Tina Pamintuan has more than 20 years of experience working in public media as a journalist, educator and station leader, and she’ll put her expertise to work in shaping the future of St. Louis Public Radio as its new CEO.
University of Missouri–St. Louis Chancellor Kristin Sobolik announced Pamintuan’s appointment on Monday after a nationwide search. Pamintuan will begin her new position on Dec. 1.
“I am excited that Tina Pamintuan will join our community as the CEO of St. Louis Public Radio,” Sobolik said. “Tina has a foundational appreciation of journalism and public media and its crucial role in a free society. Her broad leadership experience and passion for people make her the ideal person to lead STLPR during this time of intense societal and cultural change.”
“The station is a huge asset to the St. Louis region and beyond, and I look forward to collaborating with Tina and the rest of our station colleagues as we work together to engage, educate and empower our community.”
Pamintuan is coming to St. Louis after three years as the general manager at KALW (91.7 FM) in San Francisco, where she directed the station’s operations, fundraising, programming and editorial teams and served as the liaison for the station's FCC license holder, the San Francisco Unified School District.
During her tenure, Tina oversaw the creation of a 501c3 nonprofit and led the development and implementation of a five-year strategic business plan. She also helped reinvent the station’s local public affairs and music programming to attract a more inclusive and diverse audience, restructured its membership program and oversaw the station’s first development and fundraising plan.
“My work in journalism and public media has always centered people and their stories. As a leader, I want to create possibility and belonging in our industry so that staff are supported to do their best work and continue growing at every stage of their careers,” Pamintuan said.
“I’d like to see St. Louis Public Radio take bold steps to meaningfully connect with new and existing audiences across both perceived and real differences. I know from experience that this kind of work takes deep listening, self-awareness, and genuine collaboration. There’s no question that I’m going to look to the St. Louis community to be a full partner in this endeavor.”
Before moving into leadership at KALW, Pamintuan founded and directed the audio journalism program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. There, she taught courses in radio news writing and reporting, news magazine production, podcasting, audio documentary and oral history and also managed and produced campus radio and podcast productions during her almost 12 years there.
In 2011, Pamintuan earned an International Center for Journalists’ fellowship to report on climate change and biofuel use in rural areas in the Philippines. A year later, she produced an audio documentary on Occupy Wall Street with host Alex Chadwick.
In 2014, she was a visiting fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and the next year organized a seminar on Native American media and community radio for the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study.
In 2019, the Philippine American Press Club awarded her its Ocampo-Henry Memorial Award in Radio. She is currently a Sulzberger Fellow at Columbia University and was recently elected to the NPR board of directors.
Pamintuan began her career at NPR after graduating from Georgetown University with a degree in philosophy. She also holds a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Chicago where she focused her studies on media studies and Asian American history.
Tanisha Stevens, vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, chaired the 12-person committee that vetted candidates and recommended Pamintuan’s appointment.
Tom Livingston will continue serving as STLPR’s interim general manager until December and will help Pamintuan transition into her new role.
“I am grateful for Tom Livingston’s positive and pragmatic leadership during this time of transition for the station,” Sobolik said. “I have enjoyed getting to know him and to learn more about public radio, media and journalism past, present and future. He will continue to be an asset for me and for Tina until she is fully onboard.”
