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Evan Smith

Evan Smith’s staff photo

Evan Smith is a co-founder and senior adviser at The Texas Tribune, where he served as CEO from 2009 to 2022. He’s also a senior adviser at Emerson Collective, where he works closely with the leadership teams of nonprofit news organizations around the country. Previously he spent nearly 18 years at Texas Monthly, stepping down in August 2009 as the magazine’s president and editor in chief. Evan is also the host of “Overheard with Evan Smith,” a weekly half-hour interview program that airs on PBS stations around the country. A native of New York, he is a graduate of Hamilton College and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Past Contributions

  • TribuneFest: Ex-Commissioners Confidential

    By Evan Smith

    At the Trib's February 25 symposium on public education at Rice University, I talked choice, testing, school finance and the intersection of policy and politics with four former state commissioners of education: Mike Moses, Jim Nelson, Shirley Richardson and Robert Scott. Full Story 

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  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Aaronson with the latest on CPRIT, Aguilar on relitigating the Voting Rights Act, Batheja on what we can learn from Virginia on transportation funding, Galbraith on the Keystone XL's pipeline's progress, Grissom's six-parter on the intersection between mental health and criminal justice, Murphy interactively details the sequester's projected effect on Texas, Ramshaw sits down with Ted Cruz, my interview with the Lege's public education chairmen, and Hamilton on rumblings about micromanagement by UT regents: The best of our best content from Feb. 25 to March 1, 2013. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • TribuneFest: Choice and Charters

    By Evan Smith

    At the Trib's February 25 symposium on public education at Rice University, Morgan Smith talked about the prospect of greater choice and more charters with Caprice Young of the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Rosemary Perlmeter of Teaching Trust, Duncan Klussmann of Spring Branch Independent School District and David Anthony of Raise Your Hand Texas. Full Story 

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  • TribuneFest: Accountability and Student Testing

    By Evan Smith

    At the Trib's February 25 symposium on public education at Rice University, I talked accountability and student testing with Robert Duron, the state's deputy commissioner of education; Susan Kellner of Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment; Tom Pauken of the Texas Workforce Commission; and former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Full Story 

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  • TribuneFest: A Conversation with Aycock and Patrick

    By Evan Smith

    At the Trib's February 25 symposium on public education at Rice University, I talked school finance, accountability, choice and other hot-button issues with state Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, the chairman of the House Public Education Committee, and state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, the chairman of the Senate Public Education Committee. Full Story 

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