Executive Advisory Council

Thomas A. Silvestri is President and Publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the flagship daily newspaper of Richmond-based Media General, Inc. Silvestri has directed the Richmond cluster of newspapers, including five weeklies, since January 1, 2005.

Before his promotion, Silvestri had served as president of Media General Inc.’s Community Newspaper, where he was responsible for 20 daily newspapers and more than 25 weeklies in five Southeastern states—VA, NC, SC, AL and northern FL—as well as Virginia Business.

A journalist by trade, Silvestri was a member of Media General’s Publishing Division staff from 1998 through 2004, rising from Director of News Synergy and Newsbank editor to a vice president to a senior vice president. Before that, Silvestri was a deputy managing editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where he moved through a series of front-line editing and management positions, helped create three news departments and several stand-alone sections, as well as launched a training program that attracted national attention for its breadth and reality-based approach.

Before joining the Times-Dispatch, Silvestri was a reporter and editor for the Gannett Westchester (NY) Newspapers. He is a frequent workshop leader at the American Press Institute and other regional journalism conferences.

He is Chairman of Leadership Metro Richmond and Vice Chair of the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce. He is a board member of the American Press Institute, the World Affairs Council in Richmond, the Richmond Memorial Hospital Foundation, the Virginia Economic Education Council and the Virginia Commonwealth University Alumni Association. He also is a director of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation. He is an advisor to the Virginia Press Association and past-president of the Virginia chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He has an MBA from VCU and a BA in literature and communications from Pace University in New York.

P. O. Box 85333
Richmond, VA 23293-0001
Telephone: (804) 649-6121
Fax: (804) 819-1266
Email: tsilvestri@timesdispatch.com