Kenneth Y. Tomlinson who served two years as director of the Voice of America in the Reagan administration, was elected chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) board in September 2003. Tomlinson retired as editor-in-chief of Reader's Digest in 1996 to pursue his lifelong interest in thoroughbred breeding and racing. In 1999, Tomlinson was named president and director of the National Sporting Library in Middleburg. An appointment of President Clinton, he was confirmed as a member of the CPB Board in September 2000. A native of Grayson County, Virginia, Tomlinson began his career in journalism working as a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1965. In 1968 he joined the Washington bureau of Reader's Digest. He was a correspondent in Vietnam, and co-authored the book P.O.W., a history of American prisoners of war in Vietnam. In 1977 and 1978, he worked out of the Digest's Paris bureau covering events in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Tomlinson was director of the Voice of America (VOA) from 1982 to 1984. In 1985 he was named chairman of the Nation Commission on Libraries and Information Science. The following year he was appointed to the U.S. Board for International Broadcasting where he served until 1994. Following his work at VOA, Tomlinson returned to Reader's Digest as managing editor in 1984. He was named executive editor in 1985 and became editor-in-chief in 1989. Tomlinson was the Virginia Press Association's Virginian of the Year in 1994 and is a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame.
From the description of Tomlinson, Ken (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10609896
