management-team

Maria Rodale, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Maria Rodale is the CEO and Chairman of Rodale Inc., the world's leading multimedia company with a focus on health, wellness, and the environment, and the largest independent book publisher in the United States. Rodale reaches 70 million people worldwide through brands such as Prevention and Men's Health; through books such as The South Beach Diet and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth; and through numerous digital properties. She is founding editor of the company's newest online venture, Rodale.com, which features the latest news and information about healthy living on a healthy planet, as well as her blog, Maria's Farm Country Kitchen.

Rodale is the author of three books. Her most recent work is titled Organic Manifesto: How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe. Organic Manifesto cuts through the confusion and misinformation to provide an indispensable and highly readable look at why chemical-free farming unquestionably holds the key to better health for our families-and the planet.

Maria Rodale joined the family business in 1987, first working in circulation and direct marketing and eventually leading Rodale's in-house direct marketing agency. In 1998, she served as director of strategy, where she led the strategic review, planning processes, and management changes that refocused the company on publishing information on healthy, active lifestyles. She also led the company's Organic Living division, Rodale's first integrated brand division, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of Organic Gardening and oversaw all of Rodale's gardening books. She joined the Rodale board in 1991 and was elected Chairman in 2007.

She has won numerous awards, including in 2004 the National Audubon Society's "Rachel Carson Award" and in 2007 the United Nations Population Fund's "Award for the Health and Dignity of Women." In 2009 she was named to Pennsylvania's "Best 50 Women in Business" List. She is also a member of the board of Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project, co-chair of the Rodale Institute, a board member of the Lehigh Valley Health Network, and a board member of the MPA.

Maria is a mother, an activist, and a businesswoman and has made promoting the benefits of an organic lifestyle both her personal mission and her business. She lives in an ecologically friendly house in Bethlehem, PA, with her husband, three children, one dog, one cat, and eight guinea hens.

Ardath Rodale, CEO and Chief Inspiration Officer
October 1928-December 2009

Ardath Harter Rodale served as CEO of Rodale Inc. from 1990 to 2007, and Chief Inspiration Officer from 2007 to 2009. She also served as Co-Chairman of the Board of The Rodale Institute, a global leader in agriculture, food, and health whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of people and the planet through research and education that focuses on organic farming, food and living. Rodale, more commonly known as Ardie, shared Rodale’s mission of showing people how they can use the power of their bodies and minds to improve their lives by conveying 'You can do it,' on every page of our magazines and books.

Rodale received two Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 1994: one from DeSales University in Allentown, PA, and the other from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. She also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Kutztown University in 1995. And, in 2006, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities degree from the New College of California in San Francisco.

Other awards Rodale received include:
- Outstanding Alumni Award, Kutztown University, 1990
- Valley Forge Freedom's Foundation for Humanitarianism, 1991
- Extraordinary Voices Award, Mothers' Voices (National), New York, 1996
- Women of Distinction Award, Great Valley Girl Scout Council, 1998
- Friend of Lehigh Award, Lehigh University, 2002
- Lifetime Community Achievement Award, Boys & Girls Club of Allentown, 2002
- Shining Star Award, St. Luke's Hospital, Allentown, PA 2003
- Life & Breath Award, American Lung Association, 2003
- Exceptional Woman Award, Women In Periodical Publishing, New York, 2004
- LifePath's Community Service Award, Penna. Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 2004
- The 'Circle of Excellence - Enlightened Media' award from the International Furnishings and Design Association, 2005
- Lehigh Valley's Coalition for Alternative Transportation (CAT) award for promoting alternative transportation, especially bicycling, to youth and adults, 2006
- Distinguished Citizen Achievement Award from the Sales and Marketing Executives International of the Lehigh Valley, PA 2007
- The Sister Elizabeth Fedde Medal for Service from the Lutheran HealthCare, New York, 2007
- Allentown’s Community Services for Children’s Inez and Edward Donely Award for Children’s Advocacy, 2009

Rodale was named one of the '50 Best Women in Business in Pennsylvania' by the Central Penn Business Journal in 1996, and a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania by Governor Tom Ridge in 1997. She was chosen as one of the top 50 Women Business Owners in the United States in the October 1997 issue of Working Woman Magazine and as one of the 50 Leading Women Entrepreneurs in the World by The Star Group in 1999.

