Former Executive Editor of the San Jose Mercury News and CEO of the National Audubon Society will assume the CEO role beginning May 1.
Media Contact: Richard Ángel Vega
richard@alfsv.org | 408-554-2004
San Jose, CA – April 3, 2025— David Yarnold, a longtime journalist, bestselling author and non-profit executive will become the interim CEO for American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley (ALFSV), beginning May 1. He will occupy the role, filled for the past nine years by Suzanne St. John-Crane, until a new CEO is named.
As the former Executive Editor of the San Jose Mercury News and CEO of the National Audubon Society, among other roles, Yarnold brings to ALF Silicon Valley local knowledge and experience at some of the most storied non-profits in the U.S.
Heather Rangel, ALF Silicon Valley’s board chair, said, “It’s extraordinary to find someone with the passion David has for ALF and the gravitas he brings as a successful, proven executive. As a fellow board member, David has consistently led with distinction and has garnered the utmost respect from the board and the staff. He checks all of the boxes and more in what we hoped to find in transitional leadership. We’re thankful and excited that he’s willing to take it on. Bright days are ahead for ALFSV.”
Yarnold spent nearly 27 years at the San Jose Mercury News in 12 roles. He was a leader of the newsroom staff that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake and he and writer Daniel Vasquez were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing. Yarnold also was recognized by the Asian-American Journalists Association, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists for his leadership creating more inclusive news coverage and newsroom staffing, including NABJ’s Ida B. Wells Award.
David said of the appointment, “I met ALF while I was at the Mercury News and it was one of the most formative, moving experiences of my adult life. I tell that to candidates for ALF’s annual Fellows class all the time. I’m beyond grateful for what ALF taught me about civic engagement. And this is rare and unexpected opportunity to give back to an organization that has meant so much to me and to the Valley.”
He added, “It’s hard to imagine a more important time for ALFSV — a time when authentic community leadership for the common good can be the antidote to division and noise.”
ALF Silicon Valley is a network of more than 800 leaders from throughout the Greater Bay Area, from CEOs of the region’s largest firms to startups, local government leaders, and non-profit executives. Yarnold said, “ALFSV is the most effective, cross-sector leadership network I know of in the Valley.”
He is the author of the best-selling book: The Geography of Hope; Real-Life Stories of Optimists Mapping a Better World. The book, published in October, 2024, tells the stories of people around the world using geospatial mapping technology (GIS) to create social change and enhance profitability.
Yarnold left The Mercury News in 2005 for the Environmental Defense Fund, where he was executive director until 2010. He was recruited to do a turnaround at the National Audubon Society and left in 2021.
“The intersection of the storytelling I learned as a journalist and running a major non-profit surprised me. In nearly 16 years at non-profits, I came to see even more clearly how non-profits can be community glue, something ALFSV understands.”
And he’s excited to be back in Silicon Valley, where he serves on the board of the Computer History Museum. “The Valley is a special place. Telling its story for nearly three decades was a journalist’s dream. The Valley has never lacked for hubris, and it’s on full display now for the world to see. So it’s more important than ever for ALF to raise up the Valley’s caring, cross-sector leadership network. The creativity and the ecosystem that has changed the world has also created huge community challenges. For 40 years, ALF Silicon Valley has played a special role training leaders to better meet those needs.”
David can be reached at david@alfsv.org.
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