The Chicago Tribune has handed the keys to its daily newsroom operation to veteran journalist Stacy St. Clair. The paper announced Friday that St. Clair has been promoted to managing editor and will step into the role on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, taking over day-to-day newsroom leadership. She succeeds Phil Jurik as the Tribune continues to reshape its editorial ranks.
The staffing move was detailed in an internal announcement that the Chicago Tribune later reported publicly. St. Clair will move from senior content editor into the managing editor post, while Jurik will shift into an enterprise editor and writing coach role after three years in the top newsroom job. The memo casts the shuffle as a bid to sharpen the paper’s focus on enterprise and watchdog reporting, not just shuffle nameplates on office doors.
Veteran Reporter With High-Profile Chops
St. Clair joined the Tribune in 2007 and has logged a long list of high‑profile assignments, including coverage of the Kyle Rittenhouse and Jason Van Dyke trials, unrest after George Floyd’s killing, the COVID‑19 pandemic, and five Olympic Games. Before landing at the Tribune, she spent nearly 12 years at the Daily Herald and earned a journalism degree from the University of Missouri‑Columbia, according to the Chicago Journalists Association. Editors point to that résumé, along with regional awards, as key reasons she was tapped to help steer the paper’s coverage.
Newsroom Reset Amid Lingering Tensions
In the internal message announcing the change, Executive Editor Mitch Pugh praised St. Clair as “an exceptional leader and journalist,” the Tribune reported. The promotion lands as the paper is still recalibrating after years of staff reductions and shifting business models, trends examined by Northwestern’s Local News Initiative and recent reporting in the Chicago Sun-Times. With St. Clair in the managing editor chair, Tribune leadership says it expects tighter coordination on enterprise projects and clearer priorities in the daily news grind.
