Drew Davis

Andrew B. Davis is President and Executive Director of API, joining the institute in December, 2003. With its campus in Reston, VA, since 1946, API has been the newspaper industry’s executive education and research center training more than 1,000 newspaper leaders each year.  The institute’s Newspaper Next project is pioneering concepts for new business models for traditional news media. Davis was previously director of innovation and business development for the Media Management Center at Northwestern University.

A major general in the Marine Corps Reserve, Davis served between July 2001 and July 2003 as director of Marine Corps Public Affairs at the Pentagon and took a leadership role in conceiving the embedding program for frontline journalists in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. From 2005 to 2007 he commanded U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa. He retired from Marine Corps service in October 2008.

Prior to joining the Media Management Center, Davis was president of Chicago Sun-Times Features, Inc., a division of The Sun-Times Company, and of Performance Media, a custom publishing division he conceived and developed into a multi-million-dollar venture. He also was vice-president of the Sun-Times Company. For 10 years he was group publisher and newspaper operations vice-president of Pioneer Newspapers, a 41-newspaper group based in suburban Chicago. He holds a bachelor's degree cum laude in English literature from Princeton University and a master's degree with distinction in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School.