NPR hires Aguilar as executive producer

The following excerpt announcement was sent out from NPR vice president for news programming Sarah Gilbert:

Hi everyone,

I’m writing today to share some fantastic news: Following an extensive national search and review by a panel of NPR staffers from across the organization, Erika A. Aguilar is our new Executive Producer for Morning Edition and Up First!

Erika hails from KQED, where she is currently the podcast director, overseeing podcast production teams, new show development and on demand strategy.

Erika has held various editorial positions during her 15 years in public media including reporting for KPCC in Los Angeles and KUT in Austin where she covered national breaking news events for the network. She also worked a short stint on the assignment desk for the local CBS TV news station in Austin.

She is an alumna and mentor with NPR’s Next Generation Radio Project, a program that trains and coaches young journalists of color. And she is currently teaching for the Fall 2021 semester at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She herself is a journalism and history graduate of Texas State University.

Erika starts with us on November 8th, and will be spending that week in DC, and the following one at NPR West. She’ll be on deck full time in DC from mid January.

Please join me in giving Erika the warmest possible welcome to the heart of NPR! We’re so excited that she is joining us.