Holly Kernan in

Holly Kernan

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President and CEO at Nashville Public Radio
📍 Oakland, California, United States

Holly Kernan is the President and CEO of Nashville Public Radio, bringing over two decades of experience in public media leadership. A graduate of NYU and UC Santa Barbara, she previously served as Chief Content Officer at KQED. Colleagues often describe her as a visionary, an excellent leader, and a nurturer of talent.

Since moving to Nashville, Holly has been embracing her new city, from experiencing major weather events to enjoying performances at the Grand Ole Opry. Her focus remains on community service through storytelling. Her husband is the executive editor of Soccer America.

Interesting fact: She was named "Journalist of the Year" in 2009 by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists for her work at KALW.

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Experience
21 Years
Current Role
President and CEO
Job Level
Leadership
Location
Oakland, California, United States
Personality Overview

How Holly shows up

Communication Style
Decision Approach
Work Preference

Behavioral traits and communication patterns that shape how this person evaluates opportunities, builds trust, and makes decisions in professional settings.

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Priorities

Topics Holly cares about

Public Service Journalism
Her entire career is dedicated to public media, focusing on community engagement, solutions, and fundraising to support public interest reporting.
Community Storytelling
She emphasizes centering inclusion and community representation across all content, a theme evident in her work at both KQED and Nashville Public Radio.
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Career

Work history

7-2025
President and CEO
Nashville Public Radio
10-2018 - 7-2025
Chief Content Officer
KQED
9-2014 - 9-2018
VP, News
KQED
7-2004 - 9-2014
News Director
KALW public radio
In the press

Media appearances

Nashville Public Radio names Holly Kernan of KQED as President and CEO. Featured in WPLN (Nashville Public Radio)
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Nashville Public Radio hires Holly Kernan as CEO - Current.org. Featured in Current.org
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Education
1988 - 1990
Master's degree
New York University
1984 - 1988
Bachelor's degree
University of California, Santa Barbara
Social presence
in
Behavioral profile

DISC profile (public)

DISC behavioral profile

Dominance, influence, steadiness, and calculativeness scores with guidance on how this person prefers to communicate and decide.

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