Mary Motherwell, General Manager, WEMU

Mary Motherwell General Manager WEMU­FM To devoted listeners of WEMU­FM in Ypsilanti, Mary Motherwell is the face of public radio in southeast Michigan. Known to all as Molly, the tireless, skilled broadcast executive became only the third General Manager in WEMU’s 50­year history when she succeeded Arthur Timko in December 2010.

In addition to running the daily operation of WEMU, she is responsible for strategic planning, the station’s budget, fundraising initiatives, grant writing, event production, marketing and public relations. To date, she has raised nearly $10 million on behalf of WEMU. She also serves as the station’s public service director.

Molly initiated and developed media partnerships with the University Musical Society, the Detroit Jazz Festival, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, The Ark and the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, oversaw the publication of two books about WEMU, and worked with Perich Advertising and Design in Ann Arbor to create an award­winning ad campaign. Under her leadership, WEMU has won four Broadcast Excellence Awards from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters.

As President of the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival Board of Directors, she worked with U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow to obtain Local Legacy designation for the Festival, whose records are now archived at the Library of Congress. In 2014 she worked with other Michigan public broadcasters to produce and present a tribute to retiring U.S. Congressman John Dingell, who introduced the 1964 Public Broadcasting Act.

Molly joined WEMU in November 1991 as Marketing and Development Director after stints in public relations at Domino’s Pizza International, and as an account executive at the old Ypsilanti Press and the former WIQB­FM. She holds a BA in History from the University of Michigan and did graduate work in Historic Preservation administration at Eastern Michigan University. She has been a session developer and presenter at several annual Public Radio Development and Marketing Conferences, served as Secretary of the Board of Directors for Washtenaw Literacy and Secretary of the Board for the Michigan Association of Public Broadcasters, and has been recognized for service to the arts by the former Washtenaw Council for the Arts.

She was a member of the inaugural class of Leadership for Philanthropy for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is a current board member of the Michigan Association of Public Broadcasters and the Michigan Public Radio Network, and a member of the Cultural Leaders Forum of Washtenaw County. She also a member of Women in Philanthropy at EMU and a “Hoops to Heels” player mentor for the EMU women’s basketball team.