Chief Programming Executive and General Manager, General Audience Programming
Before becoming Chief Programming Executive and General Manager of General Audience Programming, Bugg served as Vice President of General Audience Programming, where she oversaw the PBS editorial team and led the strategy across all genres, including news, public affairs, documentaries, history, science, natural history and arts programs.
Prior to joining PBS, Bugg served as Vice President of Diversity and TV Content at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). In this role, she provided strategic leadership and was responsible for CPB’s efforts to advance diversity across public media through the collaboration and support of content creators, distributors and partnering organizations.
Bugg also previously worked at PBS as Director of General Audience Programming, where she led efforts to develop a portfolio of drama, performance and cultural programs. She also held several programming roles in history and public affairs at PBS. Prior to joining PBS, Bugg spent 12 years in programming, production and operations for several Discovery Communications networks.
Bugg holds an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, an MA in Journalism from American University and a BA in Communications from Old Dominion University. She is a member of the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications and Women In Film and Video. Through the T. Howard Foundation, she also mentors diverse and underrepresented college students and young professionals interested in media.
Lori Brittian
Vice President, LearningMedia
As Vice-President of LearningMedia, Brittain oversees PBS’ flagship digital teaching and learning resource for preK-12 educators and students. She is responsible for setting the vision for the service and delivering media-centric content and learning experiences that center education equity, diversity and inclusion.
Prior to her appointment to Vice-President, Brittain served as the Senior Director of Strategy and Operations for PBSEducation. In that role, Ms. Brittain was responsible for operationalizing strategic goals around several initiatives, including early learning and secondary education content, teacher engagement, school readiness, and professional learning. She also led and advised on the design and implementation of education programs like the U.S. Department of Education funded Ready To Learning program, PBS KIDS Ed camps and TeacherLine all initiatives designed to empower public media stations, educators, parents and caregivers to support children’s learning.
Prior to PBS, Brittain served as Program Director at the National Crime Prevention Council, where she collaborated with school districts, educators, and community-based organizations to engage students in a law-related education and civic engagement program funded by the Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. As Program Director, Brittain was responsible for strategic oversight and growth of the program and improving program quality and student learning outcomes.
Ms. Brittain is an advisor for Go, Grow, Be, an organization committed to supporting families who care for children with specialized needs in the Washington, DC area since 2018.
Maribel Lopez
Head of PBS Digital Studios
As Head of PBS Digital Studios, Maribel Lopez serves as the executive producer of PBS’s original digital programming, oversees publishing operations and manages relationships with PBS member stations on behalf of PBS Digital Studios. She is responsible for identifying opportunities to expand reach and implement strategies to advance the legacy of PBS to the next generation of fans and supporters of public media.
PBS Digital Studios offers original series and short-form content that explore science, arts, culture and more. PBS Digital Studios is a leader in online content creation and averages over 27 million users and 50 million views on YouTube.
Prior to joining PBS in 2021, Maribel held several creative and leadership roles at member station Twin Cities PBS (TPT), located in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was the executive producer of Sound Field, an award-winning music education YouTube series produced for PBS Digital Studios and the managing director of Racism Unveiled, TPT’s
pilot multiplatform storytelling initiative about racism in Minnesota. She was also managing director of Rewire.org, a national, nonprofit magazine for young adults produced by TPT. In these roles, she led the editorial vision, developed and implemented audience-centered digital content strategies that were mission-driven and data-informed, resulting in exponential growth across digital platforms.
Beginning as a production intern at Iowa PBS, Maribel has spent her entire professional career in public broadcasting. In 2010, she joined TPT’s National Productions where she worked on traditional broadcast documentary films for the PBS system. In her more than a decade long tenure at TPT, she held roles within program development, production, marketing and events, eventually leading and growing new and emerging media projects. She was part of TPT’s Emerging Leaders program (2018), a graduate of United Way’s Leaders United professional development program (2019) and played an integral role in forming TPT’s first employee resource group for BIPOC staff.
A frequent public media conference presenter and panelist, Maribel is most passionate about engaging newer, younger audiences to public media through digital journalism and storytelling and is interested in developing and retaining public media’s future leaders. Maribel regularly serves as a mentor for PBS Digital Immersion, Public Media Women in Leadership and is a past member of the PBS Digital Media Advisory Council (DMAC).
Maribel is a member of Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media (2021) and she has served as a panel reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Maribel holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and Spanish from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.
Maria Bruno Ruiz
Vice President, Program Content Strategy and Scheduling
As Vice President, Program Content Strategy and Scheduling and a member of the Executive Editorial team in General Audience Programming, Maria Bruno Ruiz oversees strategic planning and implementation of the PBS master schedule.
She manages the multiplatform rollout of content on broadcast and partners on streaming platforms. She oversees all packaged channels and the PBS Plus syndicated service. She also provides thought leadership on tent-pole programming and special programming events, as well as create seasonal and monthly primetime schedules for National Program Service. Bruno Ruiz is responsible for evaluating proposals and participating in content acquisition decisions to ensure PBS’ lineup meets member station scheduling needs and includes a diverse mix of subject matter.
