Betty Hudson is executive vice president, communications, of the National Geographic Society. She is responsible for all communications and public affairs initiatives undertaken by the National Geographic Society and its subsidiaries, including media and public relations, brand development, employee communications, and related marketing-communications activities. She joined the Society as senior vice president, communications, in September 2000.



Formerly senior vice president of corporate communications at iVillage Inc., Hudson has a wealth of multimedia experience, including more than 25 years in television. She joined NBC in 1979 as vice president of corporate projects. She became vice president of corporate relations and advertising in 1984, corporate and media relations in 1986, and corporate communications in 1988. She was appointed senior vice president of corporate communications in 1989 and executive producer of NBC Productions in 1993.



Hudson started her television career in 1971 as an advertising copywriter for WCBD-TV in Charleston, S.C. She then worked successively as director of promotion of WCIV-TV in Charleston, WAVE-TV in Louisville, Ky., and WSB-TV in Atlanta, Ga.



In 1996 Hudson was appointed senior vice president of corporate communications for the Reader's Digest Association, where she was responsible for global public relations, employee communications, and corporate contributions. She served as president of the Reader's Digest Foundation.



The following year she was appointed director of the global communications and media practice of Spencer Stuart, one of the world's largest executive search firms.



Hudson serves on the board of AFLAC Inc. and is a past president of the International Radio and Television Society (IRTS). In 1996 she was named a member of the Peabody Board, which selects the winners of television and radio's prestigious Peabody Awards, serving as chairman of that board for 2002-2003.



Hudson holds a bachelor's degree in advertising and public relations from the University of Georgia and an honorary doctorate in commercial science from St. John's University. She was named a 1996 "STAR" by the New York Women's Agenda, and received the first "President's Award" presented by American Women in Radio and Television in 1996 and the MATRIX Award for Public Relations from the New York Women in Communications in 1997. Currently a member of the Grady School of Communications Advisory Board at the University of Georgia, Hudson has received numerous honors from her alma mater, including two career achievement awards from the Grady School of Communications and the University's 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award. She is a member of Wisemen, the Arthur Page Society and the PR Seminar.



Active in community affairs, Hudson is a past president of the New York Women's Agenda, a past president of the Montclair Board of Education in Montclair, N.J., and a member of Reading is Fundamental Advisory Board and the Inova Health System Foundation Board of Directors.



She lives with her husband and two children in McLean, Va.