Fred Rogers ups Doherty

Fred Rogers Productions, the non-profit US kids producer behind Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, has promoted an exec to the newly created position of chief creative officer.

Ellen Doherty

Ellen Doherty is being upped to oversee the company’s slate of shows, which also includes Odd Squad and Peg + Cat, and its expanded creative team.

Doherty joined Fred Rogers Productions as executive in charge of production in January 2016. As well as overseeing existing shows, she helms the development of new properties, including the Emmy Award-winning Through the Woods, a shortform, preschool series she created in 2017.

In 2018, Doherty was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Mister Rogers: It’s You I Like, the 50th anniversary tribute to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

Doherty was previously executive producer and story editor of the PBS Kids series Cyberchase. She oversaw production of television and digital content, including several shortform video series, for the programme over six seasons. Doherty began her career as an associate producer on the award-winning PBS Kids series Reading Rainbow.

She reports directly to president and CEO Paul Siefken who said: “From her oversight of our award-winning portfolio to exceptional new projects in development, Ellen has been instrumental at every stage of the creative process, and we’ll continue to benefit from her knowhow and talent.”