Marketing Executive Laura Savini to Join CPTV as National Programming Consultant

Marketing Executive Laura Savini to Join CPTV as

National  Programming Consultant

The Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network (CPBN) is proud to announce that Laura Savini, a marketing and fundraising executive with over 20 years of experience in public television, has joined Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) as a National Programming Consultant.

“Laura will bring a tremendous amount of public television expertise to CPTV,” said Dean Orton, Senior Vice President of Development and Media Services at CPTV. With our strong history of bringing exciting new series and special to PBS stations across the nation, Laura is a strong complement to continue our excellence in programming, and will assist in propelling out future success in the national programming arena. It’s nice to add her to our current team, and we welcome someone of her high caliber and inventiveness.”

“CPTV has a solid reputation in the public television, music and touring industries for their creativity, fundraising innovation and national production,” said Savini. “Public television must be bold and experimental right now in order to sustain itself in today’s media world. I am excited and invigorated to join CPTV to break new ground and lead the system in the development of forward-thinking programming and fundraising strategies.”

Previously, Savini was Vice President of Marketing and Communications at WLIW21 in New York. She resigned in April 2011 to launch her new company Untamed Hair Productions & Consulting. While at WLIW, Savini created innovative fundraising & marketing efforts for the nation’s third-most-watched public television station for over two decades. She joined WLIW21 in the early ’90s, and she advanced to Vice President of Marketing and Communications in 1996. Over the next 15 years Savini and former WLIW21 President and General Manager Terrel Cass turned the station into an innovative producer for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and independent distributor of programming.

Helping establish a national reputation for WLIW21 with an emphasis on specials that have been instrumental in raising substantial funds for public television stations, Savini introduced best-selling author and investor Robert Kiyosaki to public television audiences and served as executive producer on acclaimed specials, including 2010’s Music of Ireland – Welcome Home, which earned her a New York Emmy Award. Savini has also raised hundreds of millions of dollars for stations coast to coast with her on-air fundraising savvy.

Savini will develop national productions for CPTV through Untamed Hair Productions, as well as consult on creative fundraising, marketing, and artist promotion for other clients. In addition she will work alongside her husband, Grammy-winning composer Jimmy Webb, who was recently named the chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Savini also plans to remain active as an on-air local host for WLIW21.