Kenneth W. Smith Jr. is a Certified Government Digital Services Professional (CGDSP) and has served as the Web Communications Specialist for the City of Bryan, Texas for more than a decade. Ken is responsible for the design, development, management, security, and accessibility of a dozen websites and applications for the City of Bryan and its community partners.
Formerly a National Politics Producer and news designer at The Washington Post, Ken’s portfolio spanned both the print and online sides of the Post’s award-winning journalism. In his 20 years as a journalist, Ken was a key player in designing the coverage of some of the biggest news stories of the 21st century, including the Post’s coverage of the Virginia Tech Mass Shooting in 2007 that won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama in January 2009.
Ken’s work has been honored with more than 40 state and national awards from organizations including TAMIO, 3CMA, CompTIA-PTI, NAGW, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the American Public Power Association, and the Society for News Design.
When not working for Bryan, or on a freelance project, Ken spends as much time as he can fly fishing, collecting antique Texas pottery, grilling large quantities of meat in his backyard, and spending time with his wife Jennifer, their dog Wrigley, and their five indoor and six outdoor cats. (Yep. that’s a lot of cats.)
Born and raised in Tennessee, Ken graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, and worked for the St. Petersburg Times, the Houston Chronicle and the Post before returning to Texas in the Spring of 2013.
Ken’s wife, Jennifer Morehead, is an accomplished journalist and editor at The Washington Post, whose experiences have taken her from the plains of west Texas, to the Pacific Northwest, and from California to The New York Times.
Jennifer has served as a copy editor on multiple Pulitzer Prize-nominated special projects, including the Post’s investigation of Walter Reed Army Medical Center which won the Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service.