The Minnesota Star Tribune names the New York Times’ Kathleen Hennessey as top editor

The Minnesota Star Tribune has named Kathleen Hennessey its next top editor.

Hennessey, a St. Paul native, joins the Star Tribune from the New York Times, where she was a deputy politics editor for the past three years after a career at the Associated Press.

“I believe in my bones in independent journalism, and that is what the Star Tribune does,” she said. “I could not let this opportunity pass — the possibility of having an impact at an organization like the Star Tribune at a moment when it is so well-positioned and has such momentum.”

Hennessey replaces Suki Dardarian, who retired earlier this year.

Publisher and CEO Steve Grove called the new editor a “fearless journalist” with a passion for Minnesota.

“You’re always looking for a candidate who matches the moment. And for us, the moment is one of real transformation,” Grove said. “We have somebody who can both listen and collaborate but also articulate a clear journalism vision and drive it forward.”

Hennessey’s first day leading the Midwest’s largest newsroom will be May 12. As editor and senior vice president, she’ll help guide a media company determined to grow digital subscriptions and better understand its audience amid a continued decline in print readership.

“The vision is independent, essential, relevant journalism that holds the powerful to account, that engages people in their interests, helps them find joy and is relevant to people’s lives: a guide to living well in this place,” Hennessey said. “We’re already heading in the right direction.”

Hennessey, 48, grew up in the Highland Park neighborhood, spent summers swimming in the St. Croix River and attended Cretin-Derham Hall High School. Her late grandfather, Thomas Byrne, was mayor of St. Paul in the 1960s.

She received a bachelor’s degree from Boston College and a master’s in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley.

She started her career as a Washington, D.C., intern for the Los Angeles Times before joining the Associated Press in Carson City, Nev. She later covered Las Vegas for the wire service then returned to Washington as a White House reporter for the Tribune newspaper chain during Barack Obama’s presidency.

Julie Pace, executive editor of the Associated Press, said Hennessey always had a sharp eye for a story.

“I recruited her to the AP because I wanted to work alongside her rather than compete with her,” Pace said. “She cares really deeply about making sure stories are done in a way the audience wants.”

Hennessey became the AP’s White House editor in 2016 and then deputy Washington bureau chief during the first Trump administration. In 2019 she moved to Minneapolis with her husband, Bill, and three sons to lead the AP’s regional politics team.

The New York Times hired her as a deputy politics editor in 2022, a position she held while remaining in Minneapolis.

“Kathleen is just the total package. She’s a great journalist,” said David Halbfinger, politics editor at the Times. “I would turn to her multiple times daily for second opinions on things. I trust my own gut but I also trusted hers. That’s the kind of person you want to have in the driver’s seat.”

While the foundational tenets of newsgathering and journalism remain unchanged, Hennessey said, “what’s changing is how we deliver it.”

“All news organizations have to be intensely focused on understanding our audience right now,” she said. “Who is consuming the news? What do they want, where do they want it? The Star Tribune is going to be very, very focused on those questions in the years to come.”

Hennessey joins several new leaders at the Minnesota Star Tribune in recent years, including the opinion editor, chief financial officer and chief product officer, as well as vice presidents of communications, consumer growth and philanthropy.