In 1985, Rodale's son David died from AIDS, prompting her to become an AIDS activist and also to write her first book, Climbing Toward the Light (1989). She was an active member of the Harvard AIDS Institute's International Advisory Committee.

Rodale went on to author three more books, including Gifts of the Spirit: True Stories to Renew Your Soul; Reflections; and Everyday Miracles published in 1997, 2002, and 2007 respectively. She also wrote "Reflections," a monthly column for Prevention magazine. She was one of 29 prominent women whose thoughts on the role of spirituality in modern life were featured in the book Embracing Our Essence: Spiritual Conversations with Prominent Women, published in 1995 by Health Communications, Inc.

Rodale held a BS in art education from Kutztown University. She is survived by two siblings, Joy Robinson and James Harter, her children, Heather Rodale, Heidi Rodale, Maria Rodale, Anthony Rodale and eleven grandchildren.

Thomas A. Pogash, EVP/Chief Financial Officer

Tom Pogash is Chief Financial Officer of Rodale Inc. Pogash is responsible for all finance activities including treasury, tax, accounting, cash management, controllership and business management.

Pogash joined Rodale in 1999 and most recently held the position of Vice President, Controller responsible for all internal and external financial annual reports, forecasts, and the management of Rodale's centralized accounting services. Prior to Rodale, Pogash was the Corporate Controller at The Mack Printing Group, where he was responsible for all financial reporting to lenders and stockholders and coordinated the preparation of the annual operating budget, among other responsibilities. Previously, he was also a Controller/Corporate Secretary for Greenfield Printing & Publishing Company. Pogash also served as a General Accounting Manager at Colorcon, a Division of Berwind, and as a Senior Auditor at Ernst & Young LLP.

He is a CPA holding an MBA and a BS in accounting from Villanova University.

Paul A. McGinley, EVP/General Counsel & Chief Administrative Officer

Paul A. McGinley is EVP/General Counsel and Chief Administrative Office of Rodale Inc. As General Counsel, McGinley provides legal counsel, representation, and advice to all of the company's businesses and oversees all of the company's legal activities. As CAO, McGinley manages Human Resources and the Green Culture Services group, ensuring that environmental responsibility and efficiency are fully integrated into the company’s day-to-day activities and culture.

One of the founding partners of Gross, McGinley, LaBarre & Eaton law firm in Allentown, PA, McGinley has practiced law in the Lehigh Valley since 1974. He is admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, as well as the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

McGinley is a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Magazine Publishers of America. He served as Chairman of a Hearing Committee of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and is a past President of the Lehigh County Bar Association and a member of the American and Pennsylvania Bar Associations and the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association.

Active in the community, McGinley serves as a Director of the Velodrome Fund, Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Rodale Institute, and as a member of the Board of Directors of Community Public Radio WDIY. He holds an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Heather Rodale, Rodale Board Member & Vice President, Leadership Development, Rodale Inc.

Heather Rodale is Vice President, Leadership Development for Rodale Inc. and also serves on the company’s Board of Directors. Rodale Inc. publishes some of the best-known health and wellness lifestyle magazines, including Men’s Health, Prevention, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Bicycling, Mountain Bike and Organic Gardening, and is also the largest independent book publisher in America with a collection of bestselling titles and brands, including Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, The South Beach Diet and Eat This, Not That!

Rodale maintains responsibilities for special projects at Rodale Inc., including shareholder education and relations and the company’s childcare center. Her leadership extends beyond Rodale Inc. to guiding roles in several community organizations specializing in arts, education, and wellness. Currently, she is President of the Friends of the Lehigh University Libraries, Trustee of the Allentown Art Museum (Chair, Education Subcommittee), Trustee of Harcum College, and a Board member of the Allentown Symphony, The Wellness Community of the Greater Lehigh Valley, and the National Museum of Industrial History (Bethlehem, PA). She also serves on an advisory committee for planning St. Luke’s Riverside Medical Center in Bethlehem Township, a unique cancer care facility.

