Monica R. Richardson is the Executive Editor of the Miami Herald and the el Nuevo Herald, and Regional Florida Editor for McClatchy Newspapers, which includes the Bradenton Herald and Florida Keys News. In this role, Richardson leads the talented team of journalists focusing on audience and digital subscription growth and continuing the brand’s tradition in strong journalism serving an ever-growing and increasingly diverse audience of readers, viewers, and listeners in South Florida.

 

Richardson brings nearly three decades of journalism experience in the journalism and local news industry, most recently serving as Senior Managing Editor for The Atlanta

Journal-Constitution, part of Cox Enterprises Inc. She has held various leadership roles at the AJC in the last 15 years and was promoted to the Senior ME role in February 2018. Before that she served as the AJC’s Digital Managing Editor, helping to shape and lead digital strategy in a newsroom that has produced award-winning journalism.

 

This year, she was named as a trailblazer for breaking glass ceilings among “The First, but Not the Last, Women Leaders of South Florida,” presented by the YWCA of South Florida. She was also recently named among Editor and Publisher’s Top Ten Women to Watch list.

 

Before joining McClatchy, Richardson was one of three senior newsroom leaders reporting directly to the AJC’s Editor in Chief. She was promoted to Senior Managing Editor in Atlanta in March 2018.

 

Before taking on that role, she reported to the Editor as Digital Managing Editor for 6 years, shaping digital strategy in the newsroom. As Senior Managing Editor, her oversight expanded to broad newsroom leadership overall, with a focus on digital strategy. The teams under her title included those that handled production for all The Atlanta Journal-Constitution digital platforms (website, mobile, newsletters) and social media platforms as well as a large team of daily and breaking news reporters, digital audience specialists and senior editors. She also oversaw the newspaper’s Audience Engagement team before assisting in its transition with the AJC Technology Dept.

 

She has led newsrooms through strategic shifts with content and business strategy aimed at supporting strong journalism brands through audience growth. She is a people and collaborative leader who has built new teams and throughout her career focused as much on people and teams as she has on the bottom-line business needs. Her experience has also included extensive work on building strategic business and vendor partnerships with newsrooms.

 

In addition to daily duties related to content and overall newsroom management, she has collaborated across business units and disciplines including Technology, Consumer Revenue, Marketing and Advertising.

 

In addition to Georgia, Richardson has worked at newspapers in Kentucky, Florida and Virginia. She has been a member of various journalism industry associations and most recently served

 

on the newly formed advisory board for the Local News Lab affiliated with Columbia University’s School of Journalism.

 

She has been named among the Atlanta Business League’s Top 100 Women of Vision for 5 consecutive years and has served as an esteemed juror to the national Pulitzer Prize board. In addition she has served on local nonprofit boards and as a community advocate and volunteer for various organizations. She has a passion for mentoring young journalists and young leaders across industries. She is also a passionate advocate for diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives that empower and inspire across generations. In 2018, she was among the honorees for the Atlanta Diverse Professionals Award recognizing her expertise as a business and community leader in her field.

 

She has served on a number of journalism industry boards. Beyond the journalism industry, she has proven skills in leadership, strategic direction and planning, design thinking, marketing, contract management, budgeting, vendor relationships, content grant partnerships, research execution, project management, talent and organizational development, and training.

 

Richardson, 50, grew up in the DC/VA area and is the single mother of a busy eight-year-old girl who she adopted from the foster care system at age 2.