Yale School of Management - Alumni Leaders

"Before earning my MBA at the Yale School of Management, I spent six years as a journalist and producer. It was while working in that capacity that I learned the biggest challenge in creativity lay in learning how to manage it!

I used my two years of study to think about what it meant to be both a manager and a strategic leader, and Yale SOM provided both continuous intellectual challenge and a climate with an infectious sense of possibility! As a result, I gained essential tools that allowed me to lead a number of high profile arts organizations. My MBA has been instrumental in my work at Sesame Workshop and in helping me guide New York Public Radio through a period of tremendous growth and change. The wide range of courses in finance, marketing, and organizational behavior gave me experience on which I continuously draw, and the contacts I made at Yale SOM continue to be my most trusted sounding boards and great friends."

Laura Walker has been president and chief executive officer of New York public radio stations WNYC AM 820 and 93.9 FM since December 1995. As the first non-mayoral appointee in WNYC's 77-year history, Ms. Walker has led WNYC Radio into a new era of autonomy, transforming the organization from a City agency into a not-for-profit public broadcaster and raising the $20 million necessary to purchase WNYC's AM and FM radio licenses from the City of New York.

During her tenure, she has spearheaded many new programming initiatives, including the expansion of WNYC's news and documentary units, extended live concert programming, the introduction of American standards host Jonathan Schwartz, and the creation of new national programs Studio 360, The Next Big Thing, and Satellite Sisters. She was recently awarded the 2002 Public Radio International Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Ms. Walker began her professional career as a journalist and producer at National Public Radio, where she received a prestigious Peabody Award for Broadcast Excellence. She later joined the staff of Carnegie Hall where she launched the award winning series, AT&T Presents Carnegie Hall Tonight. She spent eight years at Sesame Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop) where she headed the development department and later led the organization's efforts to establish a cable television channel, now Noggin. She sits on the boards of Public Radio International, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Educational Development Center.

Ms. Walker holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BA in history from Wesleyan University. She resides in Brooklyn with her husband and son and daughter.