Tegna announces three VPs in regional content content leadership plan

Tegna has named three vice presidents of content.

Carol Fowler, Julie Wolfe and Chris Peña will each be responsible for overseeing the company’s local stations in an assigned geographic region. 

Each will also oversee a content priority, such as weather coverage, big stories and events, morning news strategy, sales and sponsorships, storytelling and investigative and solutions-based journalism, according to the announcement.

They will also play a key role in the company’s announced plans to bolster streaming local news in its markets once they start in the new roles June 30, 2025.

The trio will each work closely with general managers, news directors and newsroom staffers at stations in their region.

Tegna will continue to maintain local leadership at its stations, but says the new structure “will strengthen storytelling and coverage capabilities.”

In its announcement, Tegna outlined plans to have the trio handle stations in most of the U.S., but a company representative told NCS it is still working leadership for remaining stations, which are largely clustered in the Northeast. 

“Carol, Julie and Chris each bring deep experience building innovative newsrooms and understand the importance of strong local journalism,” said Adrienne Roark, chief content officer at Tegna, said in a statement. “They’re passionate about developing talent and creating engaging content that serves viewer needs across platforms. Their leadership will be instrumental in further strengthening Tegna’s award-winning content.”

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Fowler will oversee content strategy across the company’s stations in the Mid-South, including St. Louis, Knoxville, Memphis, Louisville, Fort Smith, Little Rock and New Orleans. A nationally recognized digital content strategist with more than 30 years of experience, Fowler currently leads content strategy at WXIA, the company’s NBC affiliate in Atlanta. She also led the newsroom at its NBC affiliate in St. Louis, where her team won 23 regional RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Awards.

Throughout her career, Fowler has driven digital innovation across major media organizations including the Chicago Sun-Times, Fox and CBS owned stations in Chicago, as well as WGN in the same market. She founded KloboMedia in 2014, pioneering the development of social media analytics software. The Mississippi native and University of Missouri-Columbia graduate taught media innovation at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.

Wolfe will be tasked with leading content at Tegna’s stations in the West, including Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Spokane, Boise and Denver. Wolfe currently serves as news director at KING, the company’s NBC affiliate in Seattle, where she has driven digital innovation and cross-platform storytelling for the station since 2021. This year, under her leadership, KING took home 11 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, including overall excellence. Previously, she served as news director for WHAS, Tegna’s ABC affiliate in Louisville, where she helped transform key shows, earning multiple Emmy and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards.

A University of Georgia graduate, Wolfe also spent over a decade at WXIA, progressing from multimedia journalist to assistant news director. She remains active in industry leadership, chairing RTDNA’s Finance Committee and serves on multiple professional boards.

Peña, who is joining the company, will become responsible for the company’s Midwest region. This includes operations in Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Des Moines, Davenport and Minneapolis. Peña currently serves as director of broadcast transformation at Blue Engine, a firm that provides coaching and consulting to media firms to foster audience growth, revenue diversification and digital transformation. Previously, Peña was senior vice president of news at Univision Local Media, where he led multi-platform content strategy and branding across 19 television stations.

Throughout his career, Peña has led weekend live programming, including the 24-hour breaking news team for MSNBC, and notably launched NBC Latino, an innovative digital platform delivering English-language Hispanic news. Peña serves on the Consulting Council of the Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology at the University of Florida and the Journalism Council of the News Literacy Project. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio and Television from the University of Houston and is a graduate of Columbia University’s Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program in Media.