Aparna Mukherjee joins Resolve Philly as Chief Programs Officer
Resolve Philly is thrilled to welcome Aparna Mukherjee as the organization’s first Chief Programs Officer. Aparna joins the local journalism non-profit bringing more than 20 years of experience in editorial, operations, and product leadership roles, spanning private, nonprofit, and public sectors.
“We are honored to welcome Aparna to our growing team,” says Cassie Haynes, Resolve’s co-founder and co-Executive Director. “The depth and breadth of her professional background, as well as her warmth, kindness, and insatiable curiosity make her a perfect fit for this role.”
As Chief Programs Officer, Aparna will work closely with Resolve’s two co-ED’s in maintaining a birdseye picture of the organization’s three programs (Broke in Philly, Shake the Table, and Equally Informed). She will support the professional development of the senior staff who lead these initiatives and identify areas for greater collaboration and growth among the programs. “I cannot overstate my joy and excitement about joining Resolve as its first CPO,” says Mukherjee. “At the core of this heart-centered work are Resolve’s team of leaders, delivering programs with solutions and approaches tackling core challenges in equitable coverage facing every local newsroom: economic mobility, information divides and deserts, and governmental power accountability.”
Aparna has worked in the US, Europe, and Asia at some world’s biggest media operations, including the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, CNBC, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. As the first social media editor for McKinsey & Co she created and implemented the firm’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram editorial strategy.
Most recently, Aparna served as a grantmaker, leading the Goldhirsh Foundation’s LA2050 grants challenge, and as a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University. At Stanford, she researched how to boost democratic voice in public meetings using AI and prototyped a sentiment analysis tool to help local journalists and policy makers find newsworthy moments. As a FUSE Corps Executive Adviser, she helped design LA’s first Office of Civic Engagement and co-created a series of systems thinking workshops from City Hall to highlight the importance of emotion in shaping public policy, including LA’s smart cities plan.
Aparna holds a dual MA Journalism and MBA from Columbia, where was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics, and a BS in English literature from Bryn Mawr College. She is a born New Yorker, with a strong connection to Philadelphia, having lived and worked here, on the copy desk at the Inquirer and for the Associated Press. She is excited to have recently relocated back to Philly. A lifelong Katharine Hepburn fan, Aparna counts a signed note from the fellow Bryn Mawr alum as one of her most valuable possessions and keeps it inside her VHS copy of “The Philadelphia Story.”
