Mary G. F. Bitterman

Mary G. F. Bitterman (born 1944) is an American historian and former media executive. She currently serves as president of The Bernard Osher Foundation, a philanthropic organization headquartered in San Francisco that supports higher education and arts. She is a former director of the Voice of America and was the youngest person and the first female to hold that position. She married Morton Edward Bitterman and has three daughters.

Media production Early in her career, Bitterman produced documentaries for public television and has written about the development of telecommunications and the role of media in developing societies around the world.

Voice of America As the 15th Director of Voice of America (VOA), she was the youngest person to hold that position and the first woman to do so.

She is on the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research advisory council and has been a member of the steering committee of Project Dana, a Hawaii-based, volunteer caregiving project for the frail elderly and disabled.

Awards and honors

2006 recipient of The Ralph Lowell Award for "outstanding contributions and achievements to public television" Honorary member of the National Presswomen's Federation Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration Honorary doctorates from Dominican University of California, Santa Clara University and University of Richmond.

Selected publications Bitterman, Mary GF. "Mass communication and social change." Media Asia 12.1 (1985): 38–43. Bitterman, Mary GF. "Culture and Communication in the Asia-Pacific Region: Laying the Groundwork for Informational Interdependence and Interchange." Media Asia 18.1 (1991): 52–56. Bitterman, Mary GF. "The Impact of Television on Society in the Asia Pacific Region'." The Ethics of Development: Language, Communication, and Power (1989). Bitterman, Mary GF. "Conclusions from TIDE II." Information Technology and Global Interdependence. New York: Greenwood (1989): 307–8. Bitterman, Mary GF. "Staying the course." Thirty-five years of Osher Philanthropy (2013).