Congratulations to GBH’s Debra Adams Simmons who is being inducted today into the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) 2025 Hall of Fame. NABJ pays homage to legendary Black journalists and communicators who have made outstanding contributions to the news and media industries.
Debra Adams Simmons is Editor-in-Chief of Special Editorial Projects at GBH Public Media. Over a four-decade career, she has served as Executive Editor for History and Culture at National Geographic, vice president for strategic diversity initiatives at The Walt Disney Company, and editor and managing editor of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, before becoming a vice president at its parent company, Advance Local. The immediate past board chair of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, she has served as president of the Associated Press Media Editors and on the boards of the American Society of News Editors, the International Women’s Media Foundation, and Signal Ohio, and continues to serve on NABJ’s Strategic Planning Committee. A proud Nieman Foundation Fellow at Harvard, seven-time Pulitzer Prize juror, and judging leader for the National Magazine Awards, she has consulted for the Knight Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.
