A new year is bringing changes to the Rivard Report‘s board of directors. Founding board Chair Richard “Dick” T. Schlosberg III is stepping down from that position after four years to serve as chairman of a new Board of Community Advisors, while founding Vice Chair John “Chico” Newman Jr. ascends to the board chairmanship.
Officer elections occurred at the board’s Jan. 31 meeting.
Schlosberg and Newman have served as the board’s chairman and vice chairman, respectively, since the Rivard Report, founded in 2012, reorganized as a nonprofit in 2016.
Board Director Wayne Alexander, a retired AT&T executive, was elected to serve as vice chairman. Angie Mock, the president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of San Antonio, was reelected as treasurer, and Robert Rivard, publisher and editor, was reelected as secretary.
The board also added a new director: Kate Rogers, vice president of community outreach and engagement for the Charles Butt Foundation who led efforts to start SA Works and a network of career-themed high schools, the Centers for Applied Science and Technology.
Directors Katy Flato, co-founder of the San Antonio Book Festival, and Laura Saldivar Luna, chief people officer for Teach for America, round out the Rivard Report board.
“Dick Schlosberg was an extraordinary founding chairman who has given us four years of stellar service, leadership, and support, and he has generously agreed to serve as the first chairman of our Board of Community Advisors,” said Rivard Report publisher and editor Robert Rivard. “We know Chico Newman will be an equally strong chairman. He has been a quiet force in nonprofit journalism locally and nationally, and he was the inspiration for transforming the Rivard Report from our earlier status to a 501(c)3. That, in turn, has driven remarkable growth that continues today.”
Schlosberg will lead a new community advisory board that will aid Rivard Report journalists in expanding and diversifying their coverage. Letters of invitation were sent to 15 community leaders last week and the new advisory board will meet in March for the first time.
“It has been an honor to serve the last four years as the Rivard Report‘s first Chairman, and I am confident that under Newman’s leadership, the Rivard Report will thrive,” Schlosberg said. “The [community advisory] board, consisting of a broad range of community leaders, will expand our reach, help inform our journalism, and introduce us to an even wider circle of friends and supporters.”
Citing a decline in newspapers and local news nationally, Newman said now is a more important time than ever to have quality local journalism. People cannot make good decisions without good information and informed insights, he added.
In his next year chairing the board, Newman hopes to help the Rivard Report‘s leadership team build its nonprofit organization and continue producing quality journalism.
“The driving idea is to publish stories that matter to people in San Antonio and create civic engagement in order to make our city a better place to live, work, and play,” Newman said.
Rogers will round out the seven-member board. She previously served as president of the Holdsworth Center, founded in 2017 by H-E-B Chairman and CEO Charles Butt with a $100 million donation as a statewide leadership training institute for public school district leaders.
In 2016, Rogers founded the CAST Network, a series of career-themed high schools in various school districts across the city, including San Antonio, East Central, and Southwest independent school districts.
This article has been updated to correct Kate Rogers’ job title. She is the vice president of community outreach and engagement for the Charles Butt Foundation.
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