Kevin Klose

Kevin Klose (born September 1, 1940) is an American journalist, author, broadcast executive, and academic administrator.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Klose grew up in Red Hook, New York. His parents, Woody and Virginia Taylor Klose, were radio producers and writers during the 1930s and 1940s.

Klose is a graduate of Harvard University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, in 1962. He has authored five books, including Russia and the Russians: Inside the Closed Society.

For 25 years Klose was an editor and reporter at The Washington Post.

From 1994 to 1997, he served as president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), overseeing its relocation from Munich to Prague.

In 1997–98, he directed the International Broadcasting Bureau at the U.S. Information Agency.

From 1998 to September 2008 Klose was president of the National Public Radio (NPR), the United States' largest nonprofit radio outlet for news and cultural programming. He served in this position beginning in December 1998, and also served as the organization's chief executive officer from 1998 to 1999. He was also a member of NPR's corporate board of directors, and a Trustee of the NPR Foundation. In 2008 he was named President Emeritus.

He also serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy and the nonprofit America Abroad Media.

A tenured professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park, Klose served as dean of the journalism college from April 2009 to July 2012.

On January 25, 2013 the Broadcasting Board of Governors announced that Klose would be the Acting President and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for up to one year, starting January 26, 2013. He took leave from his faculty position while serving at RFE/RL.

• Russia and the Russians. W. W. Norton & Company. 1984. ISBN 978-0393303124 (1986 paperback). 
• Typhoon Shipments. W. W. Norton & Company. 1980. ISBN 978-0393335880.