Melissa Bell

CEO, Chicago Public Media

Melissa Bell joined Chicago Public Media, home to WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times, as CEO in September 2024. Melissa is the co-founder of Vox, which is a leader in explainer journalism, and the former publisher of Vox Media, which includes such publications as Eater, The Verge and SB Nation. Melissa played a critical role in shepherding Vox Media’s merger with New York Magazine and its premium brands, including Vulture, The Cut and The Strategist. Under her leadership, Vox Media’s platforms reached up to 130 million people across its platforms each month, gained 350 million social media followers and earned 6 billion monthly video views and 36 million monthly podcast downloads.

Before starting Vox, Melissa wrote a weekly consumer technology column and oversaw the development of new digital platforms for The Washington Post, including what went on to become their successful Arc XP CMS. Most recently, Melissa was a visiting fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University.