After 30 years as a successful public broadcasting non-profit CEO, Mark has turned his focus to work directly with other non-profit CEOs who want to grow and succeed. BirdsongAdvisors.com is based in Maine and dedicated to helping leaders connect relationally with donors to achieve their mission. Mark has a proven track record in organizational leadership, philanthropic support, deep research, and strategic planning.
Through a decade-long tenure as President & CEO of Maine Public, Mark made a lasting impact, positioning the institution as the state’s leading source of news, information, and entertainment. Mark came to Maine Public in January of 2012, a seasoned public broadcasting leader with a national perspective and a sensitivity to being genuine and relevant to the ethos of living in Maine. At the heart of Mark’s vision for Maine Public was elevating his organization's journalistic and fundraising efforts, expanding regional news, focused on serving the audience, and offering more choices than ever before.
Mark with Senator Angus King
Among a host of initiatives envisioned at Maine Public, Mark launched a new, dedicated platform for classical music—both to bring more NPR News on Maine Public Radio, but also to expand the breadth of performing arts to the state. The Maine Public Classical Radio service was born in 2016, and in 2021 celebrated its five-year anniversary with seven FM stations across Maine. To better reflect all this growth and progress, Mark oversaw the development and launch of a new name and brand position for the station—from MPBN to Maine Public.
Mark has been Maine Public’s guide, at the helm through the development of two strategic plans and two capital campaigns. The latest vision focuses on aligning staff and services, expanding trusted content, attracting younger and more diverse audiences, and modernizing the organization’s facilities.
“Mark’s vision and expertise were instrumental in Maine Public’s significant growth over this past decade. He guided the broadcast teams to focus on serving more viewers and listeners, and created exciting new content and channels for journalism, culture, music and lifelong learning. We are grateful for his service to Maine Public.”
Before Maine Public, Mark served as President & CEO of Vermont Public Radio for 16 years, from 1993 to 2009, where he led the organization in completing a $10 million endowment campaign and created two regional radio networks — one that carries news and information and another devoted to classical music.
He was elected to NPR's Board of Directors for seven years, and served as the Executive Director of the NPR Foundation in 2009, overseeing the foundation's entire fundraising operation. He was the station manager at WBFO-FM, Buffalo's NPR member station, where he helped facilitate the acquisition in 2011 between WNED public television and the University at Buffalo in western New York.
Prior to leading VPR, Vogelzang worked as Program Director and Radio Manager at WHYY in Philadelphia, helping Terry Gross with the national launch of "Fresh Air" and assisting colleagues with national television productions, and led a major format change in Philadelphia public radio in the early '90s.
Vogelzang received his BA degree from Dordt College in Iowa, where he also began his broadcasting career at the campus radio station. He and his late wife Rhonda have five adult children and a number of grandchildren. Mark serves on several nonprofit boards, is a serious amateur photographer, and enjoys cycling the backroads and coves on the coast of Maine from his home in Brunswick.
Maine Public Facts & Figures
Annual Operating Budget: $17 million
Annual Contributing Households: 54,000
Weekly Audience: 817,000
$ million+ Gifts Received: 5
Largest Gift Received: $2.4 million (2016)
Current Campaign Dollars Raised: $9.17 million