New Hampshire Public Radio Creates New Content Role, Elevates 2 Editorial Leaders

CONCORD, NH — New Hampshire Public Radio has named its first chief content officer and promoted its news director to a newly created leadership post.

Rebecca Lavoie, a 16-year NHPR veteran, was named chief content officer, while Dan Barrick, who has served as NHPR's news director since 2016, was elevated to vice president of news.

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NHPR said the moves are meant to drive the organization's strategic advancement as it expands work across news, broadcast and podcasts.

In the new chief content officer role, Lavoie will be responsible for making sure NHPR's journalism and programming meet business objectives and strategic goals, the org said.

She previously led NHPR's podcast studio and earlier served as audience director and digital director. The network said under her leadership, the Outside/In and Civics 101 podcasts moved into weekly production, NHPR rose into the top 2 percent of U.S. podcast producers in downloads, and podcast monetization became a model for public media nationally.

"Rebecca has been a spark to innovation in advancing NHPR's public-service mission," Jim Schachter, NHPR's president and chief executive officer, said. "She came up as a producer, which above all else means she figures out how to get things done. And she's a natural leader, which means she gets things done purposefully."

Lavoie said the role will focus on growth across platforms.

"I'm thrilled to begin working with all of our content leaders to expand our offerings and explore new opportunities for news, broadcast, and podcasts," she said. "People often say that NHPR 'punches above its weight' but I see this new role as a chance to prove our success isn't an anomaly. I'm beyond confident our exemplary journalism will continue to be the engine that drives our business forward."

Barrick's new role comes as editorial management becomes more complex in what NHPR described as a multi-platform media world and increasingly polarized culture.

"Dan's extraordinary news sense, compassionate management of people, hiring acumen, and editing prowess have made NHPR the most important news source in New Hampshire and one of the most admired in public media," Schachter said.

The station said he will focus on NHPR's daily, enterprise and investigative journalism as its newsroom grows.

"Managing NHPR's newsroom is a daily adventure, and it's so rewarding to keep doing this work for our audience with such a talented, dedicated team of journalists," Barrick said.

NHPR is New Hampshire's only statewide radio news service, broadcasting from 14 sites across the state and operating NHPR.org, newsletters, and on-demand and over-the-air programming.