The Northern Dakota County Cable Communications Commission (“NDC4”) unanimously approved recommendations of the NDC4 Executive Committee and the NDC4/Town Square Television Executive Director Search Team at its February 5th Full Commission Meeting. Jodie Miller announced her retirement in July 2024, and a search team made up of NDC4 and TST Board Officers, one community non-profit leader and the staff HR/Business Manager conducted the hiring process between July and November 2024.
Beth Baumann is a lifelong resident and former Mayor of South St. Paul, and served as the past chair of the Neighbors, Inc. Board of Directors. Baumann has a master’s degree in organizational leadership and deep expertise in corporate financial services. She is widely known for developing successful teams and directing the completion of complex projects. The search team was especially impressed with the strong referrals given by staff who worked with Baumann and were supervised by her on various jobs. NDC4 Commission Chair Mickey Kieffer said, “We are thrilled to have found a candidate with Beth’s unique combination of deep knowledge of this community and strong experience in all three areas: corporate business, local government and non-profit leadership. We thank retiring Executive Director, Jodie Miller, for her 31 years of leadership at NDC4 and Town Square Television, and broadly throughout our state and national organizations. It would be impossible to overestimate the impact of her dedication to public service on behalf of our residents and communities.” The search team expressed confidence in Baumann’s ability to make an immediate impact working with the organization’s partners on passing legislation to modernize funding for local community media stations, continuing TST’s diversification of revenue streams and keeping NDC4/TST in a strong financial position. The search team’s priority is retaining the award-winning employees and managing their delivery of high-quality video content to the residents of Northern Dakota county.
Baumann will start fulltime in May. The Interim Leadership Team of TST Engineering Manager Joe Conlon, NDC4 Government Programming Manager Dennis Rafftery and HR/Business Manager Elizabeth Wolszon will manage operations between Miller’s February retirement and Baumann’s start date, with the help of NDC4 Commission Chair Mickey Kieffer, TST Board Chair Andrew Hein and the NDC4 and TST Executive Committees.