Who

Knell is the President and CEO of Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind the beloved PBS classic Sesame Street.

Backstory

A lawyer by training, Knell began his career in government, working for the California state legislature and in the governor's office, and later serving as counsel to the U.S. Senate judiciary and governmental affairs committees. His career in the TV industry began when he took a job as counsel to WNET/Channel 13 in New York. In 1989, he became the VP of legal affairs at Sesame Workshop (then known as CTW, or Children's Television Workshop), the kid-oriented media enterprise founded by Joan Ganz Cooney. After seven years, having risen to executive vice president, he felt restless and resigned. He had a stint at the Asian media company Manager Media International, but was lured back to CTW in 1998 and named president and CEO position in January 2000. These days, as he explains, he's "the only CEO who has to show the Potty-Time Elmo to the Board of Directors, which can feel really pathetic."

Of note

In recent years Knell's main project has involved working with local media outlets in foreign countries to produce regionally appropriate versions of Sesame Street. The show is now seen in 120 countries, including South Africa, Russia, China, and Egypt. What Knell likes to call "muppet diplomacy" has been tremendously successful, even in countries where anti-Americanism is widespread. But while the nearly universal goodwill toward Sesame Street has enabled the show to avoid serious controversy, it hasn't shied away from taking on important issues. For example, Elmo's father was deployed with the military after Sept 11th, and the South African version of the show broke ground by including an HIV-positive muppet, who is now hugely popular.

Personal

Knell is married to wife Kim Larson and has four children; the family lives in Mount Kisco.