Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation, funded by the U.S. Congress through the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an independent federal government agency that oversees all U.S. civilian international media.
Radio Free Asia’s corporate board is made up of the USAGM Chief Executive Officer and Director and members:
In addition to providing oversight, USAGM works with RFA to ensure the professional independence and integrity of all of its broadcasters, which include the Voice of America, Radio and TV Martí, and the non-profit corporations that are USAGM grantees: Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
RFA’s corporate officers are:
To learn more about the United States Agency for Global Media, please visit: www.usagm.gov
Biographies of the RFA Corporate Board follow.
Michael Pack
Michael Pack was appointed CEO and Director of USAGM in June 2020. The CEO oversees all aspects of U.S. international media. He provides day-to-day management of USAGM’s operations, including oversight of the technical, professional, and administrative support as well as strategic guidance and management of other programs.
Acting President Parameswaran Ponnudurai joined RFA as its English News Director in 2010 and became Vice President of Programming in 2014.
Param was previously a journalist with global news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) for 20 years, serving in various capacities in Asia — including Bureau Chief in Manila and News Editor in Singapore — and in Washington DC, where he was first Asian Affairs Correspondent and then Economics and Financial Correspondent, covering Wall Street among other markets.
During his career as a journalist beginning in 1974, Param has covered major global level summits — from the G-7 and G-20 meetings to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum leaders' meeting and the U.N. General Assembly.
Before joining AFP, Param was with the Malaysian media, serving stints as specialist writer at The Business Times and journalist at the Bernama national news agency and The Star.
For excellence in journalism, he was honored with the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit (Ordre National du Merite) by French President Jacques Chirac in 2002.
Bernadette Burns
Bernadette Mooney Burns has been RFA’s General Counsel since 2006 and was elected Secretary in 2008. Her legal career started in 1981 and includes service in the U.S. Navy JAG corps, private practice, corporate counsel and most recently as the Director of Legal Affairs with the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims.
