St. Louis Public Radio welcomes Interim General Manager Tom Livingston, a public media leader and consultant with more than four decades of experience at local and national levels. He has served two terms as vice chairman of the NPR Board of Directors; is a past Chair of the Public Media Business Association; has managed three different public radio organizations, and has served in the Interim General Manager role for more than a dozen organizations, primarily public radio.
As founder and CEO of Livingston Associates, he has served more than 200 public media organizations with consulting services — including interim management, executive search, strategy, facilitation, and professional coaching.
Livingston was selected by and will report to the University of Missouri - St. Louis Chancellor Kristin Sobolik to provide interim leadership to St. Louis Public Radio. The change was made in response to concerns raised by staff members about the station’s diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, which are now being investigated independently.
"Public radio is one of the most important institutions in our country, particularly at this time, and a unique aspect of the enterprise are our locally owned and focused stations," said Livingston. "In serving this partnership between the University of Missouri - St. Louis and the community, my job is to listen, engage, and build a foundation to move forward together as a diverse, equitable and inclusive institution. I am confident that together we will set a course to help St. Louis Public radio thrive and continue to improve our already vital service to the community.”
With no plans to seek a permanent position at the station, he instead prefers using his expertise to recruit a new generation of diverse leaders in stations across the country to continue public media’s essential, nonpartisan public service journalism.
