Jim Brady is the Vice President of Journalism for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Brady, who joined Knight in August 2021, is a longtime digital media innovator whose experience ranges from leading major brands such as washingtonpost.com and Digital First Media to starting a company that built and sold local news sites in three cities.

Before his appointment at Knight, Brady served as CEO of Spirited Media, a consulting firm which launched and operated local news sites Billy Penn in Philadelphia, The Incline in Pittsburgh and Denverite in Denver before selling the businesses in 2019.

Prior to Spirited Media, Brady held a wide range of media executive roles, including Executive Editor of washingtonpost.com, Editor in Chief of Digital First Media, General Manager of TBD, Head of News and Sports for America Online and in various other roles. He also served as ESPN’s public editor from 2015-18.

Brady has spent 34 years in journalism, almost 27 of those in digital. He’s worked for legacy operations, digital-only companies and started his own company. He’s worked in print, broadcast and startup operations. He’s led editorial, product, technology and revenue teams. He’s been an intrapreneur and entrepreneur. He’s been through three mergers, three sales, two bankruptcies and dozens of reorganizations.

In addition to these management positions, Brady has consulted work at Graham Media Group, WBEZ, Automattic/WordPress, The Guardian, the Philadelphia Inquirer, NBC and Politico.

Brady is a Past President of the Online News Association, and, in 2017, received the Rich Jaroslovsky Award for his long service to ONA. He has served on the boards of the News Media Alliance, American Press Institute and National Press Foundation and recently concluded a four-year term as a member of the Poynter Institute’s National Advisory Board. He is also a two-time judge of the Pulitzer Prizes.

Brady earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Print Journalism from The American University in 1989, and 21 years later, won the school’s Alumni Achievement Award.

Born in New York City and raised in Huntington, N.Y., Brady lives with his wife, Joan, in the Washington D.C. area. They are inveterate road trippers, having done three 48-state tours of the United States with their dogs, the latter chronicled on the Fred and Hank Mark America blog. Brady also holds out hope that, someday, the Jets, Mets or Knicks will bring him some joy.