Jess Awtry

Jess Awtry is the Vice President of Digital Strategy & Communications at Pew Research Center.

She leads a team of digital storytellers, audience experts, engineers and communications managers with the shared mission to reach worldwide audiences with the Center’s foundation of facts.

Before joining the Center, Jess helped transform some of the nation’s largest news media properties through a combination of data-driven insights and journalistic ethics. She previously led audience strategy at Newsweek, where she helped the outlet become the fastest growing news site in the nation. Prior to that, Jess led content strategy for the USA TODAY Network, where she helped improve the work of thousands of journalists. 

She has been honored as Gannett’s Innovator of the Year for transforming the way local news operations connect with communities and has received global awards from the Society of News Design and numerous state media association accolades.

Jess is a native Nebraskan with a B.A. in communications from Hastings College. Her background is in community news, a craft she’s deeply passionate about preserving. She has served in newsrooms from Nebraska to Utah, Idaho, Colorado and the Carolinas.