Achieve Automatic Success:  Shift Your Volunteer/Intern Program Into High Gear
Thursday, July 11 @ 11:30 am ET

FACILITATOR:  PENNY ZENT, KAMU-FM

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PENNY ZENT, an employee of Educational Broadcast Services at Texas A&M University for thirty-three years, currently serves as station manager for KAMU-FM, an NPR/PRI/APM Affiliate.  Penny has served as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Performance Studies at Texas A & M University (Flute professor). Principal flutist of the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra since 1984, she is founding member/director of the Brazos Breeze Flute Choir and sings with the Brazos Valley Chorale.
She is a graduate of the Leadership Institute at Texas A&M University and a member of the 2002 Class of Leadership Texas.  Penny was selected as Brazos Valley Chorale Volunteer of the Year (1997), a Woman of Distinction by the Bluebonnet Girl Scout Council (2002.), Trustee of the Year for National Friends of Public Broadcasting (2002), Prenatal Clinic Honoree (2003), Board Member of the Year for United Way of the Brazos Valley (2004) and received both the Litter Watchdog Award and the Media "Signal" Award from Keep Brazos Beautiful.  She was recognized as the National Volunteer of the Day by the Points of Light Foundation in Washington, D.C. and the Arts Council Brazos Valley Volunteer of the Year (2006).  In 2011, she received the Media Service Award from Interfaith Dialog and was honored by the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History.
Penny currently serves as the Vice President/Treasurer of National Friends of Public Broadcasting.

PANELISTS

DOROTHY PACELLA
Friends of Thirteen

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DOROTHY PACELLA is Executive Director of Friends of Thirteen, Inc, an independent non-profit organization serving as a link between WNET New York Public Media and its tri-state constituency:  New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Dorothy has been a member of the Board of Trustees of National Friends since 1996.  She served as Membership Chair (1996-2003), Nominating Committee Chair (2003-2004), Scholarship Committee Chair (1995-2003), Task Force Chair for the NFPB Reinvention Project (2001-2004), Chair of NFPB Volunteer Leadership Summit  (2012) and served as an APTS CAT (Community Advocate Team) leader (1995-2001).  In 2008, Dorothy was elected as a Lay Leader on the APTS Board of Directors and APTS Action, Inc.  She has served on their Nominating, Finance and Legislative Committees.
In 1995, Dorothy received the NFPB Dorothy Kemps Achievement Award in Volunteer Management; in 1998, she received the APTS Outstanding Community Advocate Award for distinguished volunteer service through grassroots advocacy efforts.  In 2003, Dorothy was recognized with the APTS David Brugger Grassroots Advocacy Award.  In 2004, National Friends of Public Broadcasting recognized her as the Trustee of the Year.  Friends of Thirteen launched The Dorothy Pacella Fund in her honor in 2010.
Dorothy is a long-term resident of Brooklyn, New York, married to Dr. Vincent Pacella.  They have two children and four grandchildren.

JOHN SERVIDIO
General Manager, NJTV

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JOHN SERVIDIO is the General Manager of NJTV where he oversees the operation, staff and programming for the New Jersey public television station. His hands-on management responsibilities include overseeing the NJTV's weeknight news program, NJ Today with Mike Schneider and the network's live programming and specials, including the Governor's annual State of the State and Budget addresses state budget hearings, local political debates and election coverage.  Servidio works directly with filmmakers and outside producers to negotiate and green-light new network content, and cultivates an array of media and content partnerships across the Garden State, including remote production facilities.  In front of the camera, Servidio currently hosts the network's student-film series, NJDOCS, and records interstitial and Pledge messages.
Servidio also serves as General Manager of the Long Island public television station WLIW21 since 2009.  Previously, Servidio was a consultant for WNET, parent company of award-winning public television stations THIRTEEN and WLIW21 and operator of NJTV.  His relationship with public media began in 1995 when his company, Betelgeuse Productions, was hired to provide engineering and editorial services for WNET's new online edit rooms. 
He resides in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and daughter.

SASHA SCHECHTER
Friends of Thirteen

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SASHA SCHECHTER is the Community Engagement Coordinator for Friends of Thirteen, Inc. at WNET in New York City.  Sasha came to WNET as an intern in July of 2011, acting as Research Assistant to Neal Shapiro, President and CEO, WNET, and continued her internship through the completion of her bachelor's degree in Creative Writing from Oberlin College in May 2012.  After graduating, Sasha interned for an additional summer before joining the Friends in September 2012. In her time as a WNET intern, she worked as a researcher and production assistant on several local and national projects, including American Graduate Day, the Major Market Group Arts Initiative, and the Emmy Award winning series, Treasure of New York.  As Community Engagement Coordinator, Sasha works with many of these same projects, organizing program-based outreach and fundraising events and initiatives for WNET in local New York communities.  Most recently, she coordinated a community screening of the ITVS film Wonder Women The Untold Story of American Superheroines, followed by a panel discussion that streamed live online, at Macaulay Honors College (CUNY).  The screening and panel discussion were later featured on-air as part of WNET's news and culture program, MetroFocus.
Prior to coming to WNET, Sasha held several internships at both nonprofit and corporate organizations, including CLIC Sargent for Children with Cancer (National Events Team, Bristol, United Kingdom), the Oberlin College Creative Writing Department (Community Relations and Publicity, Oberlin, OH) Hope Street Kids (Grant Writing, Washington DC), Colgate-Palmolive (Global Corporate Sustainability/Social Responsibility, New York City), LeadDog Marketing Group (Integrated Marketing, New York City), and the Office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (Washington, DC).