Star Tribune Media Co., Minnesota’s largest media company, today announced it has named Suki Dardarian its new editor and senior vice president. Dardarian, who has served the Star Tribune for eight years as its senior managing editor and vice president, assumes this position from Rene Sanchez, a New Orleans native, who has been named vice president of news and executive editor of the Times Picayune/The Advocate/Nola.com newsrooms that span Louisiana from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and Lafayette.
In her new role, Dardarian will lead all aspects of the Star Tribune’s newsroom, Minnesota’s largest newsgathering and reporting operation, featuring more than 230 full-time journalists who deliver local and national news and features content across all platforms. These include the nation’s third-largest daily and fourth-largest Sunday metro newspapers (by print circulation), Minnesota’s largest digital-subscriber base (100,000-plus paid digital subscribers), and more than 100 email products and social-media channels.
Dardarian’s promotion follows her eight-year tenure as the senior managing editor of the Star Tribune, where she has spearheaded the company’s renewed focus on local news and public-service journalism. She also has been instrumental in positioning the Star Tribune as the industry vanguard through its embrace of digital transformation and award-winning digital storytelling.
Under the leadership of Sanchez and Dardarian, the Star Tribune won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for what the Pulitzer Prize Board called its “urgent, authoritative and nuanced coverage of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis and of the reverberations that followed.” The Star Tribune also was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for local reporting in 2016 for “A Matter of Dignity,” an exploration of the failings of the healthcare system for the disabled, and again in 2019 for “Denied Justice,” a series that exposed flaws in the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault in Minnesota.
Dardarian joined the Star Tribune in 2014 after a distinguished 14-year career at The Seattle Times, where she ultimately served as managing editor, directing news and enterprise coverage, and worked as a strategist for audience development, digital innovation and community engagement. During that period, The Seattle Times won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News in 2010 and for Investigative Reporting in 2012. Dardarian is also a past president of the Associated Press Media Editors and a two-time Pulitzer Prize juror. She sits on the advisory board for the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication at Penn State University and has served as a juror for the University of Oregon’s Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism.
“Working with Rene and this excellent team of journalists has been quite an honor,” said Dardarian. “I am humbled to continue that work of public-service journalism here, particularly at such a critical time in this community.”
“The Star Tribune is very fortunate to have an extraordinarily talented journalist in Suki Dardarian to take the baton from Rene,” said Mike Klingensmith, publisher and CEO. “They have worked together closely over these past eight years and have created a newsroom culture that embodies our focus on our strengths: local stories, public-service journalism and leadership on digital platforms. I’m confident our newsroom will see a seamless transition and our readers will continue to enjoy uninterrupted excellence in trustworthy journalism.”
The company also announced that it will immediately begin a nationwide search to replace Dardarian as senior managing editor.
Rene Sanchez returns to New Orleans roots
Rene Sanchez helmed the Star Tribune’s newsroom for nearly nine years, expanding the company’s news and features coverage and launching several digital initiatives. In 2013, he was the managing editor when the Star Tribune won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Local News. For the past six years, the Star Tribune’s visual journalism has earned top-five finishes in the Society of News Design’s annual international competition.
Sanchez leaves Minnesota to return to his native New Orleans as the vice president of news and executive editor of the Times Picayune/The Advocate/Nola.com and will manage newsrooms that span the state of Louisiana. For the next several weeks, he will work closely with Dardarian and his Star Tribune colleagues to affect a smooth transition before assuming his new position in April. (Read more from NOLA.com)
“It's hard to leave such a dedicated, talented newsroom,” Sanchez said. “We've been through a lot together, and I am particularly grateful for the entire staff's heroic work of the past two years.
But after nearly nine years in this role, it feels like the right time to embark on a new challenge. The opportunity in my home state is very appealing. And Suki will be a truly great successor.”
“Under virtually any other circumstances, Rene’s distinguished track record would leave us with impossibly large shoes to fill,” said Klingensmith. “The leadership he has provided and the respect he has earned come from a tenacious dedication to superior reporting, editing and mentorship. While we are delighted for him, we will miss his contributions greatly.”
About Star Tribune Media Company:
Star Tribune Media Company LLC is a locally owned, award-winning media company serving Minnesota and the upper Midwest. With the fourth-largest Sunday and third-largest daily circulation metro print newspaper in the U.S., more than 100,000 digital subscribers, a range of digital and home-delivered advertising solutions, and a growing portfolio of events, Star Tribune reaches more consumers than any other Minnesota media brand. For more information, visit www.startribunecompany.com