Rodale is currently focused on creating a new not-for-profit, Healing Through The Arts, which will include a Web site and workshops which will provide those who are healing with strength, hope and inspiration through the arts.

As a result of Rodale’s association with the Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) Foundation’s Cancer and Careers program, Rodale Inc. was the first company to become an advocate-member of CEW’s “Managing Through Cancer Pioneers” initiative, designed to assist managers in supporting employees with cancer while maintaining a fully productive workplace.

Rodale’s professional career began as an elementary-school teacher in the Northwestern Lehigh School District in Pennsylvania. Her role evolved to one of teaching adults, including those for whom English is a second language. In 1999, Rodale sponsored a three-generation Kosovo refugee family of 12 resettling in the United States, and led a team of volunteers to help in the effort.

Rodale holds a master’s degree in elementary education and a bachelor’s of arts degree in journalism, both from Lehigh University, and an associate’s degree in elementary education from Harcum College, which awarded her an honorary doctor of humane letters in 2000. In addition, Rodale has completed post-graduate management courses in human resources at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and in family-business leadership at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Rodale is the mother of three daughters and a son.

Heidi Rodale, Rodale Board Member & Development Editor, Rodale Books

Heidi Rodale is a member of the board of Rodale Inc. In 2008, she published a book on the history of Rodale titled Our Roots Grow Deep: The Story of Rodale. Previously, she served as Developmental Editor for the company's Men's Health and Sports Books group.

Previously, she was publisher of Rodale's Fitness Swimmer magazine, which she founded in 1995. Prior to that, she held a variety of roles within the company, including Associate Marketing Manager of Rodale Books (1993-95); Manager of the Rodale Brand Awareness Project, which included developing the award-winning corporate advertising campaign "You Can, I Did" (1989-93); Founding Editor of Good Spirit magazine (1986-89); Senior Editor of Prevention magazine (1985-86); and Founding Editor and designer of Body Bulletin and Rodale Report newsletters (1980-85).

She also led the development of Rodale Inc.'s childcare center, which opened in 1990 near the company's headquarters in Emmaus, Pa. Since then, the center has received accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children for its high-quality programs, and has cared for hundreds of employees' children and grandchildren.

In addition to serving on the Rodale Inc. board since 1990, Rodale is on the board of the Velodrome Fund, which operates the velodrome in Trexlertown, Pa., a facility founded by her father, Robert Rodale, in 1974. Previously she served on the boards of The Baum School of Art in Allentown, Pa. and the Rodale Aquatic Center at Cedar Crest College, also in Allentown. She is a past member of the American Society of Magazine Editors. She is a past recipient of the Paragon Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame and has been listed in the "Who's Who in Aquatics."

She holds a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Carnegie Mellon University, and is a graduate of the Stanford University Professional Publishing Course. She resides with her family in Allentown, PA.

Anthony Rodale, Rodale Board Member

Rodale served as vice chairman and then chairman of the Rodale Institute's board of directors from 1992 through 2005. Under his leadership the Rodale Institute renewed its commitment to the founding theme of Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People®, the farm became certified organic, the long term Farming Systems Trial celebrated its 25th anniversary, The New Farm magazine was launched online, and a successful youth education program and Web site was created.

Rodale was the recipient of The Natural Foods Merchandiser Spirit of Organic Award 2008 for demonstrating commitment, innovation, passion for organics, and empowering people and communities to make positive changes through the principles and spirit of organics. He has also received international recognition for leadership work with farmers in Senegal, West Africa and has published and exhibited many of his photographs on food security and cultural change here in the US and abroad.

In 2005, Rodale left the Rodale Institute and decided to refocus his work on photography and training as a competitive triathlete. He continues to be an active advocate for organic farmers and currently serves on the board of the Rainforest Alliance and the Appeal Board of the Soil Association UK.

Rodale is a graduate of the Brooks Institute of Photography and Business in Santa Barbara, CA.

