Jane Hirt

Jane Hirt is the former managing editor and vice president of the Chicago Tribune. Hirt’s leadership experiences range from launching a news startup to leading a 167-year-old newsroom in the rapidly changing digital age. She has many years of experience as a news media executive and a track record of innovation.

As managing editor from 2008-2014, she supervised the daily execution of news and features content on digital, print and social platforms and also longer-term growth and innovation strategies. Under her tenure, the newsroom became known especially for investigative journalism and became a fully converged, digital-first newsroom.

Hirt is passionate about inspiring people and has a strong record of identifying and developing talented journalists. This dovetails with her support for the Alfred Friendly Press Partners, a program she has worked with for about 20 years.

Before becoming the Tribune’s managing editor, Hirt was founding co-editor and then editor of RedEye, Tribune Publishing’s pioneering free daily newspaper for social, urban Millennials that is widely considered an innovation success story. During the rest of her 21-year career with the Chicago Tribune, she worked in a variety of editing roles, including positions on the national, foreign and sports desks.

Hirt graduated in 1989 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She remains involved with the university as a member of the Alumni Association’s advisory board, the college of journalism’s professional advisory board, and the Nebraska Women’s Leadership Network, a unique collegiate women’s mentoring program of which she serves as chair. She also is volunteering for numerous other organizations during her sabbatical this year.

She can be reached through Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or email at jane@presspartners.org.