San Antonio, October 21, 2024 – The Texas Public Radio (TPR) board of trustees announces that Ashley Alvarado will be the organization’s next president and CEO. Currently the vice president of community engagement and strategic initiatives at LAist (Southern California Public Radio), Alvarado will oversee day-to-day operations and lead TPR’s strategy, operations and programming across broadcast, streaming and digital platforms. She is scheduled to take the helm of the award-winning, non-profit media organization in December.
Alvarado was selected after a national executive search and will succeed Joyce Slocum, who died in March after a long illness. The search was led in partnership with Iris Dayton-Spann of Stanton Chase, a global retained search firm with 70 offices around the world, including Austin, Dallas and Washington, DC. TPR’s vice president of development & membership, Rebecca Caven, has served as interim president and CEO, helping manage the search and the launch of a strategic planning process for the organization.
“A true innovator, Ashley is among the most experienced and respected executives working in public media today,” says Lori Castillo, chair of the TPR board. “Her lifelong passion for journalism together with her impressive track record of transformational leadership make us confident that Ashley is the right leader to move TPR into the future and transform how we engage existing and new audiences.”
“From my first interaction, I’ve been impressed with the team at Texas Public Radio,” says Alvarado. “Here is an organization that is thinking about what it needs to serve its audiences now and into the future. That means impeccable journalism that reflects and engages the people who make up San Antonio and meets them where they are: on-air, online, and in person. It means taking the work seriously but also having fun and boldly representing what makes San Antonio such a special place. I want to thank the TPR board for this opportunity to support and grow alongside the team that makes up Texas Public Radio.”
Alvarado has led LAist’s community engagement efforts for more than a decade. In that time she has also taken on strategic initiatives, managing multiple budgets and grant portfolios. During her tenure, she managed the design and implementation of the company’s diversity, equality, and inclusion strategies, and supported the organization’s comprehensive digital transformation. An award-winning journalist, Alvarado was previously an editor for the Center for Investigative Reporting and has served as a newsroom coach for Blue Engine, Poynter, and the American Press Institute, as well as for the leadership programs for National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Associations. A former president of Journalism That Matters, she also serves on the executive committee of the Online News Association board, on the board of Greater Public, and on Poynter’s National Advisory board.
Headquartered at the Irma & Emilio Nicolas Media Center in downtown San Antonio, along the San Pedro Creek Culture Park, TPR is a mission-driven, multimedia organization serving an audience across south and central Texas. A community-supported nonprofit operating seven radio stations, including San Antonio’s KSTX 89.1 FM and KPAC 88.3 FM, the majority of TPR's outlets provide their communities with news and content from NPR, APM, the BBC and the TPR newsroom, which was recognized with a national Edward R. Murrow Award for “Overall Excellence” in the Large Market Radio category in 2022 and 2023. TPR is part of The Texas Newsroom, a collaboration between NPR and Texas public radio stations, and the first hub to launch in a system-wide collaboration to create a virtual newsroom of 1,000 plus journalists.