Longtime journalist Kevin Merida, who has served on the board of the Maynard Institute since 2014 and participated in the Maynard Institute Summer Program for Minority Journalists in 1979, was named the executive editor of the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest major metro newspapers in the country.
Merida has served as the editor in chief of ESPN’s The Undefeated since 2015, where he led a division producing content at the intersection of sports, race and culture.
Merida has had the unique opportunity to work in print, broadcast and digital ventures throughout his lengthy career, which was launched by the Maynard Institute’s SPMJ 1979 program, hosted at UC Berkeley. He went on to his first full time reporting job at the Milwaukee Journal and later spent over two decades at the Washington Post, where he rose to managing editor.
Several other alumni of the Maynard Institute’s programs have worked at the LA Times and been instrumental in producing inclusive community reporting, such as Maynard Institute co-founder Frank Sotomayor, who helped lead the LA Times Pulitzer prize-winning series on the Latino community in Los Angeles. That project included the work of Merida’s SPMJ ‘79 classmates, Virginia Escalante and Louis Sahagun.
The current owners of the LA Times, Dr. Patrick and Michele Soon-Shiong, indicated earlier this year that stronger coverage of “Black, Latino, Asian and underrepresented communities” is a priority for the publication.
Merida plans to relocate to Los Angeles with his wife and youngest son. The Maynard Institute sends it’s most heartfelt congratulations to Kevin and family!