Leona Allen

Leona Allen, a Pulitzer-Prize winner, became Deputy Publisher of The Dallas Morning News in August 2020. She's responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the company. In April 2022, her role expanded to include Chief Talent and Diversity Officer for The News and Medium Giant, the company's marketing services agency.

During her 36-year career and nearly 28 years at the company, she's also served as deputy managing editor for Local News, assistant managing editor, night city editor, suburban editor and deputy Metro editor. In those roles, she was deeply involved in community relations and ensuring that coverage was representative of all aspects of he communities our products served

More recently, she was a member of the editorial board specializing in politics, education and racial justice issues. She's been involved in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts her entire career.

The Dallas native previously worked as an editor and reporter at The Dallas Times Herald and the Akron Beacon Journal. While in Akron, she was part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting team that won the Public Service award for a yearlong series on race relations in that city.

She served nearly a decade as the chair of Dallas Morning News Charities that has contributed $30 million over the years to organizations that serve the hungry and homeless in North Texas. And she's vice president of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas board of directors.

She's a proud graduate of North Texas State University and Skyline High School in Dallas.