Sharon Percy Rockefeller joined The Rockefeller Foundation board of trustees in 2017.
Mrs. Rockefeller has served the public broadcasting community for more than 30 years as a leader and policymaker. She has been president and CEO of WETA, the flagship public media station in Greater Washington since 1989. She continues to guide WETA to outstanding accomplishments serving the nation with extraordinary content across our broadcast and digital platforms in broadcasting and production. WETA is the keystone producer of trusted news for the PBS system with the iconic newscast PBS NewsHour, the longest running prime time news program Washington Week, and the weekend newscast PBS News Weekend.
Before assuming the top post at WETA, she was a member of the WETA Board of Trustees for seven years and a member of the board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for 12 years, including four years as a chairman.
A graduate of Stanford University, Rockefeller is active in a number of areas including education, fine arts, government, and women’s issues. She serves on the boards of The Museum of Modern Art, The Rockefeller Foundation, The James Madison Council of the Library of Congress. She serves as an Emeritus Trustee of the National Gallery of Art and the Johns Hopkins Medicine Board. She is president of the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine President’s Advisory Council. She is a trustee of the Federal City Council and a member and former chairman of the Stanford-in-Washington Council.
Rockefeller is a former member of the board of directors of PepsiCo, Inc., and Sotheby’s Holdings. She served as chairman of the Virginia Association of Public Television Stations and was formerly a member of the board of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Stanford University, the Smithsonian Associates, the National Cathedral School, The George Washington University, the Smithsonian American Art Commission, The Phillips Collection and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
She is married to former West Virginia Senator John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV. They have four children and eight grandchildren.