NPR Names ‘Sesame Street’ Executive as Its Leader

Gary E. Knell, who has led the nonprofit Sesame Workshop for the last 11 years, will become chief executive of National Public Radio in December.

Dave Edwards, the chairman of the board that oversees NPR, said Knell was the board’s unanimous choice. In his role as chief executive of Sesame Workshop, Knell oversaw the production of “Sesame Street” and other children’s media. Knell said that he would apply some of what he had learned at Sesame Workshop in his new role. “We have to figure out a game plan to make sure that 10 years from now, NPR is in a sustainable place to do the journalism and cultural content that it does, and that it does not find itself in the ash heap that so many newspapers have found themselves,” he said. The hiring of Knell comes almost seven months after the NPR board ousted Vivian Schiller, who had led the organization for two years.