General Manager and CEO

New Mexico PBS

As General Manager and CEO of KNME/NMPBS, Franz Joachim is directly responsible for the overall operation of the PBS television station that serves central and northern New Mexico. He has been involved in television production for over 35 years, first at KUAT-TV (a University of Arizona-owned PBS station) on the student production crew and then as Studio Supervisor. Franz holds a BS in Radio and Television from the University of Arizona, where he also minored in engineering. After graduating from UA, Franz worked in television production as a photographer, editor, director, and manager in a variety of production environments, including Industrial, News, Studio and Long Form Documentary production. 

Franz became Production Manager for KNME-TV in 1999, where he supervised an extensive build out of automated on-air operations, digital file based production workflow, and a digital archive of KNME’s extensive documentary library. In addition, he has worked with Sony and Avid Technology Inc. to develop new work flows for file-based digital production. Techniques developed through these partnerships have contributed to new products advanced by both corporations. Franz served as Manager over both Production and Operations from 2003 to 2010, when he was promoted to Director of Content. He was named General Manager and CEO in 2013.

In addition to the day-to-day responsibilities of New Mexico PBS, Franz chairs the Public Television University Licensee Association and the Public Television Affinity Group Coalition, and serves on the boards of New Mexico First, the Holocaust & Intolerance Museum of New Mexico and the Mission: Graduate Vision Council.