Nico Leone
Nico Leone is the President and CEO of KERA — a nonprofit public media organization in North Texas reaching more than 4.5 million people each month. KERA’s mission is to inform and inspire the North Texas community through essential services — including a public television station, three radio stations and a newspaper.
Nico began his tenure at KERA in February 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic began to surge. Under his leadership, the organization was able to not only sustain, but grow its essential services to audiences during a challenging time. Since then, Nico has continuously positioned the organization for exceptional growth and innovation.
Key to Nico’s leadership style is collaboration. Under his tenure, KERA has launched several journalism partnerships — including with the Fort Worth Report and the Dallas Morning News — in order to expand accessible and essential reporting to the people of North Texas. Nico also oversaw the successful merger of organizations into KERA’s services — the classical music station WRR 101.1, and the Denton Record-Chronicle, Denton County’s primary source of local news. And, as CEO, Nico leads The Texas Newsroom, a first-of-its-kind journalism collaboration between NPR and the four largest public media newsrooms in Texas. Each of these innovative collaborations serves as a model for newsrooms and public media organizations across the country, while also positioning KERA to be more embedded in the communities it serves.
Nico serves on the board of AT&T Performing Arts Center and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and has previously served on the board of directors for NPR, Greater Public and Station Resource Group. Prior to KERA, Nico served as General Manager of KCUR in Kansas City, Missouri, where he led the organization to be one of the most collaborative public radio stations in the country.
Nico grew up in small towns in Kansas. He has two degrees in Communications from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he met his wife, Nicole. They live in Dallas.
