Meyer named Chronicle publisher

HOUSTON – Nancy Meyer, a veteran newspaper leader and president of the Miami Herald, is the new publisher of the Houston Chronicle. 
Hearst Corp., the Chronicle’s New York-based parent company, made the announcement. Meyer, the first female publisher of the Chronicle, succeeds John McKeon, who announced in August his plan to retire after more than 40 years in the newspaper business.
“Nancy has a great track record of successfully leading several large newspapers during her career,” said Jeff Johnson, president of Hearst Newspapers. “She is a forward-thinking and thoughtful leader who has strong business acumen and values the critical role that newspapers play in their local market. I look forward to Nancy’s engagement with the Houston Chronicle team and the greater community.”
Meyer, 58, brings nearly three decades of newspaper experience to the Chronicle, including as publisher of the Miami Herald, the Orlando Sentinel and the Hartford Courant. Between 2016 and 2018, she was president of the Bergen Record of New Jersey, part of Gannett’s USA Today network. 
Meyer was president of the Miami Herald for less than a year when she was recruited by Hearst for the Chronicle job. Her hire is somewhat of a homecoming for Meyer; she was the advertising director at two Hearst papers between 1997 and 2006: the Times Union of Albany, N.Y. and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Meyer said she plans to expand the Chronicle’s audience across its print and digital platforms, as well as extending the paper’s reach into Houston’s diverse communities. She said she will work with the Chronicle’s leaders to increase digital subscriptions and provide the kind of journalism that keeps readers coming back. 
Meyer began her career as a classified advertising salesperson for the Star Gazette in Elmira, N.Y. The native of Hillsborough, N.J., said she became interested in the newspaper business at an early age, having grown up in a family that subscribed to three newspapers. 
She attended Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, Pa., and graduated in 2012 from the University of Hartford in Hartford, Conn., majoring in education and communication studies. In addition, she has professional certificates from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism — Newspaper Management Center, and the American Press Institute for Advertising Leadership.
Outside the newspaper industry, Meyer is active in the local community, serving on business chambers, community foundations and nonprofits, such as the United Way. A breast cancer survivor of almost 20 years, Meyer served on the executive board of the Southern New England Chapter of Susan G. Komen Foundation, a Dallas-based charity that advocates for breast cancer patients and funds research.