Farewell to One of Our Founders, Mel Ming, and a Warm Welcome to Our New Chairman, Jeffrey Dunn

At the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, we are constantly documenting the rapid changes in the digital media landscape, and we are now getting ready to embrace changes in our own neighborhood. This summer, Mel Ming, one of the Founders of the Cooney Center (along with former CEO Gary Knell) announced that he would retire after 15 years at the Workshop, first as COO, and since 2011, as the President and CEO. Mel serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Cooney Center. He has been a key champion of the Center and has done much to lead our emphasis on practical research that will benefit low-income and underserved communities. We are grateful for his global leadership on behalf of young children and their families and for his strong support for the growth of the Center’s reach and impact. Congratulations to Mel on his well-deserved retirement from official duties at the Workshop and Center: we know that he will always be a valuable contributor to our work.

Today, we welcome Jeffrey D. Dunn, a world class leader in children’s media and entertainment as he takes over as the fifth President and Chief Executive Officer of Sesame Workshop. Jeff’s previous posts at Nickelodeon, HiT Entertainment and as an advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University have made him an ideal choice to take over the helm of the iconic Sesame brand and to also help the Center grow. We are excited to embrace his vision for innovation and look forward to working closely with him in the months and years to come!