Deep South Today, the nonprofit network of local newsrooms that includes Mississippi Today, Verite News and The Current, has named Hollis R. Towns as its first chief operating officer.
Towns is an experienced journalist and media executive who most recently held senior leadership positions at Gannett and AL.com and Alabama Media Group. In his role as chief operating officer, Towns will be responsible for translating strategy into actionable steps, sustainably scaling the organization, driving operational integrity and strengthening the fiscal business hub. His appointment is the result of a national search conducted over the last six months by BoardWalk Consulting.
Hollis Towns“Hollis Towns is bringing precisely the kind of skills and expertise that Deep South Today needs at a moment when we are poised for dramatic growth,” said Warwick Sabin, president and CEO of Deep South Today. “He is an accomplished journalist and a proven business strategist with a deep understanding of talent development, digital innovation and financial management. Hollis is also a Georgia native who now lives in Alabama, so he is intimately familiar with our region. I am looking forward to working closely with him to advance our work and deliver more local journalism to the communities we serve.”
Towns is a nationally recognized media strategist who has led successful teams for more than 25 years. He is credited with creating Gannett’s police coverage strategy that led to national recognition and for envisioning the Center for Community Journalism, a self-contained news structure that combined Gannett’s small to mid-sized media properties into a self-sustaining operation.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Warwick and Deep South Today as its first COO,” Towns said. “It represents a pivot and it affords me the opportunity to leverage my deep management, news and leadership experience. Deep South Today is already a well-regarded and fast-growing media operation; I’m excited about building on that.”
Throughout his career, Towns’ teams have reached the upper echelons of journalistic excellence. His teams have won a bevy of national awards, including being a Pulitzer finalist in the prestigious public service category for a series on New Jersey taxes. His investigative team was featured in the Columbia Journalism Review. Towns has judged numerous journalism awards, including the Pulitzer Prizes (three times) and the Poynter Prizes (twice). In 2025, Towns led his team at AL.com to launch Beyond the Violence 2.0, a comprehensive solutions-journalism initiative that seeks to tackle Birmingham’s intractable gun violence. His team won 27 citations at the 2024 Alabama Press Association Awards, winning first place in numerous categories.
According to Manny Garcia, the former editor-in-chief of the Houston Landing, “Hollis thinks like a CEO but with the chops of an editor. He’s the total package.”
Towns grew up in middle Georgia and graduated from Fort Valley State University. He attended college on a football scholarship and was a standout linebacker in both high school and college. He interned at the Detroit Free Press and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was offered a full-time job at the AJC before graduating from college. After working at the AJC, he was managing editor of the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette before being named executive editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer. His achievements in Cincinnati took him to New Jersey, where he oversaw the Asbury Park Press and Gannett’s other nine properties in the state. After several promotions, Towns was named VP of news for Gannett, overseeing more than 150 sites in more than a dozen states in the company’s East Coast operations. He most recently served as VP of news for AL.com and Alabama Media Group.
From creating APP University as Editor of the Asbury Park Press to the more recent AMG Academy, the in-house training program launched in 2024 at AL.com, Towns has consistently championed professional development. He also serves as a mentor and coach for the National Association of Black Journalists talent and development program. Towns was appointed to the Poynter Institute’s National Advisory Board, one of the nation’s premier journalism training and advocacy organizations.
Towns’ first day as chief operating officer with Deep South Today was Monday.
ABOUT DEEP SOUTH TODAY
Deep South Today is a nonprofit network of local newsrooms that includes Mississippi Today, Verite News and The Current.
Founded in 2016, Mississippi Today is now the largest newsroom in the state, and in 2023 it won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. Verite News launched in 2022 in New Orleans, where it covers inequities facing communities of color. The Current is a nonprofit news organization founded in 2018 serving Lafayette and southern Louisiana.
With its regional scale and scope, Deep South Today is rebuilding and re-energizing local journalism in communities where it had previously eroded, and ensuring its long-term growth and sustainability.
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