The Valley PBS Board of Directors has selected Robert Mollison to be the new president/CEO of the public television station that serves eight counties in the southern San Joaquin Valley and Sierra foothills.

Mollison replaces Jeff Aiello, a local documentary producer who announced his resignation in April after serving three years in the station’s top spot.

Mollison, who was recently promoted to chief operations officer after the departure of longtime staffer Nancy Borjas, was previously director of membership, director of marketing, and director of programming.

According to a station news release, Mollison was selected after the station conducted a nationwide search and received more than 50 applications.

“We are excited to welcome Robert as our new President and CEO,” Valley PBS board president Jody Graves said in the news release. “His extensive experience, deep community ties, and unwavering dedication make him exceptionally well-suited to lead Valley PBS forward.”

Mollison, a Fresno State alumnus, is committed to strengthening Valley PBS’s community connections and driving innovation to serve the diversity of the Central Valley, the station said.

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Turnover at the Top

He is the latest in a series of top officers for the beleaguered station, which saw the firing of three CEOs over a four-year period and the departure of other station leaders.

The station was slapped last year with a critical audit by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Office of the Inspector General that found the station had failed to follow revenue reporting rules and would have to repay nearly $300,000 in community service grant overpayments and penalties for the first time in its history.

Meantime, some community members and former station staffers have expressed concerns that the station’s programming in recent years has shifted to being overly pro-agricultural and that the board was excluding dissenting voices from serving on the station’s Community Advisory Board.

A number of those pro-ag programs were produced for the station by Aiello and his production company, 18THIRTY Entertainment.