Joan Ganz Cooney

Joan Ganz Cooney (born November 30, 1929, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.) is an American television producer. Cooney worked as a journalist before becoming a producer at a public television station in New York City (1962–67). In 1968 she cofounded the Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop), producing such educational children’s programs as the influential and long-running Sesame Street and The Electric Company and eventually serving as president (1970–88), chair and CEO (1988–90), and chair of the executive committee (1990–2020). In 2007 the Sesame Group created the Joan Ganz Cooney Center to explore the use of digital media in children’s education. Ganz was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame (1990) and the National Women’s Hall of Fame (1998). Her other honours included the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1995) and the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award (2010) for outstanding service to the American literary community.