Tegna Restructures Sales Leadership Across 60 Stations
The media group's new regional and digital sales hierarchy aims to centralize revenue management across its portfolio.
Updated on Oct. 15, 2026 in People
Tegna has elevated four executives to new regional and digital sales leadership roles to drive revenue across its portfolio of more than 60 media brands. These appointments shift the company's organizational structure as it seeks to scale its advertising business.
Why it matters
The leadership shuffle reflects an operational push to centralize sales strategy across a diverse media footprint to capture more regional and digital advertising revenue. By grouping territories, Tegna aims to standardize sales execution across its portfolio.
Tegna elevated four sales leaders to oversee its portfolio of over 60 media brands. The new executives bring significant industry experience, ranging from 15 to 26 years in digital and broadcast media.
The players
Tegna
A media company that operates more than 60 television stations and associated digital media brands across the United States.
Jay Donovan
The newly appointed vice president of digital sales with over 15 years of experience in advertising technology.
Kristie Gonzales
The new vice president of ad sales for the Northeast and Southeast regions with over 20 years of industry experience.
Kari Jacobs
The new vice president of ad sales for the Midwest and West regions who has been with the company for over 20 years.
Byron Wilkinson
The new vice president of ad sales for Texas and Mid-South regions with over 26 years of broadcast and digital media experience.
The details
The restructure consolidates sales oversight into three regional hubs—Northeast/Southeast, Midwest/West, and Texas/Mid-South—alongside a dedicated digital sales vertical. This move shifts sales reporting lines from individual local affiliates to a more unified regional leadership model. By concentrating authority, the company attempts to scale ad-tech deployments and harmonize sales efforts across its 60-plus market footprint.
Timeline
October 15, 2026: Tegna announced the promotion of the four sales executives.
Market Landscape
The leadership reorganization follows the industry-wide transition toward programmatic digital advertising sales, which favors centralized regional sales teams over station-by-station models. This move represents a strategic pivot to unify sales operations across a vast broadcast and digital footprint.
Operators should monitor whether these regionalized sales structures improve local inventory pricing or lead to increased pressure on local market rates. Firms evaluating media partners should watch for standardized rate cards or shifts in sales contacts resulting from this new reporting hierarchy.
The takeaway
Centralizing sales leadership is a common response to the difficulty of managing dispersed local advertising assets in a digital-first market. Monitor your regional sales counterparts to see if similar organizational consolidation improves their response times or service capabilities.
Further reading
For more on evolving management strategies in the media sector, see People.
