The Boston Globe
Brian McGrory. Suzanne Kreiter / The Boston Globe, File
updated on December 15, 2025
2 minutes to read
Brian McGrory is returning to The Boston Globe as editor, the company’s co-owner and chief executive Linda Henry announced to staff Monday.
McGrory, currently the chair of Boston University’s journalism department, previously served as Globe editor from 2012 until early 2023. He was succeeded by Nancy Barnes, who announced Friday she would be stepping down from her role at the end of this week. Barnes will remain at the Globe as an editor-at-large, and McGrory will start as editor on Jan. 5.
“Brian’s passion for the Globe and his love of Boston are deeply intertwined,” Henry said in a statement. “We are thrilled to welcome Brian back and look forward to the work our world-class newsroom will continue to do under his leadership.”
McGrory spent 34 years at the Globe, beginning as a reporter in 1989 and rising to become the newsroom’s top editor in 2012. The Globe won three Pulitzer Prizes under his tenure, including the award for breaking news reporting for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing.
At Boston University, McGrory helped launch a local reporting initiative that pairs student journalists with professional news organizations such as Brookline.News, the Dorchester Reporter, and the newly launched Gotta Know Medford. The initiative helps to give students real-world reporting experience while assisting news organizations that have limited resources for local coverage.
McGrory launched the student reporting effort with Steve Greenlee, a former editor at the Globe and The Portland Press Herald, who noted last month that the initiative had published 400 stories. McGrory plans to continue working on the student reporting effort.
Beyond Boston, McGrory has also been integral to the rise of the Baltimore Banner, a three-year old digital publication that has quickly become a dominant news source in the city and competed with the long-running Baltimore Sun newspaper. McGrory has held a handful of roles at the burgeoning publication — which won its first Pulitzer Prize in May — including both interim editor and interim chief executive.
“Brian has a distinguished track record across journalism, academia, and nonprofit news, including his recent role as Chair of the BU Journalism Department and several leadership positions at the Baltimore Banner where he directed transformative digital initiatives,” a Globe spokesperson said in a statement. “His journalistic voice and commitment to our team and community are widely respected. We look forward to welcoming Brian back to the Globe.”
McGrory is returning to the Globe after Barnes’ three-year tenure. She arrived at the Globe in 2023 after stints leading newsrooms at NPR, the Houston Chronicle, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the latter of which has since been renamed the Minnesota Star Tribune.
During her time as editor, the Globe was named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize reporting in public service — one of the most prestigious awards in journalism — for its reporting on the Steward Health Care crisis. The Globe has also been recognized nationally for its digital report, as well as investigations into the Charles and Carol Stuart murder case and the death of Sandra Birchmore.
