Houston Chronicle executive editor Riley set to retire

Steve Riley, executive editor of the Houston Chronicle will be retiring. Parent company Hearst Corp. has already begun a search to fill the post.

Riley has been with the Chronicle since 2017, joining as a deputy managing editor. He then served as an interim executive editor.

Prior to that, Riley was with The News and Observer for more than 31 years, joining in 1986. During his time there, he held various roles, including reporter, government/political editor, sports editor, metro editor, deputy managing editor and senior editor, enterprise.

Riley has 15 years of experience as a reporter and 22 as an editor. He is also the recipient of various state and national journalism awards, including RFK Grand Prize, ASNE local accountability reporting and SPJ investigative reporting.

He led two projects which were Pulitzer Prize finalists.

He was also a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Under his leadership, the Houston Chronicle was named Texas’ Newspaper of the Year and Newsroom of the Year by the Associated Press Media Editors.

Riley is a B.S. in journalism from the University of Mississippi.