Fabiola Arredondo, Rodale Board Member & Managing Partner of Siempre Holdings

Fabiola Arredondo serves as a Board member of Rodale Inc and is the Managing Partner of Siempre Holdings, a private investment firm based in New York. She is also a Non Executive Board Director of Experian Group plc (a FTSE 50 multinational), Bankinter S.A. (an IBEX listed bank in Spain), and a Board Trustee of Sesame Workshop (the producers of Sesame Street) and the World Wildlife Fund in the U.S. (previously a U.K. Board Trustee).

Arredondo has also served as a Non Executive Board Director of the Intelsat Corporation (the global commercial communications satellite company), and the BOC Group plc (previously "British Oxygen"/FTSE 50, now part of the Linde Group) in the U.K. She previously she held senior positions at Yahoo!, the BBC and Bertelsmann AG. She has also been a term member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the World Economic Forum.

A graduate of Stanford University and the Harvard Business School, she speaks fluent Spanish (family from Spain) and is semi-fluent French (lived in France). Arredondo is married and has two children.

Dr. William F. Baker, Rodale Board Member & President Emeritus, Thirteen/WNET New York

Dr. William F. Baker serves as a Board member of Rodale Inc. and is president emeritus of Educational Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), licensee of Thirteen/WNET and WLIW21 New York.

Thirteen/WNET is the flagship public broadcasting station, the premier national public television program producer, and the most-watched public television station in the United States. It is also the largest producer of cultural and arts programming in America. WLIW21 is the third-most-watched public television station in America, and a major producer and presenter of public television programming seen nationwide.

Baker became president emeritus in 2008 after 20 years as chief executive officer of EBC. During his tenure the station grew and prospered, creating new program standards such as Charlie Rose, City Arts and Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. He established the Educational Resources Center, which has become America's most prolific teacher trainer in multimedia techniques, and developed Thirteen's first cable channel, MetroArts/Thirteen. He also helped stabilize the finances of the station by building the largest endowment in public television history, and oversaw the station's transition to digital broadcasting and its historic merger with WLIW21. Baker is recognized as one of America's most prolific fundraisers, having raised more than $1 billion in his career.

Baker's career spans four decades. Prior to joining EBC, he was president of Westinghouse Television and chairman of the cable and programming companies. During his 10 years at Westinghouse, five cable networks were launched, including Discovery Channel and the Disney Channel. He established the successful national program PM Magazine and introduced Oprah Winfrey as a talk show host.

In 2007, Baker was inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) Management Hall of Fame. Also in 2007, he received the Mark Schubart Award from the Lincoln Center Institute, which recognizes individuals who most exemplify the Institute's ideal of integrating the arts with education. In 2005, he was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame and elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2004, he was inducted into Broadcasting & Cable's Hall of Fame. He has received the Gabriel Personal Achievement Award, two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards and numerous other awards for his work as a producer, including six Emmy Awards. Baker was also honored by NATAS with the 1987 Trustees Emmy Award, which is given in recognition of outstanding contribution to the advancement of television.

Baker is the executive producer of The Face: Jesus in Art, a landmark documentary film that traces the image of Jesus Christ in art around the world and across two millennia. The Face premiered nationwide on public television in April 2001 and in a limited theatrical release. The film won an Emmy award for Outstanding Single Camera Photography.

Baker is also the executive producer of Picturing Mary, the follow-up to The Face. Filmed in the latest widescreen HD technology, Picturing Mary surveys images of the Virgin Mary by Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Titian and other masters throughout the ages and across the world. The film premiered nationwide on public television in December 2006.

Baker is the author of Down the Tube: An Insider's Account of the Failure of American Television (Basic Books, 1998) and Lighthouse Island: Our Family Escape (Ruder Finn Press, 2004).

Baker is chairman of the National Park System Advisory Board. He also serves on the boards of the Public Broadcasting Service, Freedom Communications, Inc., and Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

Baker holds BA, MA and PhD degrees from Case Western Reserve University, and seven honorary doctorates.

His interests include astronomy, horology and polar science; he is believed to be one of only a few people to have stood on both the North and South Poles.