Evan Smith

Co-founder and former CEO, Texas Tribune; Senior Advisor, Emerson Collective; Professor of Practice, The LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin

Evan Smith is a senior advisor at Emerson Collective, working closely with journalists and funders around the country to support the local news ecosystem. He’s also a professor of practice at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches a course on the politics and issues of the moment. He previously spent more than 13 years at The Texas Tribune, which he co-founded and led as CEO, and nearly 18 years at Texas Monthly, including nine years as editor-in-chief and a year as president.

Evan is the host of “Overheard with Evan Smith,” a weekly half-hour interview program that airs on PBS stations from coast to coast. He serves on the boards of St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, the Austin Film Society and the LBJ Foundation. A native of New York, he's a graduate of Hamilton College, which awarded him an honorary degree in 2023, and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, which inducted him into its Hall of Achievement in 2006.