Audrey Cooper

Audrey Cooper is the editor-in-chief of The Banner, which she joined in 2025 as part of her lifelong mission to save local news — the kind that fuels civic conversations, strengthens communities and occasionally delights. Before joining The Banner in 2025, she served as editor-in-chief of New York Public Radio, where she built a multiplatform newsroom serving millions of residents with podcasts, news articles, live talk shows and in-depth investigative reporting. Under her leadership, the organization was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for the first time in its 100-year history. Prior to that experience, Audrey became the youngest woman ever hired as the top editor of a major U.S. newspaper when she took the helm of the San Francisco Chronicle. There, she transformed the newsroom into a digital powerhouse and played an instrumental role in its financial turnaround. The Chronicle earned nearly every major national journalism award during her tenure, and the California News Publishers Association named it the state’s best large newspaper every year she led it. A self-proclaimed history buff who will do almost anything for a good walking tour, Audrey lives in Baltimore with her husband, her teenage son, and a very lazy dog.