Ashley Kemp Wimberley is executive director of the Arkansas Press Association, the leading voice for the state’s newspapers. Wimberley became APA executive director in February 2018, advancing to leadership of an industry she has been affiliated with all her life. Wimberley grew up in a newspaper family. Her parents owned newspapers in northeast Arkansas and Missouri. In her first year, she oversaw a major renovation of the APA’s headquarters and achieved major victories for transparency and for newspaper public notices during her first session of the Arkansas Legislature. Wimberley is a native of Rector, Arkansas. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in marketing from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Before working for APA, she worked in public relations in Tennessee and at CJRW, a Little Rock advertising agency. She lives in Little Rock with her two daughters and enjoys going to Razorback games, traveling and reading.