PERSON: Nicole Carroll

Editor in Chief

Nicole Carroll joined the Arizona Republic in 1999, where she has held jobs ranging from city editor to planning editor to managing editor for features. She was named executive editor of the Republic and azcentral.com in 2008. That same year, Carroll was inducted into the Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Alumni Hall of Fame. In 2015, she was named vice president of news and editor and in 2016 she added regional responsibilities, serving as southwest regional editor for the USA TODAY NETWORK. Carroll received The National Press Foundation’s prestigious 2017 Benjamin C. Bradlee “Editor of the Year” award and, for the past six years, the Republic/azcentral.com has twice been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News.

Carroll led the extensive explanatory reporting project “The Wall” for the USA TODAY NETWORK in 2017. This landmark multi-media report examined in unprecedented detail the current presidential administration’s signature campaign promise to build “a great wall” on the U.S.-Mexico border. The project revealed the challenges and unintended consequences. In addition, the project — for the first time ever –– allowed the public to explore the entire border through immersive experiences that included virtual reality, bots, aerial and 360-degree video, documentaries, photos, podcasts, exclusive investigative reporting and more.

Other recent accomplishments led by Carroll include leading the effort to fight two significant violations of journalists’ First Amendment rights. The Republic fought both cases all the way to the Arizona Court of Appeals — and won. The Republic also launched major projects revealing the reasons behind the record number of abused and neglected children in state care; as well as how the rising Arizona heat disproportionally kills low-income residents. Forty state workers got their jobs back after Republic investigative work revealed they had been wrongly fired. And a two-year concerted investigative effort on the state’s school voucher system revealed it helps mostly the wealthy rather than the poor, as lawmakers had promised.

Nicole has served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes three times (local news, breaking news and public service). In 2018, she was elected to the board of the American Society of News Editors. She recently finished her third and final year as a judge for the national Hearst Journalism Awards, which honor the best in collegiate journalism. Carroll graduated from the Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 1991. She earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University in 1996. After graduation from ASU, she held reporting and editing jobs at the El Paso Times, USA TODAY and the East Valley (Mesa) Tribune. Carroll is married to Phoenix attorney Bradley Hartman and they have 3 children.

— usatoday.com