Just days after former longtime Entravision Communications executive Jeffery Liberman was named a Senior Advisor to the Carlos Moncada-led MLC Media, a major shakeup has transpired in the executive ranks of Nueva Network, which Moncada took full ownership of in late 2025.
José Villafañe, the founder and CEO of Nueva Network, is exiting the company. The same is said to be true for René Alegría, who joined Nueva Network as Chief Information Officer in early 2025 after serving as President/CEO of Hispanic digital media brand MundoNow. Surces close to the matter indicate he is departing, too.
Several other advertising sales individuals associated with Nueva Network are also said to be exiting their positions, RBR+TVBR has learned.
Villafañe took to social media platform LinkedIn to share that his departure comes as he has completed the sale of his interest in Nueva Network to Moncada. As he thanked a host of individuals known across the U.S. Hispanic media and advertising landscape, Villafañe commented, “I founded Nueva Network in 2021 post pandemic because I could not find a job and I put all my heart, soul & sweat into this company. I sacrifice my health, family & time. Now is time to benefit from the rewards of my hard work and sacrifice, and finally get some rest, try to lose a few pounds and of course play some good golf. My last day will be June 30th as I will help transition the team and proudly continue to be on the company advisory board.”
That’s a far different take that Villafañe took when holding court with various multicultural marketing and advertising leaders on April 23 at the Hispanic Marketing Council annual summit in New York. There, Villafañe shared with RBR+TVBR that he was looking forward to taking Nueva Network to the 2026 Cannes Lions from June 22-26, and spoke positively about the Hispanic media assets he had oversight of.
One day later, the news that Liberman, who was highly visible during the 2026 NAB Show from April 19-22, was joining MLC Media first surfaced. This, according to multiple sources, played a key factor in Villafañe’s exit, as he had planned nearly one year ago to sell his 65% stake in Costa Media to Moncada.
Roughly two months ago, Villafañe played an integral role in celebrating Nueva Network’s fifth anniversary at its second annual Upfront held at SONY Hall in New York. At the event, Nueva announced that it had entered into a strategic partnership with Latino Media Network, bringing its content to LMN audio properties in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, McAllen, Las Vegas, and Fresno.
And as seen at StreamGuys’ space at the ENCO booth during the 2026 NAB Show, a partnership between StreamGuys and Nueva Network yielded the new AI-driven “Que Onnda Today,” a platform delivering real-time, geo-targeted weather, traffic, and news reporting across digital audio streams in the top 20 Hispanic markets.
The March event in New York also saw Nueva Network announce the acquisition of the Latino Podcast Awards as it brought to life “Que Onnda Marketplaces” through a partnership with AdGrid to provide brands with “culturally intelligent engagement” across programmatic Connected TV and digital video channels.
Meanwhile, a local marketing agreement between Costa Media and Signal Above LLC ended as 2026 began, bringing a conclusion to “Que Onnda” on WDCN-LD, which uses 87.7 MHz to reach the Washington, D.C., market. As such, the company’s current facilities in the National Capital Region are WFAX-AM and W264DB in Falls Church, Va., branded as “La Pantera” and offering a Regional Mexican format superserving Spanish-speaking audiences in Northern Virginia. Costa Media’s WCCM-AM and W279DH in Haverhill, Mass., licensed to Moncada’s North Atlantic Media Inc., serve the Boston market under the “Que Onnda” branding.
