Anthony A. Papa
An award-winning Executive Producer and experienced Executive with 25 years of Television, Internet, Public Media, Fiscal, Production, Project Management, and Digital experience, from conception and client management to technology and team management, with 15 years of cumulative Management and Prime Contractor-Project Manager-Lead experience.
Currently, I’m serving as the Director of Operations for KVCR Public Media, a position I have held for the San Bernardino Community College District since March 2019. My tenure with KVCR began in July 2017 as a Producer and Editor for five television shows, leading to the post-production supervisor position. After proving my capabilities to the leadership team, I became the project lead for a $16M station modernization project, which I delivered on time and 170(k) under budget.
Before joining KVCR, I served as assistant editor on the National Geographic documentary film Science Fair, which won a National Emmy. While collaborating with SoulPancake, a division of Participant Media, I was responsible for the technical delivery of TV content to Disney Television and their ABC digital unit. As producer and editor for The Terry Kath Experience, I was part of a team that premiered a feature film documentary about the storied Chicago band member at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival (selling it to FilmRise for worldwide distribution). I have been a lead Editor or Producer of over 200 videos, managing clients' creative and budgetary details. My work has appeared on MTV, Sony, Honda Music, Uproxx Media, Vogue Italia, and Vanity Fair. Among my favorite producing experiences was leading a team for an ad campaign for eyewear giant Oliver Peoples, starring the late, great producer Robert Evans, filmed at the mogul's legendary Hollywood estate.
Early in my career, I joined an LA start-up, Dental Advantage, as a Marketing-Operations Manager. I engineered a Customer Relationship Management software solution that enabled a membership marketing database to communicate with over 100K dentists monthly. In a quarter, I worked with the Sales Director to secure over $900K in sponsorship and membership sales for Dental Advantage Publishing and Continuing Education courses. From there, I landed the enviable position as Employee No. Three at CarsDirect.com, an Idealab company. As Vice President of Web Development, I was a member of the executive strategic planning team that created the business plan, site wireframes, and presentation materials that secured over $350M in funding. Working with Internet pioneers early in my career at Idealab, Inc. gave me a fascination for emerging technology and a deep focus on building media to better people's lives.
During my tenure at KVCR, I have had the foresight to apply my prior experience and lead the station into the digital era. In the past three years since the station modernization, I have launched a community calendar, a mobile application, live streaming for PBS Television in the Inland Empire, FNX First Nations Experience live streaming nationally and NPR Radio locally streaming on mobile and smart devices, upgraded all Social Media platforms and launched a digital board report. In content strategy and production, highlights under my leadership, KVCR created 21st Century Dialogues. In this 30-minute television talk show, students and local experts in the Inland SoCal community discuss contemporary hot-button issues to educate and provoke empathetic dialogues between people of different backgrounds and experiences. During the coronavirus pandemic, I worked with KVCR staff to launch Inland Edition, a weekly radio show repurposed for television in 2023, bringing the latest information from community leaders, officials, and experts.
In Fiscal 2022, under my stewardship, KVCR was awarded a $1.4M educational grant with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools to create a bilingual children's animated television show for Pre-K to 3rd grade, called Learn with Me learnwtihme.tv. Identifying and decreasing operating expenses in 2020/2021 translated into budgetary savings of $2.8M. I had daily oversight and planning of a $6M fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2021 annual budget, including multi-year forecasting and cash-flow management for three business units and a nonprofit foundation. For Fiscal 2023 operations, I created an $11M global budget for KVCR through strategic planning of three business units, a non-profit, and thirty-two separate grant-funded budgets.
I have led KVCR to a balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2023 by efficiently managing team assignments, vendor contracts, contractors’ deliverables, engineering, HR, production, fundraising, and marketing initiatives. I have been the station's representative and voting member at California Public Television and National Educational Television Association and a member of the University Licensee Association, Independent Public Television Station Association, and National PBS meetings. For the past three years, I have been the station’s Grants Administrator with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a federally funded organization. I am also the single point of contact for the FCC and the filing of station licensing and reporting requirements since March 2019.
My outgoing and friendly nature allows me to interact well with other staff, community, and constituents at all levels. I pride myself on bringing the right measure of passion, creativity, and strategic planning to the leadership equation.
I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif. On any given weekend, you can find me hiking, running, or camping in the mountains. I've already checked the box on my bucket list for “go whitewater rafting in Costa Rica,” but “eating Orecchiette with broccoli rabe in the Italian town of Volturara Appula,” where my great grandparents are from, is still awaiting achievement.
Thank you for visiting my career page - I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
