. At Fox29, Brad managed a growing staff of photographers until 2002 when he left for Comcast SportsNet. His career started at WGAL-TV in Lancaster. He is a multiple Emmy® winner who has served on the NATAS Board of Governors since 2006 on the Emmy® Show and scholarship committees. He resides in Lancaster, Pa.

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MID-ATLANTIC CHAPTER l NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES

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NATAS Announces New Officers & Governors (Page 2)


Treasurer Dan O’Donnell - WGAL-TV, News Director

Dan O’Donnell is the news director at WGAL-TV, a Hearst television station. Mister O’Donnell began working at WGAL in 1994 as an assignment editor. He’s served as a producer, executive producer, managing editor, and assistant news director at the station. O’Donnell also worked as a news producer and director at WLYH-TV in Lebanon. He is President of the Pennsylvania Associated Press Broadcasters Association and serves on board of governors for the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Science. He is a seven time Emmy® Award winner and received a Walter Cronkite award for WGAL’s coverage of the 2008 Presidential Campaign. He lives in Elizabethtown, Lancaster County with his wife Cara. O’Donnell is a 1991 graduate of Clarion University of Pennsylvania.

Secretary Dan Stamm- NBC10, Content New Media and Interactive Media Researcher

Dan Stamm has been with the NBC 10/WCAU-TV family since 2004. He began as an investigative intern before moving onto general new research at the NBC 10 news desk. Since 2006 he has worked as a Content New Media and Interactive Media Researcher for NBC 10. He is well versed in news research and development on the Web. He is native of the Philadelphia area. A graduate of Cheltenham High School and the University of Maryland in College Park, he earned two bachelors degrees (Criminal Justice and Journalism). He also studied in London, England with the University of Maryland. He resides in Philadelphia.



Mid-Atlantic NATAS Governors (elected to two-year terms – 2010-2012):

John Barra, Segment Producer, NJN Public Television (Mount Laurel, NJ resident)

Scott Bomboy, Senior Web Producer, FOX29 (Perkasie, PA resident)

Vince DeFruscio, Assignment Editor, KWY-TV (CBS3) (Havertown, PA resident)

Jim DePury, News Director, WPMT Fox43 (Dallastown, PA resident)

Tess McGrath, Office Manager/Assistant to the President at Interlink Health Care

Communications (Resides in Bucks County)

Leigh Pullekines, Director, NBC10 (Havertown, PA resident)

Neal Slotkin, Comcast SportsNet (Bordentown, NJ resident)

Erik Smith, Chief Photographer, FOX29 (Boyertown, PA resident)

David Solomon, Supervising producer, WQED Multimedia (Resides in eastern

suburbs of Pittsburgh)

Daniel Stamm, Content New Media and Interactive Media Researcher, NBC10

(Resident of Philadelphia)

Al Tedesco, Director, Paul F. Harron Graduate Program in TV Management,

Drexel University (Wyncote, PA resident)



NATAS Trustees:

George Cummings, Independent Consultant at Philly-Philms and resident of Media, PA; and Ardmore, PA’s Paul Gluck, Associate Professor in the School of Communications and Theater at Temple University, were elected to serve as NATAS Trustees, and Susan Buehler, as Alternate Trustee – all for two-year terms.
The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of NATAS is a non-profit, professional association with some 650 members across PA, NJ and DE representing over 25 television stations, numerous cable companies and programmers, as well as independent producers, production facilities and educational institutions. The Chapter annually sponsors the Mid-Atlantic Emmy® Awards honoring excellence in regional television, among many other programs and events.

FROM LAURA NACHMAN