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PBS chief named to Sun board

Pat Mitchell, the first woman to lead the Public Broadcasting Service, becomes the 10th board member of the computing giant.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
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Stephen Shankland
Sun Microsystems has named Pat Mitchell, chief executive of the Public Broadcasting Service, as the 10th member of its board of directors, the server and software company said on Monday.

Mitchell has led the noncommercial media organization since 2000, and she was the first woman to do so. Before that, she was president of CNN Productions and Time Television.

Among other noncommercial activities, Mitchell serves on the boards of United Way America, the Sundance Institute and the Women's Advisory Council of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. She also serves on the Council on Foreign Relations and is a trustee of the Mayo Clinic Foundation. In the commercial realm, she sits on the boards of Bank of America and Knight-Ridder.

Mitchell graduated magna cum laude from the University of Georgia and has a master's degree in English literature.

The other Sun board members are Chief Executive and Chairman Scott McNealy; Jim Barksdale, CEO of Barksdale Management Corporation; Stephen Bennett, CEO of Intuit; John Doerr, general partner of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Robert Fisher, chairman of the board of The Gap; Mike Lehman, Sun's former chief financial officer; Kenneth Oshman, chairman and CEO of Echelon; Naomi Seligman, senior partner at Ostriker von Simson; and Lynn E. Turner, managing director of research at Glass Lewis & Co.