KTNV's Jessie Williams to receive 2026 Loren Tobia Leadership Award
The Radio Television Digital News Association is honored to announce that Jessie Williams, news director at KTNV in Las Vegas, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of RTDNA’s Loren Tobia Leadership Award.
The Loren Tobia Leadership Award is presented annually to a journalist who exemplifies outstanding leadership within their company or organization during a given year.
Williams is an award-winning journalist and news director whose career has spanned several markets. She has worked for the E.W. Scripps Company for more than a decade, beginning as a producer at WXYZ in Detroit, then advancing to executive producer in Milwaukee and news director at FOX 47 in Lansing, and most recently at KTNV in Las Vegas.
She has served as news director in Las Vegas for more than three years. During that time, she has focused on rebranding the news department, launching and expanding programming on a newly acquired second station, and strengthening sports partnerships, among other initiatives.
What brings Williams the most joy in her career is the privilege of watching the more than 50 journalists on her team grow and thrive. Seeing them advance in their careers, reach milestones and win awards is exceptionally rewarding, and something she does not take for granted.
"Jessie Williams has done what the best newsroom leaders do: She held her team steady when everything around them was shifting, and she used that pressure to build something stronger. Her commitment to expanding investigative and community-focused journalism — even as budgets tightened and uncertainty mounted — reflects a leader who never lost sight of why the work matters. Jessie embodies exactly what the Loren Tobia Leadership Award recognizes," said RTDNA President and CEO Tara Puckey.
The honor recognizes a journalist who represents one of RTDNA’s core values, leadership, and is presented at RTDNA’s signature events, the First Amendment Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala.
Williams is an Emmy Award and regional Edward R. Murrow Award winner. She was a 2023 fellow of the Carole Kneeland Project for Responsible Journalism and has served on the board of governors for the Pacific Southwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.