WNET.ORG's 16th Annual Gala Honors Kline 5/4, Paula Zahn Master Of Ceremonies

WNET.ORG, the public media provider in New York City, will honor Meredith Brokaw, Jamie Dimon and Kevin Kline at its 16th Annual Gala Salute, which will take place Monday, May 4 at Gotham Hall in New York City. The honorees will be recognized for their outstanding contributions to WNET.ORG, one of the nation's most innovative and respected public media institutions and the parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21, the first- and third-most-watched television stations in America, as well as a range of digital channels, services and production units responsible for creating content for public television viewers across the country.

"We are privileged to honor three of our most distinguished partners and friends at this year's Gala Salute," said James Tisch, chairman of the Board of Trustees of WNET.ORG. "Meredith Brokaw, Jamie Dimon and Kevin Kline have all made significant contributions to our institution and, in so doing, have touched the lives of millions of people through the power of public media."

"Meredith Brokaw, through her dedication to our Board of Trustees and our educational activities, Jamie Dimon, through his steadfast support of our programming and outreach, and the marvelous Kevin Kline, whose talent has been at the heart of many of our arts and cultural programming - these three renowned individuals represent that wonderful and diverse partnership that goes into creating public media," said Neal Shapiro, President and CEO of WNET.ORG.

Each year, the Annual Gala Salute celebrates individuals who have made a notable commitment to the vitality of public television in the New York region and across America. Past honorees who are invited to attend the 2009 Gala include Alan Alda, Julie Andrews, William F. Baker, Antonio Banderas, Tony Bennett, Michael R. Bloomberg, Tom Brokaw, Ken Burns, Ric Burns, Joan Ganz Cooney, Walter Cronkite, Lewis Cullman, Oscar de la Renta, Charles F. Dolan, Plácido Domingo, William J. Flynn, Albert R. Gamper, Jr., Henry Louis Gates, Jr., William B. Harrison, Jr., The Henson Family, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Gwen Ifill, Henry R. Kravis, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert MacNeil, Peter Martins, Thomas J. Moran, Bill Moyers, Judith Davidson Moyers, George D. O'Neill, Governor George E. Pataki, Philip J. Purcell, Elizabeth Rohatyn, Charlie Rose, Walter V. Shipley, Michael I. Sovern, Sy Sternberg, Rosalind P. Walter, William C. Weldon, Judy and Josh Weston, Elie Wiesel, and Peter Yarrow.

Meredith Brokaw has been involved with Conservation International, a field-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect the earth's living heritage and its global biodiversity, for the past sixteen years. She is currently a Vice Chair and serves on the Executive Committee. Mrs. Brokaw has been instrumental in their fundraising and awareness efforts and has traveled extensively to the various field projects under CI's direction. Founder and operator until 1999 of Penny Whistle Toys in New York City, she also wrote eight Penny Whistle books for children. In 2006 she co-authored a cookbook entitled Big Sky Cooking. For 18 years Mrs. Brokaw served as a Director of the Gannett Company, Inc. She retired from this position in 2005. She serves on the Board of Trustees of WNET.ORG and is chair of its Education Committee. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter in New York. A native of Yankton, South Dakota, Meredith is married to Tom Brokaw of NBC News. They have three daughters and four granddaughters. In addition to a busy professional and family life, Mrs. Brokaw enjoys competitive horseback riding, tennis and hiking.

Jamie Dimon is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. - a company that has been a staunch supporter of WNET.ORG's programs and educational projects. Mr. Dimon became Chairman of the Board, effective January 1, 2007, following his appointment as CEO on January 1, 2006. He also assumed the title of President upon the company's merger with Bank One Corporation on July 1, 2004. Mr. Dimon began his professional career at American Express Company, serving as Assistant to the President from 1982 until 1985. He then became a key member of the team that launched and defined the strategy for Commercial Credit Company in October 1986, when the consumer lending company was spun off from Control Data Corporation. He served as Chief Financial Officer and an Executive Vice President, and then President. A completely restructured Commercial Credit made numerous acquisitions and divestitures, substantially improving its profitability. Most significantly, in 1987, it acquired and changed its name to Primerica Corporation, which in 1993 acquired The Travelers Corporation and was renamed Travelers Group. At Travelers, Mr. Dimon was President and Chief Operating Officer for seven years. He was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of its Smith Barney Inc. subsidiary in January 1996, having previously been the firm's Chief Operating and Chief Administrative Officer. In November 1997, with the merger of Smith Barney and Salomon Brothers, he became Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of the combined firm. In 1998, he was named President of Citigroup Inc., the global financial services company formed by the combination of Travelers Group and Citicorp in 1998. In addition, he served as Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Salomon Smith Barney Holdings Inc., the investment banking and securities brokerage subsidiary. In 2000 Mr. Dimon was named Chairman and CEO of Bank One. During his four years with the company, he engineered a dramatic turnaround - taking the bank from a half-billion-dollar loss in 2000 to record earnings of $3.5 billion in 2003. A summa cum laude graduate of Tufts University, Mr. Dimon holds an MBA degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business, where he was a Baker Scholar. He serves on the boards of directors of a number of non-profit institutions, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Harvard Business School and the United Negro College Fund. Mr. Dimon and his wife, Judy, have three daughters.

Kevin Kline is a Tony and Academy Award-winning actor, lauded both for his work on stage as well as screen. After graduating from Indiana University in Bloomington, Kline studied at the Juilliard School in New York. In 1972, he became a founding member of John Houseman's The Acting Company and performed classic and contemporary plays in repertory in New York and on tour across the country. On Broadway, Kline has won two Tony Awards for his work in the musicals On the Twentieth Century (1978) and The Pirates of Penzance (1981). After working on the stage for years, Kline made his film debut in Sophie's Choice (1982) which earned him a BAFTA nomination and the first of five Golden Globe nominations for his performance. His work in the ensemble cast of The Big Chill (1983) would be followed by Silverado (1985). For his role as Otto West in A Fish Called Wanda (1988), Kline won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Other notable films from the past decades include: Cry Freedom (1987), I Love You To Death (1990), Grand Canyon (1991), Soapdish (1991), Dave (1993), The Ice Storm (1997), In & Out (1997), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999), Life As A House (2001), The Emperor's Club (2002), De-Lovely (2004), A Prairie Home Companion (2006), Trade (2007) and HBO's As You Like It for which he earned a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2008. On stage, Kline has earned rave reviews for Shaw's Arms and the Man, Chekhov's Ivanov, The Seagull and in Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1. Other notable Shakespearean roles on stage include King Lear, Richard III, Henry V, and Much Ado About Nothing. Kline co-directed a televised version of his Public Theater production of Hamlet for the PBS series Great Performances. Last year he won an Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance in Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway, which also aired on PBS as part of the Great Performances series. Kevin Kline is the first American actor to receive the Sir John Gielgud Golden Quill Award and was recently honored with the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004, Kline was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

New York public media company WNET.ORG is a pioneering provider of television and web content. The parent of THIRTEEN, WLIW21 and Creative News Group, WNET.ORG brings such acclaimed broadcast series and websites as Worldfocus, Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, Charlie Rose, Wide Angle, Secrets of the Dead, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, Visions, Consuelo Mack WealthTrack, Wild Chronicles, Miffy and Friends, and Cyberchase to national and international audiences. Through its wide range of channels and platforms, WNET.ORG serves the entire New York City metro area with unique local productions, broadcasts and innovative educational and cultural projects. In all that it does, WNET.ORG pursues a single, overarching goal - to create media experiences of lasting significance for New York, America and the world. For more information, visit www.wnet.org.