RFE/RL President and CEO Kevin Klose has announced that he will leave the organization March 1.

In farewell remarks to RFE/RL staff, Klose expressed how “honored and delighted” he was to have worked with colleagues in Washington; Prague, Czech Republic, where RFE/RL’s offices are headquartered; and in RFE/RL’s 19 local bureaus.

At the request of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), Klose returned to RFE/RL in January 2013 after previously serving as its president from 1994 to 1997. In his most recent tenure, Klose oversaw the revitalization of RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Radio Svoboda and its Moscow bureau; strengthening of the company’s multimedia platforms and programming; and, most recently, the Ukrainian Service‘s outstanding coverage of Kyiv’s Euromaidan protests.

“Having achieved what the BBG asked me to do, it’s time to move aside and take up the other part of my life,” Klose said, adding that he plans to work “as an independent person steeped in journalism in the pursuit of a wider public engagement of the importance of the work we and our colleagues in U.S. international media do.”  

“Words are inadequate to express how sad we are to see Kevin leave,” said RFE/RL’s Editor-in-Chief Nenad Pejic. “He pushed us to the next level, and raised the bar of our professionalism. He stood for us whenever we needed it and we responded by making our content better, sharper, more attractive.”

Klose is a tenured professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, where he served as dean of the journalism college from 2009 to 2012. He also served as president of NPR from 1998 to 2008, directed the International Broadcasting Bureau at the U.S. Information Agency from 1997 to 1998, and was an editor and reporter for “The Washington Post” for 25 years, including stints as Moscow bureau chief, city editor and deputy national editor.

About RFE/RL
RFE/RL is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 21 countries, including Russia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). 

(Source: RFE/RL press release)