Evan Smith, the leader of The Texas Tribune, says he will step down.

Evan Smith, a longtime drive in Texas journalism, mentioned on Wednesday that he would step down because the chief govt of The Texas Tribune, the nonprofit information group he has led for 13 years.

Mr. Smith, 55, mentioned he would go away by 12 months’s finish and keep on as an adviser into 2023. He has no agency plans for what he’ll do subsequent, he mentioned, including, “I don’t suppose I’m performed desirous to make the world higher by way of journalism.”

A local New Yorker, Mr. Smith began his profession at Texas Month-to-month in 1991. He grew to become the journal’s high editor in 2000 and led it to 2 Nationwide Journal Awards within the basic excellence class.

He left that publication in 2009 to start out The Tribune with John Thornton, a enterprise capitalist, and Ross Ramsey, a journalist and media entrepreneur. The concept was to construct a dependable nonpartisan information outlet recognized for its deep reporting on coverage, politics and social points.

“Right here’s a company that, candidly, we didn’t know would final 13 days, not to mention 13 years,” Mr. Smith mentioned.

The Texas Tribune, which has a free web site and supplies articles at no cost to information shops nationwide, has a employees of greater than 50 journalists. It has greater than 9,000 paying members and is supported by donations and company sponsorships from the Fb Journalism Undertaking, the Invoice and Melinda Gates Basis, the Emerson Collective and different donors.

It additionally has a strong occasions enterprise, together with the annual Texas Tribune Competition. Mr. Smith mentioned The Tribune had raised $100 million since its founding.

“Now we have proven folks all around the world that it’s potential to do that work with integrity, with income range,” he mentioned.

The Tribune has helped present the way in which for a brand new crop of regional nonprofit information shops, together with the Sahan Journal in Minnesota and The Nevada Impartial. The Maryland resort magnate Stewart Bainum is creating one other one, The Baltimore Banner.

“It’s heartening, to say the least, to see that individuals are seeing the worth of this type of work and are spending cash to place organizations collectively,” Mr. Smith mentioned.