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WCNY president, CEO, Robert J. Daino, honored with Rhea Eckel Clark Citzenship Award
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November 21, 2016
WCNY president, CEO, Robert J. Daino, honored with Rhea Eckel Clark Citzenship Award
WCNY Public Media President and CEO, Robert J. Daino, was named the receipient of the 30th annual Rhea Eckel Clark Citizenship Award at the Central York Regional Planning & Development Board’s Annual Meeting held on Oct. 28, 2016.
Daino has been President and CEO of Central New York’s public broadcasting company, WCNY Public Media, since 2005. During his tenure, Daino has:
- Expanded the organization’s viewership and engagement by expanding its programming to 5 digital television channels and 3 digital radio stations, with broadcast signals reaching 19 counties and 1.8 million viewers in Central New York and parts of Canada, reaching a worldwide member audience through web streaming.
- Moved the company headquarters to Syracuse’s Near Westside, anchoring the rebirth of the area with a remarkable high-tech restoration of a former brownfield site into a state-of-the-art facility featuring the only LEED® Platinum Certified broadcast center in the world that integrates new technologies throughout its collaborative work spaces, and innovative programs and services that support the local community and provide partnership opportunities with organizations across the region as well as new revenue streams for WCNY.
- Created the vision and shaped the effort that launched Centralcast LLC, a groundbreaking model for public broadcasting and the first collaboration of its kind within the PBS system. Through a single hub located inside WCNY’s facility, Centralcast delivers content for all public broadcasting stations in New York and New Jersey as well as Philadelphia, Hawaii, Charlotte, Connecticut, Washington State, Utah, Georgia, and many other stations across the county, reaching nearly 40 percent of the nation’s PBS viewers.
- Opened an Education Center as part of the company’s new facility that hosts a unique model for experiential learning, the Enterprise America program. Enterprise America provides middle school students an immersive learning experience focused on STEM (science, technology, education and math) skills, entrepreneurship and financial and civic literacy. It’s the first of its kind in New York State and has the potential to reach 700,000 students within a 2-hour radius of Syracuse.
Entered a partnership with OCM-BOCES and Onondaga Community College to launch an innovative co-curricular program for high school students. Students who graduate from the two-year program will earn a Regents diploma with technical certifications, 18 college credits, and
- have invaluable practical experience in all aspects of working in a multi-media broadcast environment.
- Led the way in 2007 to become the only station in the national PBS system to eliminate program-interrupting televised pledge breaks, thus providing viewers with an additional 330 hours of programming each year. Daino also led the effort to leverage the technical, programmatic, and operational opportunities of all nine New York State stations by linking them together through a high-speed fiber optic interconnect.
Daino started his professional career at General Electric in Syracuse, where he worked for 13 years before becoming the founder, President and CEO of PROMERGENT and ServeCentral LLC. He has more than 25 years of change/workflow management and Internet technology experience. He also has developed software and hardware in highly complex integrated electronic systems for the U.S. Navy, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and a multitude of commercial businesses. He holds a bachelor’s of art degree in Computer Science from the State University of New York College at Oswego.
Awards
2016 Nonprofit Awards Executive of the Year
2015 CNY Sales & Marketing Executives Crystal Ball Award
2014 Temple Adath Yeshurun Citizen of the Year Award
2014 WCNY was named CenterState CEO’s Not-for-Profit Business of the Year
2013 YWCA Academy of Diversity Achievers Award
2013 Near Westside Initiative Groundbreakers Award
2003 Greater Syracuse & Onondaga County Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award
2002 CNY SHRM Human Resources Excellence Award
2002 Fleet Bank Small Business Leadership Award
Community
2002-2005 Board of Trustees, WCNY Public Media
2007-2011 Chairman, Association of Public Broadcasting Stations of New York (APBS)
2013-Present Symphoria Board President
2013-2016 Near Westside Initiative Board of Directors
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