Clark University - Clark News spring 2005
Making Waves
(winter 2005)
By Wendy Linden
XM Satellite Radio's Hugh Panero '78 transforms radio and his community
Hugh Panero '78 has a lot to be proud of. As CEO and President of XM Satellite Radio, he has built a company with more than 3.2 million subscribers and 500 employees. XM's innovative service offers more than 150 digital radio channels, including 67 commercial-free music channels, more than 70 talk radio channels, and 16 channels devoted to Major League Baseball; award-winning radios like XM2go, the world's first portable, handheld satellite radio; and partnerships with auto manufacturers such as General Motors and Honda, which offer factory-installed XM radios in their vehicles and data services that enable XM traffic reports to communicate with your car's GPS system.
Panero and XM are earning accolades, named "Innovator of the Year" and "Best Radio Service" by Billboard magazine, XM named "Product of the Year" in Fortune magazine, and Panero appearing on the cover of Forbes magazine last August. Panero was even named "Satellite Radio Executive of the Year," which is ironic, because his first exposure to anything involving the satellite world, he says, was probably sitting in Clark's Goddard Library, named after the father of rocket technology.
Panero says his appreciation for music came in part from radio station WCUW and his roommate Lee Stein '78, a WCUW disc jockey who allowed Panero to explore his music collection. "I used to get yelled at a lot for not putting the albums back in their sleeves," he says.
Even with all of XM's terrific business achievements, Panero takes greater pride in something else. "We have had great success with XM, but one of the things I cherish most is our work helping to redevelop the D.C. neighborhood known as NOMA (North of Massachusetts Avenue), where XM decided to move its headquarters six years ago," says Panero.
At that time, Panero was looking to relocate XM within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. He was drawn to NOMA, located in the Northeast quadrant of urban D.C.—an impoverished area targeted for redevelopment by the city. "I favored an urban environment that offered younger XM employees a vibrant city-living experience and easy access from different parts of the region." But it wasn't just the urban setting that attracted him.
"I grew up in New York City watching my father, Julius Panero, who was an architect, refurbish properties. As his cheap labor, I watched him take part in transforming buildings and neighborhoods. Therefore, when XM was considering where to relocate, looking at an impoverished area and envisioning what a beautiful, old building with character could become was a comfortable and familiar endeavor."
Transforming NOMA
Seeing the opportunity to participate in the redevelopment of the NOMA neighborhood, Panero leased and eventually purchased the property at 1500 Eckington Place, a 100-year old facility that once housed printing presses that printed National Geographic magazine.
"When we first saw the building, it was abandoned but beautiful. There were dead pigeons around and bullets holes on the roof. Outside there were drug dealers and at the nearby McDonalds, hookers would approach customers who were on line," recalls Panero. Believing that companies should give back to their communities, he saw an opportunity. "We could have chosen Rockefeller Center, but we chose to locate in this low-income center because we had the chance to do something that was good for XM, and help change the neighborhood at the same time."
Panero renovated XM's new home and also gave away 5,000 square feet of the building to the District of Columbia police, who put in a regional office to help hasten change and improve security in the area.
Then he built partnerships with the federal and municipal governments and other private businesses in the area. The linchpin of this public-private partnership was lobbying to get a new, jointly funded Metro Station built across the street from the XM building. In a joint effort with local politicians and businesses, the new New York Avenue Metro Station opened with great fanfare in November 2004. Panero also worked with local and federal politicians to facilitate the construction of a new Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) building across the street from XM that will house 1,200 ATF employees.
The residential landscape in NOMA is slowly changing as well. Neighbor-hood townhouses and row buildings are being bought and refurbished—some by XM's own employees, according to Panero. "Today, I can look out my office window and see the new Metro stop, the excavation for the new Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms headquarters, the first federal building using post-9/11 building codes, and, down the street, attractive town and row houses," says Panero. "Next, we want to bring some much-needed services to the neighborhood, including restaurants, dry cleaners and grocery stores."
NOMA and Main South
Of his passion and dedication to help better underprivileged communities, Panero says, "I have to give credit not only to my father, but to my experience working in the community at Clark."
"One of the biggest influences on my community work was John O'Connor '78, who passed away in 2001. When I was at Clark, John was my best friend, and he was the Pied Piper who got students involved in the community using intelligence and humor. I was so thrilled when he came to the grand opening of our XM headquarters and told me how proud he was of me for taking what I learned at Clark and using it in my professional life. There is a bench outside Atwood Hall dedicated to John. You should all sit in it and be inspired."
A sociology and government major, Panero and other Clarkies spent their summers in Worcester working for Summersworld, a Housing and Urban Development program which provided entertainment such as magic shows, music and theater in the city for low-income housing projects, mental institutions and old-age facilities. A Clark internship running a public-access cable TV station in Worcester was the first step in a 15-year career in the cable TV industry prior to joining XM. Panero remembers being encouraged and supported by Clark's Sociology Department to be involved in the community.
"Today, Clark is doing such good and important work in the Main South neighborhood," says Panero. "There's a definite parallel between Clark's work in Main South and XM's work in NOMA. There's no doubt that the people and professors at Clark had an influence on me that I have taken beyond Worcester."
Today Hugh Panero lives in Montgomery County, Maryland with his wife Mary Beth, his daughter Sofia, and his son Liam. A Clark alumnus lives across the street.
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Clarknews Spring 2005
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