Former Chicago Tribune staff member Owen Youngman, 55, is prepared to take on a “fast-changing environment” as Medill’s new professor of digital media strategy next fall.

A 37-year-veteran of the Tribune, Youngman stepped down from his position as senior vice president for strategy and development after Thanksgiving. During his time at the Tribune, Youngman held a wide range of positions including managing editor of features, associate managing editor for the financial department and sports editor. He also started the Tribune’s Internet business in the mid-1990s.

Youngman became familiar with Evanston and Northwestern through lectures he gave at both Medill and Kellogg. He has also worked at the Media Management Center and “has a slight familiarity with the ideas behind Medill 2020,” he said.

“I’ve been in a completely different environment for a long time, but I’ve done so many different things in my career and learned a lot about taking on something new,” Youngman said.

Mary Nesbitt, associate dean for curriculum and professional excellence, said she is excited to work with Youngman given his reputation as a “journalism innovator.”

“He started his career as a journalist and then moved into the digital era when it was still very young,” Nesbitt said. “He blends the core values of journalism with a very forward-looking attitude and approach.”

Though Youngman does not yet know the outline of his curriculum, he is confident that everything will fall into place.

“It’s kind of like in a newsroom – when you come in the morning, you don’t know what the news is going to be that day, and your job is to make sense of it,” he said. “I’ll be doing that in the same fashion with a different purpose when I come to Northwestern.”

– Corinne Lestch