Dr. Lewis Bernstein

As Executive Vice President of Education, Research and Outreach, Dr. Lewis Bernstein establishes the educational agenda for all Workshop productions and creative executions. He oversees the development and analysis of research studies which assess the outcomes of Sesame Workshop’s projects.

Previously, Bernstein served as the Executive Producer of the nonprofit organization’s most beloved and well-known series, Sesame Street. In his three years as Executive Producer, the series adopted a curriculum encouraging American children to respect the diversity of children from all over the world and an initiative to teach children about health, nutrition and exercise. His work won him and the Workshop three Emmy awards.

Formerly Vice President, Global Sesame Street Productions, Bernstein has been integral to the success of the children's series internationally, training production teams from France, Spain, Holland, Germany, Kuwait and Israel to develop their own versions of the program. Prior to his role as Vice President, Bernstein served as Executive Producer for Sesame English, a television program that teaches conversational English in foreign countries. In addition, he was responsible for spearheading the Israeli/Palestinian version of Sesame Street and served as the Executive Producer on the project.

Bernstein’s association with Sesame Street began in 1972 when he came on board as Director of Research working alongside Jim Henson and Jon Stone to integrate entertainment and education.

Bernstein holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University in Communications Research, an M.A. from Hebrew University in Communications, and a B.A. from Queens College, CUNY, in Psychology.