Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (retired) of the St. Petersburg Times. Andy Barnes, 68, is a native of New York City and a graduate of Harvard University where he took his degree in history.
He began his professional career on the Providence(R.I.) Journal. After two years in the Army, he joined the Washington Post in 1965. During his eight years at The Post, he rose from reporter to deputy metropolitan editor before taking charge of The Post’s education bureau. During 1969-70, he traveled in Europe and Africa on an Alicia Patterson Fellowship studying urban change. In 1973, Barnes joined the St. Petersburg Times as assistant managing editor and metropolitan editor; in February 1976, he was promoted to managing editor. He became editor and president in April 1984. In 1988 he succeeded Gene Patterson as chief executive of the Times Publishing Company and chairman of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies. He relinquished the titles of Editor and President to Paul Tash in February 2000. Barnes retired as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer in May 2004, positions now held by Tash.
He has served as Chairman of the Newspaper Association of America and of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Ethics Committee. He completed his role of Chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board in 2005, and continues in the role of Chairman of the Board for the Poynter Institute.
Andrew Barnes is married to the former Molly Otis; they have two sons, a daughter, and six grandchildren.
