Ep 36 Bill Isler

Bill Isler is President Emeritus of  Fred Rogers Productions and a long time educator and advocate for children.  He began his career as a teacher and administrator, and later joined the Pennsylvania Department of Education, where he served as Executive Assistant to the Secretary of Education, Commissioner of Basic Education and Senior Program Advisor for Early childhood Education before joining the Fred Rogers Productions in 1984.  In 2005 he was named the Executive Director of The Fred Rogers Center, a position he held until 2008. 

In addition to serving on the Board of The Fred Rogers Productions, he is a board member of the Grable Foundation, the Forbes Fund,  the Jewish Community Center

  of Pittsburgh and he Co-chairs the Governors Early Learning Council. He is an honorary member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, served as Treasurer of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Chairperson of the Council of Great City Schools,  board member of the Jewish Health Care Foundation of Pittsburgh, and he was a board member of The Pittsburgh Public Schools for sixteen years, serving as President for five years.

He received the Pittsburgh Foundation Isabel Kennedy Award for child advocacy, was named person of the year in 2007 by the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania, the Green-Gardner Award as Urban Educator of the Year in 2015 for the Council of Great City Schools, the Colman Award from the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute of Politics, and the PBS Be More Award for Excellence in Children’s Media.

Bill Isler holds a B.A. in English from Saint Vincent College and completed post-graduate study in child development at the University of Pittsburgh.  He is married and has a son and two grandchildren.