Sylvia Strobel, JD, MBA

Areas of Expertise:

• Strategic Management
• Advocacy Leadership
• Nonprofit Capacity Building
• Media Relations

Sylvia Strobel joined Coulter in 2011 as Vice President and serves as the executive director for the Alliance for Community Media (ACM), a client of Coulter Nonprofit Management.  She began her tenure at ACM in 2010 as the chief executive of the national nonprofit organization serving public, educational and governmental cable channels.  Strobel directs national public policy initiatives, and works with a diverse membership base to provide nonprofit management training, advocacy support and strategic planning resources.

Before joining Coulter, Strobel served as president and general manager of the Pennsylvania Public Television Network Commission, where she restructured network operations, served as the liaison to the Governor’s Office and Pennsylvania General Assembly, and oversaw funding and grants for the state’s eight public television stations. In 1996, Strobel co-founded the law firm Lehmann Strobel PLC, where she is a partner providing legal and business consulting services to the nonprofit arts, cultural and media communities.  Previously she served as deputy general counsel/director of business affairs for Twin Cities Public Television and in Business Affairs for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  She was as an adjunct professor of Entertainment Law at Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, and chaired the Art and Entertainment Law Committee of the Minnesota State Bar Association. She is admitted to the bar in Minnesota and Pennsylvania. 

Strobel received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from St. Olaf College, a Juris Doctor from Wm. Mitchell College of Law and a Masters in Business Administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.  She has served on the national board of directors of the Alliance for Women in Media (formerly AWRT) for ten years, and represented the organization on the Federal Communication Commission’s Advisory Committee for Diversity in a Digital Age.  She has also served on the board of directors for the Pennsylvania Women’s Campaign Fund and Twin Cities Public Television.  She is a member of the Radio and Television Digital News Association, Women in Film and Video – DC, the National Press Club, and the Federal Communications Bar Association.  Strobel is a regular presenter and speaker at media industry events, and has authored articles for state, national and international trade publications.

Strobel, her husband, Walter Lehmann and their two children live in Baltimore, MD.

Now, here's the backstory on Sylvia:

• Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri
• Parents: Dad worked for state government and Mom ran the farm, raised the kids and was involved in a lot of volunteer and church work.
• Favorite TV show as a kid: Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch
• Spent my days as a youth:  Driving a tractor, playing in the woods and doing farm chores.  I can milk a cow and bale hay.
• Thing I hate to admit, even to myself: I have a tendency to volunteer for too many good and worthwhile causes. Stop me before I volunteer again!
• Hobbies: Restoring old houses, gardening and bicycling.
• First "paycheck" job: Mowing my church’s cemetery one summer – all five acres of it – with a walking lawn mower.
• First car: A really big, white, late ‘70s model Buick.
• First job after college: Control Data Corporation’s Quorum Litigation Division as a data entry specialist for mega lawsuits.
• Personal quote: Do the right thing.  It will gratify some people and astonish the rest. 
• Perfect happiness is: My family in our own backyard.