SCPR, LAist Names Alejandra Santamaria President & CEO

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, July 15, 2024

Alejandra Santamaria

Southern California Public Radio (SCPR) and LAist appoints Alejandra Santamaria as President and CEO. She most recently served as interim President, GM and VP/Director of Sales for Univision Los Angeles. Santamaria will join SCPR and LAist in July succeeds CEO Herb Scannell, who recently retired from the role. SCPR operates multi-platform local journalism LAist, which includes KPCC (LAist 89.3), LAist.com and the podcast arm LAist Studios.

"Los Angeles is my home and I am thrilled to lead one of the premier mission driven organizations serving my community. My career has been aligned with a media organization that has meant a lot to me because of their mission to empower, educate and inform Latinos like my own family," said Santamaria. "I am ready to bring those skills and passion to LAist. The reporting LAist is doing is some of the best in the world. Now it's our job to shine a brighter light on great reporting and continue to be a resource for Angelenos."

SCPR Board Chair Drew Murphy added, "Alex is the leader LAist needs today and for the future. Public radio remains a vital, important part of the Los Angeles media ecosystem and we are confident that her experience and talent is ideal to shepherd us forward, helping us to deliver on our mission, while remaining financially sound, in order to continue our role as an essential resource for our community."

In her role at Univision, Santamaria ran sales and operations for Univision's flagship local television station KMEX, UniMas KFTR, KLVE-FM, KSCA-FM, KRCD-FM and KTNQ-AM radio stations and a suite of digital properties in the Los Angeles market.

Santamaria has three decades of experience in the media industry, She also served as the President and General Manager of Univision Arizona where she led all stations operations, and sales initiatives and digital marketing solutions for the companies local TV, radio and digital properties based in Phoenix for the entire state of Arizona.

Santamaria is the founding member of Univision's Women's Leadership Council (WLC), an employee resource group designed to prepare the next generation of women leaders. She was also part of the group's steering committee. She most recently served on the boards of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the L.A. County Economic Development Corporation.