Melissa Bell is the CEO of Chicago Public Media, the largest nonprofit local news organization in the nation.

Bell is also the co-founder of Vox, the industry-changing explanatory news network launched in 2014 to bring context and clarity to the news. Under her leadership, Vox became an award-winning multi-platform newsroom with over 11 million subscribers to its YouTube channel and an audio slate that includes the flagship daily news show Today Explained, one of the nation’s top 20 podcasts. Recently, Today Explained made its debut on public radio, where it reaches 1 million weekly listeners in addition to its podcast audience.

Prior to Chicago Public Media, Bell served at Vox Media, Vox’s parent company, as its publisher beginning in 2016, overseeing the company’s editorial brands and playing a critical role in shepherding Vox Media’s merger with New York Magazine, along with their premium brands of Vulture, The Cut, Intelligencer, Grub Street, and The Strategist. The merger brought together 13 distinct newsrooms that collectively have earned 50+ National Magazine Awards, 20 James Beard Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and a News & Documentary Emmy. She also helped with the acquisition of Group Nine’s portfolio of brands, including The Dodo, NowThis, and Thrillist. During her tenure, the company launched its premium brand content design studio, The Explainer Studio, its top-ten podcast network Vox Media Podcast Network, and its television studio, Vox Media Studios, fueled by Vox’s successful Netflix Show Explained, and HBO’s Level Playing Field.

Prior to starting Vox, Bell was the Director of Platforms at The Washington Post where she was the newsroom lead on the development of what would become the Post’s successful software service, ARC XP. Prior to that, she was one of the top-read writers at the Washington Post as a blogger and a columnist for their Style section. In 2007, Bell was part of the founding team at Mint newspaper, which has since become the second-largest business newspaper in India.

read more