Dan Petty

Consultant, Independent

Dan Petty is an audience, growth and newsroom consultant and the former director of audience strategy at ProPublica, where he led a 16-person team responsible for social media, newsletters, SEO, short-form video, audience analytics and audience-focused product strategy. During his four years at ProPublica, he helped nearly double the organization’s audience while expanding the team from seven to 16 people and building new capabilities.

Previously, he served as director of audience development for MediaNews Group, overseeing audience strategy for newspapers including The Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and other newspapers. Before that, he spent seven years at The Denver Post in a variety of roles and was part of the staff awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting.

Petty has advised independent news organizations as a coach, analyst and consultant through LION Publishers and has worked internationally with journalists and media organizations in Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka through programs supported by the U.S. State Department and the International Center for Journalists.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond and an MBA with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His work focuses on audience strategy, newsroom transformation, digital growth and helping mission-driven news organizations build sustainable relationships with their audiences.