In 2002, Marie Antoon was named the first female executive director of Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB). Under Antoon’s leadership, a new vision was created for the network, which included a re-organization to bring television, educational services, radio and other services under a single brand name for the first time in the history of the organization. This new vision also resulted in the network expanding its locally-produced programs and award-winning documentaries such as Blues Divas, BestSellers, Beyond Katrina, Writers, and The Singing River: Rhythms of Nature. In 2004, the station began partnering with WGBH-Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd. to produce the award-winning PBS children’s television program, Between the Lions, from its studio facilities in Jackson.

Antoon recently completed a three-year term on the Board of Directors of PBS, the private, nonprofit media enterprise that services the nation’s 349 public noncommercial television stations. As a PBS board member, she served on the committees for Nominating and Corporate Governance, Station Services, and National Policy.

Antoon has been recognized with a Special Merit Award from the Mississippi Wildlife Federation for her contribution to the station’s Emmy award-winning original documentary, The Singing River, and by the Southeast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences with the Board of Governor’s Award. In 2005, she was selected as one of Mississippi’s 50 Leading Business Women.

She currently serves on the boards of the National Educational Telecommunications Association, the Mississippi Council for Education Technology, the Mississippi Association of Partners in Education, the Mississippi Blues Commission, and serves as a co-chair of the nationally-acclaimed Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration. She serves as an ex-officio member of the Governor’s Early Childhood Services Interagency Council and as a charter member of the Management Board for Mississippi’s new and original early childhood program, Excel by Five.

Antoon also serves on advisory boards for the MidSouth Partnership for Rural Community Colleges, Jackson State University, and the University of Southern Mississippi. She serves as the President and C.E.O. of Mississippi EDNET Institute, Inc., a consortium of public and private partners that provides educational programming through a statewide Educational Broadband Service system.

Antoon began her career in broadcasting in 1976 with the Alabama Public Television Network. She served as director of the Teleproductions Resource Center and as assistant director of Resource Development at The University of Mississippi. From 1994 to 2001, she served as director of academic technologies with the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. A native Mississippian, Antoon holds a bachelor of arts degree in radio, television, and film from the University of Southern Mississippi and a master of social science degree from The University of Mississippi.