Under her stewardship as the drama editorial lead Bruno Ruiz strives to bring strong titles to PBS. She approved such titles as: HOWARD’S END (nominee, Best Mini-Series, BAFTA Awards, 2018), THE WINDERMERE CHILDREN (winner, Best European TV Movie or Mini-series, Prix Europa, 2020; nominee, TV Award, BAFTA Awards, 2021); VIENNA BLOOD (winner, Romy’s International Award and Best Actress in a series, Australia, 2021); ATLANTIC CROSSING (winner, International Emmy for best TV movie/mini-series, 2021); MISS SCARLETT AND THE DUKE and COBRA. She also conceived of the 10-year celebratory special for CALL THE MIDWIFE, “Special Delivery.”
Bruno Ruiz leads the interdepartmental team responsible for sequencing multiplatform rollout of approved dramas and content for broadcast, PBS Plus, streaming on Passport/MVOD, FVOD and she also oversees the review of content for the Amazon PBS Masterpiece Channel, PBS Living Channel and PBS Factual Channel.
Bruno Ruiz joined PBS from Boston’s WGBH, where she began her tenure in 1997 as an intern for the long-running series ANTIQUES ROADSHOW and subsequently rose to the role of Director of Programming, Broadcast Editorial. In that position, Bruno Ruiz was responsible for the leadership and management of schedules for both WGBH 2 and WGBX 44, and produced the master broadcast schedules for NHPBS, NHExplore and WGBY Springfield in coordination with their programming teams. In addition, Bruno Ruiz evaluated potential content for acquisition and advised on the program development for internal productions and external independent producers.
Bruno Ruiz was a member of the Programming Advisory Committee (PAC) for PBS General Audience Programming and the PBS Children’s Advisory Committee. She has also served as Vice President and, later, President (twice) of the Public Television Programming Association (PTPA), working collaboratively with PBS stations across the system. She has served on program advisory boards for MAYA & MIGUEL, SESAME STREET, SUPER WHY and DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD and was a film submission reviewer for the INDEPENDENT LENS LINCS Project. She has won the Golden Grid award for High Achievement in Grid Scheduling. She holds an M.A. from Emerson College and a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Adaora Udoji
Vice President of Programming & Operations
As Vice President of Programming and Operations, Adaora Udoji oversees news, current affairs, documentaries, investigative reporting, and indie films that PBS develops, acquires, and distributes across platforms from PBS.org, the PBS App, Streaming, and third-party platforms. She simultaneously leads the strategy, business and content operations, and production management teams that cover all of PBS’s General Audience Programming.
She and her teams work closely with Newshour, Washington Week, Frontline, American Experience, Amanpour & Company, Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, POV, Independent Lens, and the National Multicultural Alliance. They also work closely with leading creators, producers, and filmmakers as they manage a portfolio of linear and digital content routinely recognized and honored by industry nominations from the Oscars to the Emmys and the Peabody awards. Since Adaora joined PBS in the fall of 2021, she has led her team in supporting allmultiplatform efforts for America’s most-trusted media institution.
Adaora is a notably successful media storyteller and innovator, having won awards across broadcast, digital, and film as an executive, producer, and broadcast journalist. Essence magazine named her one of America’s most “influential African Americans.”
Previously she was Interim President of the media-tech startup News Deeply, dubbed “[T]he future of news” by Time Magazine, which won numerous awards, including a National Press award during her tenure. It was an innovative single news site for complex global issues, starting with SyriaDeeply.org. Then as an advisor, she saw the platform as it grew to 8 digital properties.
Adaora’s lifelong commitment to innovation, diversity, and inclusion has been recognized as she was awarded for independent film and digital projects that have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca, and Google platforms, among others (see IMBD profile).
Previously, she was a co-host and co-creator of an innovative four-hour public radio show that was a collaboration around New York Public Radio, WGBH, BBC, NYT and PRI. As a foreign correspondent at ABC News based in London, she covered news and current events across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, which included covering both the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars on the ground. Her Afghan reporting was recognized by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. While at ABC News, she was among the first to anchor digital news shows. As a correspondent and anchor at CNN, she was recognized for her contributions to CNN’s Peabody Award and Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award wins for the coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the Southeast Asia Tsunami, respectively.
That commitment to media, innovation, creative endeavors and inclusion extends to board service. She currently sits on The Hewitt School Board of Trustees; the Advisory Board of NEW Inc of the New Museum which is focused on developing and supporting creators, filmmakers, and artists at the nexus of technology; as an advisor at the Broadway Accelerator focused on creative technology development; and as an advisor to Harmony Labs, which is on a mission to understand the influence of media.
Adaora is an adjunct professor and former post-doc fellow at New York University. Since 2015 she has taught at the Interactive Telecommunications graduate program focusing on media, emerging/cutting-edge technology, art, and design. The work deeply involves artificial intelligence, machine learning, spatial computing and sound, sensors, motion capture, and more. Adaora is a member of the Pipeline Angels community, as well as The Helm, a venture capital firm investing in women entrepreneurs. She is also routinely asked to speak at events around the world on media, innovation, and technology.
She graduated from the University of Michigan and the UCLA School of Law. Adaora has lived on four continents and is a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland.
