Longtime KET CEO and executive director dies

Kentucky Educational Television’s executive director and CEO Shae Hopkins, who led the public television network for more than 17 years while the network amassed viewers and brought in regional and national awards, died Thursday. She was 69. 

Hopkins had planned to retire from her role at the end of the year while a search committee looked for her replacement. 

“Hopkins was admired and beloved by her coworkers, board members, volunteers, and colleagues throughout the public broadcasting system. Her impact was far-reaching, and her loss will be felt for many years to come,” a Friday press release stated. 

Hopkins served in several management positions over her four decades at the network, including Deputy Director of Programming, Production and Education, according to a past press release. Under her leadership, the number of users of KET’s programs and services has reached over 2 million a week, and the network has won dozens of national and regional awards, according to the release.

In 2025, Hopkins received the Daniel Miller Station Leadership Award from PBS as recognition for her decades of service to KET. 

The Friday press release stated she was preceded in death by her father, former Congressman Larry J. Hopkins, and is survived by her mother, Carolyn Pennebaker Hopkins, brother Josh Hopkins, sister Tara Hopkins West, three children, five grandchildren, as well as longtime companion Bud McSpadden. 

Arrangements are pending, according to KET.