Mike Shafarenko

In his role as the Chief Experience Officer, Mike is responsible for Ideastream Public Media’s digital transformation and employee experience strategies and initiatives and serves as the lead staff member to the Strategy Committee of the Board of Trustees. Prior to this role, Mike was the Director, Digital Experience, and was responsible for building organizational capacity and capability to work digitally, facilitating the launch of new products and services, optimizing all Ideastream digital platforms to meet user needs, and growing audience reach and engagement across digital platforms.

Before joining Ideastream, Mike co–founded and served as the President of The Civic Commons, an engagement platform that combined online and offline tools to serve the growing engagement needs of civic leaders, institutions, and citizens. Mike helped secure a $3 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation which provided the seed funding to launch Civic Commons and went on to secure an additional $850,000 in earned revenues and additional grant funding during his time as its President. The Civic Commons became a part of Ideastream in August 2013.

Prior to the Commons, Mike was the Manager of Finance and Operations and Secretary, Board of Directors for the Fund for Our Economic Future, a collaborative of philanthropic funder focused on advancing the Northeast Ohio regional economy, where he oversaw grant making and organizational operations and led the development and implementation of EfficientGovNow, a $1 million grant-awarding contest aimed at accelerating government collaboration and efficiency.

In 2019, Mike was one of 70 individuals across the US and Europe selected as a German Marshall Fund Marshall Memorial Fellow, a leadership development program aimed at fostering greater transatlantic relationships. In 2010, he was named to Crain’s Cleveland Business “Forty Under 40” list. He graduated from Case Western Reserve University in 2005.