Deanna Martin Mackey

Deanna Martin Mackey is the general manager of KPBS, serving as the organization’s chief executive officer since June 2022. Mackey has been committed to equity for women and girls, particularly women of color, throughout her more than 30-year career in nonprofit management and executive leadership in media.

Before joining KPBS as general manager, she served as president of the Public Television Major Market Group (PTMMG), a consortium of the 40 largest PBS member stations in the U.S. She focused her time on leadership/culture, revenue generation, audience development and digital on behalf of the group as well as national partnerships and system leadership activities.

Previously, Mackey worked for 25 years at KPBS, serving as COO in her final six years at the station. She is credited with creating KPBS’ original digital strategy and department, developing the industry’s first converged newsroom and creating the community engagement program, One Book, One San Diego. Prior to her earlier work with KPBS, Mackey was a writer and editor for several San Diego-based publications and spent her early years as a radio news writer.

In 2015, Mackey co-founded Public Media Women in Leadership, to provide mentorship/training for women in her industry and address issues of gender inequity in public media. She serves as board chair of the organization.

Mackey is also committed to public service. She served as a Girl Scout troop leader for 13 years and spent 10 years in board governance for Girl Scouts San Diego. In June 2024 she was named board chair of Parks, California, an organization whose mission is to make California state parks and public lands welcoming, inclusive and climate resilient spaces to truly serve all Californians, particularly underserved communities. She is also a board member of the CDP, the Contributor Development Partnership, a public benefit corporation that provides collaborative fundraising solutions to more than 200 PBS and NPR member stations across the country. Mackey is currently serving as a mentor in the Chicano Federation’s Leadership Training Institute (LTI) program. Prior, she served on the governance and nominating committee of inewsource, a San Diego based non-profit investigative newsroom.

Mackey was named to the Class of 2023 “Cool Women” by Girl Scouts San Diego. That year she was also named a Latino Leader of Influence by the San Diego Business Journal/San Diego Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and a Women in Leadership Awardee by the San Diego East County Chamber. In 2021, she was a finalist for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Brava Awards in the Corporate Leader category.

Mackey also received the Hera Heroine Leadership Award from Hera Hub Women’s co-working space, Outstanding Alumnus honor from SDSU’s Daily Aztec newspaper, named a YWCA Tribute to Women & Industry honoree for her work mentoring women at KPBS and the Girl Scouts, and was named one of five “Women who Move the City” by San Diego Magazine.

Mackey earned her Bachelor of Arts from San Diego State University with a double major in journalism and political science. She lives in San Diego and is married to Christopher Ingalls. She and her husband have five children between them, one granddaughter, and Lola, their lovely Lab.