As Senior Vice President and General Manager of PBS KIDS, Sara DeWitt is responsible for the strategic direction of the dynamic PBS KIDS media service that supports children ages two to eight, their parents, teachers and caregivers, and local communities.

Sara leads a cross-disciplinary team charged with making PBS KIDS – the #1 children’s education media brand – engaging and accessible to widely diverse audiences across streaming video, broadcast, games, and other platforms through content development, multi-platform asset distribution, educational product creation, creative production, and marketing and brand engagement.

Sara previously served as Vice President of PBS KIDS Digital, leading innovative strategies that built educational experiences for kids across media platforms. Having spent over 20 years in public media, she has played an integral role in the digital transformation of PBS KIDS. Sara has overseen the pbskids.org website, PBS KIDS streaming video services, and the PBS KIDS portfolio of games and educational apps for children and caregivers. 

Under her leadership, PBS KIDS has produced award-winning games and apps, AR experiences, podcasts, and second-screen technologies; developed a learning analytics platform to better understand children's learning gains through gameplay; and established itself as a gold standard in children’s digital privacy and security.

Sara is a regular speaker on the subjects of digital privacy, games and learning, and has authored academic papers and editorials on children’s media and its educational impact. She gave a widely shared TED Talk debunking myths about screen time and has presented at high-profile conferences such as SXSW, Games for Change, CES, the Grace Hopper Celebration and the Atlantic Education Summit. Through speaking engagements and panels, she has lent her voice to important conversations about career and family, and inspiring young girls to aim for careers in the sciences. In 2014, she was named one of the top 42 Women Leading in Education by the USC Rossier School of Education, and she also was recognized with Cynopsis Media’s Top Women in Digital Award in 2016 and 2017. Most recently, Sara was honored with the 2020 Hedy Lamarr Award for Innovation in Entertainment Technology.

Prior to joining PBS, Sara worked as a preschool teacher and as a field researcher studying the media habits of children in rural areas. She holds an MA and a BA in English from Stanford University, as well as a certificate from the university’s Children Society and Public Policy Curriculum.

Featured in: Atypical Approaches: Engaging kids on the spectrum