We are delighted to announce that Lori Montgomery will become The Washington Post’s next Business editor.
Lori is an indomitable journalist and newsroom leader, adept at marshaling coverage of breaking news and organizing complex, ambitious projects. As an editor, she’s known for her rigor and high standards; as a manager, for her empathy and encouragement.
These qualities will support her success in leading a department that is increasingly important to The Post’s ambitions. As the world becomes ever more digital, we are steadily expanding our capacity to cover technology, an industry that shapes politics, impinges on privacy and provides platforms for a vast array of human interactions. Our economic policy coverage already sets the standard, and Lori will be able to rely on her experience on the beat during the Obama administration to help propel it forward. We want to expand our corporate accountability work, so we can fulfill our mandate to scrutinize those who wield economic and regulatory power. Every aspect of the department’s coverage – from the business of food to the commercialization of space to the perils of personal finance – will benefit from Lori’s capacity to drive agenda-setting enterprise, promote scoopy reporting and tell stories in new ways.
In six years as an editor on the National staff, Lori has made critical contributions to two Pulitzer-winning efforts, both inherently digital – the 2015 police shootings database and our coverage of its findings, and the 2019 “2C” climate project, a feat of intrepid multimedia storytelling. She was the founding editor of the America desk; in her current incarnation as deputy National editor, she helped the team produce Pulitzer-finalist coverage of the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings in 2019.
Lori joined The Post in 2000 as a reporter on the Metro desk, and quickly earned a reputation for delivering aggressive accountability coverage of Maryland state government and the D.C. mayor’s office. In 2006, she moved to the Business desk to become an economic policy reporter and led The Post’s coverage of Washington’s response to the 2008 financial crisis, routinely delivering scoops that rocked the Capitol Hill press corps. Amid the 2011 debt-limit fight, she anchored an award-winning series that illuminated the origins of the national debt.
Lori’s pre-Post career included reporting on the war over Kosovo as Europe bureau chief for Knight Ridder Newspapers and stints in Washington and Detroit for the Free Press. She got her start at the Dallas Times Herald after graduating from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
A proud “yinzer” from rural Western Pennsylvania, Lori took her first newspaper job at the age of 10 delivering the Butler Eagle (continuously publishing since 1903). She now lives with her husband, three daughters and their dog in Northwest D.C., where she is an avid cook, cyclist and Steelers fan.
Please join us in congratulating Lori as she prepares to begin her new duties on Aug. 17.