Nancy Dobbs, B.A. Political Science, 1976
Nancy Dobbs graduated from Sonoma State University in
1976 with a degree in political science. Since that time she has been
actively involved with public service and states that "her major contributions
to my community fall in the areas of health care policy and telecommunications."
Currently Dobbs is the President and CEO of KRCB Television and Radio.
She has been instrumental in putting six channels on the air over the
past 17 years. Initially the project director and general manager for
Rural California Broadcasting Corporation, KRCB-TV, Channel 22, Dobbs
was responsible for obtaining the stations FCC license, securing equipment
for the station, locating an appropriate land site, fundraising, organizing
staff and volunteers and initiating and implementing their PBS affiliation.
Through her leadership and efforts, KRCB brought public television to
more than 500,000 North Bay residents, followed quickly by public radio
when they launched Sonoma County's first English language public radio
station in September of 1994. More recently she put KRCB's four distance
learning channels on the air. Dobbs describes these components of KRCB
as a way to build and educate the community. "In an era of merger and
consolidation, locally controlled media may well be a key to healthy,
sustainable communities" says Dobbs.
Prior to this position, Dobbs served as a health planner
for the Northbay Health Systems Agency, where she assimilated and analyzed
health care data for Sonoma, Solano and Napa Counties. She developed a
five year regional health plan and coordinated with community organizations
to implement the plan which included health education, nutrition counseling
and a smoking cessation program.
Dobbs involvement with communities and particularly health
care is long standing. She was the program auditor for the state-wide
audit of Nursing Homes for the California Legislature, and was a staff
consultant for the California State Assembly's Health Committee with Assemblyman
Barry Keene. Her areas of specialization included: rural health care;
prenatal health care and senior's health care. She wrote portions of the
California State Health Plan and was a gubernatorial appointee to the
Statewide Health Planning Council. As a staff member for the Legislature,
Dobbs was able to work on, and in some cases spearhead, legislation and
policy on rural and Indian health, early amniocentesis screening, the
first right to die legislation, the first training requirements for nurses'
aides in nursing homes and early cost containment legislation.
Dobbs has served as the Finance Committee Chair for the
Board of Trustees of Community Hospital (now Sutter Medical Center) and
is past president and a current member of the Sonoma County Press Club.
She has served as Chair of the Development Committee for Friends House
and is a member of Digital Village Foundation. Dobbs had also been a member
of the Statewide Advisory Health Council and the Private Industry Council.
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