Audrey Cooper is the editor in chief of the San Francisco Chronicle, the first woman to fill the role in the company’s 153-year history. She is also the youngest woman ever named as the top editor of a major U.S newspaper-based company.

San Francisco magazine has declared her one of the city’s most powerful women. Editor and Publisher magazine named her one of the world’s “Top 10 Women to Watch” and Advertising Age named her one of their “Top 40 under 40.” She’s been featured in Cosmopolitan magazine “50 Fearless Women” issue and is a regular speaker and interviewer.

Under Audrey’s leadership,The Chronicle has emerged as one of the country’s most innovative media outlets. Among other things, she started an in-house incubator program to explore new types of digital journalism. She started the SF Homeless Project, a first-of-its-kind collaboration of more than 80 news outlets dedicated to reporting on solutions to end homelessness. And In 2016, The Chronicle became the first newspaper-based company to show a feature-length documentary in nearly a dozen film festivals around the world.

Audrey prioritizes investigative and explanatory journalism, and recently restarted her newsroom’s investigative team. Areas of emphasis have included the botched multibillion dollar rebuilding of the Bay Bridge, the deadly 2011 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion, the city’s forgotten AIDS survivors, and the criminalization of children in the state’s foster shelter program. This body of work led California’s leading newspaper association to name The Chronicle the state’s best large newspaper each year Audrey has been editor.

A native of the Kansas City area, Audrey graduated magna cum laude from Boston University, which has honored her as a distinguished alumna. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and their 5-year-old son.

In her spare time, Audrey volunteers for San Francisco City Guides, a nonprofit that gives free walking tours of San Francisco.