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Kevin Merida

Board Member

A photo of Kevin Merida, a Black man with black glasses, a short beard, and a gray suit with a white shirt striped with red and a black tie.

Kevin Merida is the executive editor of the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest major metro newspapers in the country. After a six-month search, The Los Angeles Times selected Merida to strengthen the publication’s news coverage and digital offerings. The current owners of the Los Angeles 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.

Prior to his role at the Los Angeles Times, Merida was senior vice president at ESPN and editor in chief of The Undefeated, the premier platform exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture. He also oversaw investigative and news enterprise journalism at ESPN, and formerly supervised the television shows, Outside the Lines and E:60. Since its launch in May 2016, The Undefeated has won numerous awards for its content, produced six television specials, five music videos, two children’s books, and convened more than 10 townhalls and other live forums on topics ranging from the achievements of black female athletes to social activism in sports.

Before joining ESPN in November 2015, Merida spent 22 years at The Washington Post as a congressional correspondent, national political reporter, longform feature writer, magazine columnist and senior editor in several roles. He led the national staff for four years during the Obama presidency, and was managing editor overseeing news and features coverage for three years. During his stint as managing editor, The Post won four Pulitzer Prizes and embarked on a digital transformation that made it one of the fastest growing news organizations in the country.

Merida is the co-author of “Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas” and “Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs.” He also is the editor of “Being a Black Man: At the Corner of Progress and Peril,” an anthology based on an award-winning Washington Post series.

Merida serves on the boards of Boston University, WBUR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, and the Wallace House at the University of Michigan.

He lives in Los Angeles, with his wife, the writer Donna Britt, and youngest son.