Stephanie Zarate Named Alumni Association's 2025 Rising Star

Stephanie Zarate MBA 20, chief accounting officer and treasurer at McClatchy Media, has been named the recipient of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management Alumni Association’s 2025 Rising Star Award.

The honor recognizes her rapid rise from audit consultant to financial executive at McClatchy, a private, 168-year-old media conglomerate with deep roots in American journalism.

Zarate graduated from the Sacramento Part-Time MBA program in 2020, balancing her studies while working full-time—and becoming a new mother. At the time, she was a senior associate at Deloitte in Sacramento, where she earned her CPA and spent seven years leading audits for some of the firm’s most high-profile clients, including McClatchy Newspapers, later rebranded as McClatchy Media.

Impressed by her financial acumen and professionalism, McClatchy leadership recruited Zarate to join the company’s finance team in 2014. While adjusting to her new role, she also began pursuing her MBA at UC Davis—further testament to her drive and commitment to professional growth.

Zarate’s impact at McClatchy grew in tandem with her career. She advanced steadily through a series of leadership roles, including assistant treasurer, director of investor relations, corporate controller, and treasurer. She played a pivotal role in the company’s transformation from a publicly traded entity to a privately held firm, a complex technical shift that redefined its strategic direction.

Her leadership was again critical during McClatchy’s recent merger with Accelerate360, finalized in December 2024. The combined entity, which continues under the McClatchy name, is now poised for a new era of growth and innovation in the rapidly evolving media landscape.

In 2021, Zarate was named chief accounting officer and treasurer—an impressive capstone to a decade of growth at the company. Most recently, in April 2025, she was appointed to the board of directors at River City Bank, a Sacramento-based commercial bank with over $5.2 billion in assets.

“With her broad financial experience working for one of the largest and most respected media companies in the United States, she will be a great asset to our board."

— Shawn Kelly Devlin, chairman of the board at River City Bank.

Zarate’s journey reflects both her exceptional leadership and the resilience needed to thrive in today’s dynamic business environment—an inspiration to the next generation of UC Davis MBA graduates.