Richmond, VA – Thomas A. Silvestri, president and publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, this week received the 2018 Frank W. Mayborn Leadership Award from the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.
Silvestri was presented with the award Thursday morning at the SNPA News Industry Summit in Nashville.
The award is named for Frank Mayborn, a Texas newspaper leader and founder of SNPA in the 1950s. The Mayborn award is given annually to a visionary leader in the newspaper industry.
“Tom is an advocate for the importance of journalism – accurate, transparent, objective journalism,” said SNPA President Pat Dorsey, publisher of the Austin American-Statesman, in presenting the award.
Silvestri, who was elected SNPA president in 2013 and who currently serves as chairman of the SNPA Foundation board, has been publisher of The Times-Dispatch since 2004. Silvestri was honored for his work in Richmond and Virginia, as well as his various innovative projects with SNPA, including the NEX GEN project, which develops future newspaper leaders, and an executive development program run jointly by SNPA and Poynter.
Silvestri, 63, grew up in Westchester County, N.Y. His father was a police officer who always brought a newspaper home from his shift, so newspaper reading was engrained in him at an early age. Silvestri served as editor of his high school paper and his college paper at Pace University.
He started his professional newspaper career as a reporter for Gannett in Westchester County before joining The Times-Dispatch as a copy editor in 1982. Silvestri quickly moved up in the newsroom leadership in Richmond, serving as business news editor before taking several corporate roles in Media General and then becoming publisher.
As a publisher who believes in the power of civic engagement, Silvestri created The Times-Dispatch’s Public Square program, which holds community conversations about important regional and statewide issues throughout the year. The newspaper is planning its 75th Public Square on 75 Hopes for Richmond, which will be held Oct. 30.
About the Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is Central Virginia’s leading source of news, advertising, commentary and community conversations.
The RTD is part of the BH Media’s Richmond Group, which also includes The Mechanicsville Local, the Ashland-Hanover Local, The Goochland Gazette, Powhatan Today, Chesterfield RTD, Henrico RTD, Cumberland Today and The King William Local. Online, access the RTD on Richmond.com.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch and BH Media Group are owned by Berkshire Hathaway Co.
