APTS CEO Butler to Retire in 2024

America’s Public Television Stations President Patrick Butler will retire in 2024, APTS announced in a news release Wednesday. “It has been my great honor to advance the cause of America’s public television stations during a period of extraordinary challenge and opportunity,” Butler said in the release. Butler, who has headed the group since 2011, “will stay on through the selection of his successor but no later than the end of next year,” the release said. Federal and state funding for public broadcasting has reached record levels during Butler’s tenure and 40 of 50 state governments now fund public TV, the release said. Thirty-four states funded public TV before Butler took office. Under Butler, the former Association of Public Television Stations rebranded to its current name, the trade group reached record membership among public TV stations, and Congress enacted the Next Generation Warning System infrastructure program for public broadcasters, the association said. Prior to joining APTS, Butler was senior vice president of The Washington Post Company for 18 years, served as an aide to Senate Majority Leader and White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker, and was a speechwriter for President Gerald Ford.