The Count Basie Center for the Arts announced that Ivy Charmatz, an Emmy Award-winning storyteller and communications leader, will join the organization as senior vice president of communications and content strategy.
In this newly created role, Charmatz will lead the Basie Center’s institutional storytelling and strategic communications, ensuring that the organization’s impact is shared in powerful ways with audiences, supporters and partners. The position comes as the Basie Center celebrates its centennial and prepares for the next century of growth and community impact.
“As we look to the next century and embrace a bold vision around creating shared educational, artistic and community experiences that ignite curiosity, understanding and joy, I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Ivy to our leadership team,” said Adam Philipson, president and CEO, Count Basie Center for the Arts. “Her deep history with the Basie Center and her gift for storytelling will help us share this next chapter in ways that resonate with audiences, supporters and partners across the region.”
Charmatz’s relationship with the Basie Center stretches back more than a decade. During her tenure as executive producer of news and special projects at News 12 New Jersey, she partnered with the Basie Center to produce several projects, most notably the long-running holiday special, “Sounds of the Season From the Count Basie Center for the Arts.”
“I am deeply grateful and incredibly excited to join the Basie Center at such a historic moment,” said Charmatz. “For many years, I’ve seen firsthand the impact the Basie Center has on the communities it serves. The opportunity to work alongside this talented team, which I have known and admired for so long, is a tremendous honor. The Basie Center is growing, innovating and reaching further than ever before, and I’m thrilled to help share that story.”
Before joining the Basie Center, Charmatz was senior vice president at Mercury Public Affairs, where she specialized in storytelling, strategic communications, media relations and crisis management. Before Mercury, she spent more than 20 years as a journalist, including her leadership role at News 12 New Jersey, where she helped shape coverage of many of the state’s most significant stories and created some of the station’s most recognized programming. She is also the host and executive producer of the podcast “Big Little Stories.”
Additionally, she is the recipient of four New York Emmy Awards, two Gracie Awards and a National Edward R. Murrow Award, among other honors. She serves on the advisory board of Allaire Community Farm and the board of trustees of Blood Cancer United – New Jersey (formerly known as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of New Jersey), where she received the organization’s 2018 Beacon of Hope Award.
Charmatz was named to ROI-NJ’s Influencers: Women in Business list in both 2024 and 2025.
She is a graduate of Rutgers University and lives in Monmouth County.
