Franz Joachim - General Manager/CEO
Franz Joachim is the General Manager and CEO of New Mexico PBS, serving Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and central and northern New Mexico. He has been involved in television production for over 45 years, starting in high school as an AV nerd and then on the student production crew at the University of Arizona PBS station KUAT-TV. He graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Radio/ Television and a minor in Engineering and continued work in television production as a photographer, editor, director, and manager in a variety of production environments, including Industrial, Commercial, News, Studio and Long Form Documentary production. Franz is also an accomplished underwater videographer shooting in such diverse locations from Turks & Caicos to the Sea of Cortez. Franz started with KNME-TV as Production Manager in 1999, served as Manager of Production and Broadcast Operations from 2003 until 2010, when he was promoted to Director of Content. He was named General Manager and CEO of New Mexico PBS in 2013. Franz has some very personal connections to Research Challenge and ISEF as well! He took 1st Place in Regionals and was a Finalist at ISEF in 1975 in Oklahoma City (ISEF was the National Science Fair back then!!). Franz’s son, Gabe, is an alum of the Central NM STEM Research Challenge and a multi-year Grand Award winning ISEF Finalist. Gabe’s research project on the ecosystem of poison dart frogs in Costa Rica and what the frogs’ microecosystem changes over time indicated about the health of the overall ecosystem won Best in Category in Animal Sciences at ISEF his final year of competition. Gabe is now pursuing a doctoral degree at a university in the Netherlands. Franz Joachim is currently the Chair of the UNM STEM-H Center Advisory Council and has served on the Council for a number of years.