Person attributes
Kelu Chao (Chinese: 趙克露) is a Taiwanese American journalist at the Voice of America (VOA). She is acting interim CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), appointed on January 20, 2021.
Kelu Chao was born in Taiwan and studied in Zhongshan Girls' High School (Chinese: 中山女高) there. Her father, Chao Ting-chun, was vice president of one of Taiwan's oldest newspapers, the Central Daily News.
She moved to the U.S. after graduating from the Journalism Department of National Chengchi University in 1975.
She has a master's degree from Kent State University in the United States.
Chao has worked for more than 40 years at VOA.
She was the VOA's first Language Programming Director from 2001 to 2007. She also worked as a VOA editor, VOA's Mandarin Service Chief, VOA's East Asia Division Director, VOA's Hong Kong Bureau Chief, a field reporter and radio announcer.
As a field reporter she reported for VOA on the period leading to the Tiananmen Square incident in Beijing in 1989.
Chao has received more than 30 awards as a VOA programmer, including from the New York Radio Festival and the Asian Broadcasting Union.
She was appointed on January 20, 2021 by President Joe Biden to lead the USAGM as interim CEO, replacing the Trump appointee Michael Pack. She is the first woman to hold the top position at USAGM.
