In what Rob Greenlee termed a “changing of the guard,” both he (as Chair) and Kerri Hoffman (as Secretary) are shifting out of their roles in the Board of Governors at The Podcast Academy.

Greenlee (who is also a VP at Libsyn) told RAIN, “The leadership change in the Board of Governors was planned and is happening per organization’s Bylaws.  You will see a change like this every year as we will appoint new officers of The Podcast Academy Board of Governors every January (to start their term in February).”

We also received a note from Executive Director Michele Cobb: “Beginning next year we will transition from an appointed board to an elected board over two years. All Podcast Academy members will be able to nominate members for consideration, run for the board themselves, and vote for the Board of Governors.”

The new board officers, who will start their terms in February, are:

• Chairperson:Donald Albright, TenderfootTV
• Vice-Chairperson: Christy Mirabal, SonyMusic Entertainment
• Treasurer: Anya Grundmann, NPR
• Secretary: Alia Tavakolian, Spoke Media

Other new members of the Board of Governors are Kintan Brahmbhatt (Amazon Music), Amy S. Choi (The Mash-Up Americans), and DeRay Mckesson (Educator. Activist. Author).

The main public effort of The Podcast Exchange is The Ambies, an award program for podcasts. When TPA was started, Rob Greenlee compared its mission to The Academy of Arts and Sciences, whose main public program is The Academy Awards.

In an interview on the Podland podcast, Greenlee noted that 1,000 award submissions have been received. RAIN, which administered the Internet Radio Awards for several years, understands the work involved and wishes TPA all success in its venture.

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