Hardy to Speak at Women’s Enrichment Series

The award-winning executive editor of The Indianapolis Star and the Midwest regional editor of two dozen Gannett newspapers, will be the final speaker in this year's Marilyn K. Glick Women's Enrichment Series on April 8th.

Katrice Hardy, the IndyStar's first female and Black executive editor, will discuss the nuts and bolts of journalism and, more importantly, how it impacts our lives and greatly enhances the communities we call home. She will discuss the newsroom's goals and priorities and how she wound up in journalism, breaking multiple glass ceilings.

Hardy believes that few understand how critical it is to have a strong local news entity and that community support is key to survival of local journalism. At the IndyStar and her previous newspaper, The Greenville (S.C.) News, Hardy has been instrumental in growing digital news. Here, she also founded a Spanish language newsletter to communicate local news.

When she arrived in Indianapolis, Hardy said she would encourage The Star to be "big, bold, ambitious and innovative." She challenged reporters to "come in here every day and think nontraditionally." One of her goals is to make her newspapers more diverse, reflecting not only minorities but other overlooked populations, such as families raising children with special needs.

Under her leadership, The Greenville News won Editor & Publisher's 2019 award for best community service journalism for "Taken," a year-long investigation into South Carolina's civil asset forfeiture practices.

A graduate of Louisiana State University, Hardy moved up the ranks from reporting to editing in her two decades at The Virginia-Pilot, in Norfolk. After joining Gannett, Hardy served as the USA TODAY Network’s regional editor for the South, overseeing newsrooms in Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina and her native Louisiana. Now, her charges cover newspapers throughout Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.