New Orleans, LA

Sandy Breland is a chief operating officer of Local Media for Gray Television. She has oversight of a portfolio that includes 16 television stations, a Washington DC Bureau, a National Investigative Unit, and the nationally syndicated political show, “Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren”. She also has oversight of InvestigateTV ( www.investigatetv.com ), an innovative OTT app that delivers high-quality journalism on demand.

She has participated in the invitation-only “Newsgeist”, hosted by Google and the Knight Foundation. Sandy serves on the Fox Affiliates Board of Governors and previously served as the group’s chairperson. She has more than 30 years of experience in broadcasting and has received some of the industry’s highest honors.

Prior to joining Gray as Senior VP, Sandy served as a Group Vice President for Raycom Media where she was honored with an Emmy for organizing and serving as EP for “Louisiana Rising”. The flood relief benefit concert, hosted by Harry Connick Junior and Randy Jackson, aired on dozens of stations across the country raising badly needed funds.

Sandy also served as Regional Vice President and General Manager of WVUE-TV, the Fox affiliate in New Orleans. During her tenure as General Manager, WVUE was honored with three national Edward R Murrow Awards. She served five years as Vice President/General Manager of WAFB/WBXH in Baton Rouge. Prior to that, Sandy spent two years as Executive News Director of KTVK-TV in Phoenix and eleven years as Executive News Director of WWL-TV, the CBS affiliate in New Orleans. She was honored with a Peabody and National Murrow, for her planning and execution of Hurricane Katrina coverage. Sandy is a recipient of the RTNDF’s First Amendment Award and the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for public service.

Sandy is a member of the LSU Manship Board of Visitors and is past chairman of the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters. Sandy holds a BA in Journalism from Loyola University-New Orleans and has attended continuing education sessions at Columbia University’s Sulzberger Leadership Program, Missouri University’s Management Program for Broadcast Professional, and the Poynter Institute.