Community Impact owners John and Jennifer Garrett are reaffirming their dedication to building a 100-year evergreen company with a focus on prosperity. In line with this commitment to ensure long-term success, the Garretts have promoted Kelly Outlaw to the role of President & CFO at Community Impact, a position that oversees the executive team and leads day-to-day company operations.

“From the day I started at Community Impact, I have felt like family,” Outlaw said. “When you join our mission of providing trusted news and local information that everyone gets, it brings everyone together to be a light to your community—it truly is bigger than any one employee. I am honored to work with all 170 Impacters across Texas together to provide this service to our fellow Texans. The future is bright for Texas and Community Impact, and to be entrusted with leading this beloved company is an absolute honor.”

Outlaw, a licensed CPA, joined Community Impact in 2022 as CFO. She is a wife and mother of 5 and has been an executive leader for over a decade, previously serving as CFO for an oil and gas company and as CFO/COO of Austin Habitat for Humanity. As a proud University of Texas alumna, she has been an Austin-area resident her entire life.

Over the last year, Outlaw played a pivotal role in guiding Community Impact through not only waves of industry change, but an internal company focus on profitability and gearing up for growth so the media company can continue to serve future generations of Texans.

“Kelly has demonstrated from day one her commitment to building a local news organization that is impactful, empathetic, curious and profitable,” Founder & CEO John Garrett said. “She has led teams through our most transformative year in our nearly 20-year company history and is working diligently with Jennifer and I to build an evergreen local news organization. We are building a modern news organization that prioritizes the needs of our readers, advertisers and teammates.”

Like many companies across the globe, Community Impact has had to shift its growth plans throughout the 2020s due to external factors including the pandemic and inflation. Over the last several years, the company learned how to operate in a new environment to continue serving communities across the state in a new world. However, these challenges have created new opportunities for Community Impact, including guidance for its further expansion.

Today, Community Impact has a goal of serving every community in Texas with a population of more than 30,000 residents. In addition to expanding to new markets in the future, Community Impact is also gearing up to launch a state reporting team later this year.

“We believe we are uniquely positioned in the state to be the most trusted local news source in Texas,” Garrett said. “Part of our new statewide reporting arm is to bring trends that are happening in every city across Texas.”

The goal of prosperity extends to the company’s employees—referred to internally as Impacters—as well.

“We want to be a best in class place to work, being family friendly, having best in class benefits packages, and a great, fun culture,” Outlaw said. “We also have our CI Cares initiative in every metro, where we’re able to give back through volunteering opportunities such as Habitat for Humanity or the Ronald McDonald House.”

Community Impact is the largest local news organization in Texas, serving 40 markets across Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. To learn more, visit www.communityimpact.com.