Bradbury named next KPA executive director
Emily Bradbury, assistant director of the Kansas Press Association, has been named executive director effective Aug. 1, 2018.
Bradbury will succeed current executive director Doug Anstaett. He will continue after that date as a contract consultant for the association.
Olaf Frandsen, current president of the KPA Board of Directors and publisher of the Salina Journal, said: “A unanimous vote by the board of directors is clearly indicative of the trust and confidence we have put in Emily and Doug. This move positions the KPA for the future. And with this action, the future of the KPA clearly is in good hands.”
Bradbury, 40, began work at KPA in 2002 as education director and as executive director of Kids Voting Kansas.
“For the past 15 years, I have been honored to serve the newspapers of Kansas at the Kansas Press Association in various capacities — most recently as assistant director/member services director," she said. “I am humbled by the board’s decision for me to be the next executive director to lead our 154-year-old association.
"I look forward to expanding on all of the hard work of the directors before me while continuing our mission to support journalists across the state. Their job has never been more important.”
Bradbury earned a B.A. degree in history from Washburn University in 2000. In 2005, she was named one of Topeka's 30 under 30, and in 2008, she was promoted to director of member services. In 2016, she added the title of assistant director of KPA.
She and her husband, Ryan Bradbury, who is superintendent of schools and high school principal at Madison USD 386, have two children: Kyle, 12, and Cassie, 7.
She currently serves on the Madison Library Board, the Greenwood County 4-H Foundation Community Development Team, is a member of PEO International and a member of the William Allen White Community Partnership Board in Emporia. Emily was recently named to the Kansas Historical Society Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Following his retirement, Anstaett will continue as a contract consultant with KPA, leading the association’s legislative lobbying efforts and producing KPA's monthly publication, The Kansas Publisher.
In his 30-year newspaper career prior to joining KPA in 2004, he served as a reporter, managing editor, editorial page editor and publisher at newspapers in Pittsburg, Topeka, Nevada, Mo., Grand Island, Neb., Brookings, S.D. and Newton.
He and his wife, Lucinda, have two daughters, Beth Iversen and Ashley All, and seven grandchildren.
"This is a change of pace Lucinda and I are ready for," Anstaett said. "Our farm 35 miles south of Topeka gives us purpose and serves as a fun getaway from the hubbub of everyday life in the capital city.
"I've worked with Emily Bradbury since Day 1 at KPA. She is extremely capable, energetic and committed to what we do every day in the newspaper business. I applaud the board for its wise choice."