Nancy Gibbs is the director of the Shorenstein Center and the Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice of Press, Politics and Public Policy. Her teaching and research explore the forces shaping the media environment—economic, social, political, technological—with the goal of advancing an information environment that supports and sustains democratic and free societies.
Until 2018, she was Editor in Chief of TIME, directing news and feature coverage for more than 65 million readers across all U.S., European and Asian editions. Gibbs was named TIME’s 17th editor in September 2013, the first woman to hold the position, and remains an Editor at Large. Leading TIME through a period of media upheaval, she built the largest audience in its history, accelerating its transformation into a global, 24/7 digital news operation. She launched a documentary division, Red Border Films, as well as new products in photography, e-commerce and live events. TIME built more than 50 million followers across social channels, and won a primetime Emmy award for its two-part "A Year in Space" documentary, produced with PBS. In her final year at Time Inc., Gibbs also served as Editorial Director of the Time Inc. News Group, overseeing multiplatform content for TIME, Money and Fortune.
During her three decades at TIME, she covered four presidential campaigns and is author of more cover stories than any writer in TIME’s 100 year history, including the black-bordered September 11 special issue, which won the National Magazine Award in 2002. Politico called her “The Poet Laureate of Presidents;” the Chicago Tribune named her one of the Top Ten Magazine writers in the country. She has interviewed five U.S. presidents; numerous US political leaders including Hillary Clinton, Al Gore and John McCain, as well as Michelle Obama and Ivanka Trump; world leaders such as Shinzo Abe, Narendra Modi, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau and UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres; and business leaders like Tim Cook, Sheryl Sandberg, Sundar Pichai and Bill Gates.
She is the co-author, with Michael Duffy, of two best-selling presidential histories: The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity (2012), which spent 30 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list, and The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House (2007). Her writing now appears in the Washington Post as well as TIME, and she has often been a guest on radio and TV news shows, including Meet the Press, CBS This Morning, PBS Newshour, Morning Joe, World News Tonight, This Week and the Today Show. Gibbs also served as a consultant to CBS News and an essayist for the NewsHour on PBS.
Gibbs has lectured extensively on the press and the American presidency, including at the Bush, Reagan, Carter, Johnson and Truman libraries, the Aspen Institute and the National Archives. She has interviewed leaders in technology, health and higher education at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and has lectured on Women and Leadership to both university and business audiences.
Gibbs was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from Yale, summa cum laude, with honors in history, and has a degree in politics and philosophy from Oxford, where she was a Marshall scholar. She has twice served as the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton, teaching a seminar on politics and the press. In addition to the National Magazine Award, she is a recipient of the Matrix award, the Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York, Folio’s Top Women in Media, and many more.
Gibbs currently serves as co-chair of the Center for Communications Leadership and Policy at USC Annenberg; a trustee of the Chautauqua Institution; a board member of the How Institute for Society; a board member of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy; a member of the Council for Responsible Social Media; a member of the More Perfect National Advisory Council and an independent director of Column pbc, a public benefit corporation with a goal of making public information more valuable and accessible.
Executive Education Programs
Leading through the Changing Media Landscape
Upcoming Sessions
Courses
The Politics of the Press
Op-Ed Writing
Sponsored projects include research, training, convening, and other initiatives externally funded through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. Funding sources can include the US federal government, state and local agencies, private foundations, corporations, and foreign entities (public and private).
The below list includes all sponsored projects in progress or completed within the current and past 2 calendar years, administered at the Harvard Kennedy School under the direction of the named faculty member as Principal Investigator. Please note that this list includes only those activities supported by external sponsored funding; other sources of support are not included (e.g., philanthropy, HKS or Harvard internal resources).
Project Title
Sponsor Name
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Transparent Engagement
Harvard Kennedy School is proud of its energetic involvement in the world. To better understand how to solve public problems by improving policy and leadership, we engage directly with policymakers, public leaders, governments, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit businesses whose activities affect those problems. However, we recognize that such engagement can raise questions about perceived and potential conflicts of interest, so we disclose publicly the key professional activities of our faculty outside the Kennedy School. The activities disclosed below are for the most recent reporting period, as defined by University policy. Some may be paid, some may be unpaid, and others may be in exchange for expense reimbursement only.
Outside Professional Activities For Nancy Gibbs
| Organization | Relationship |
|---|---|
| How Institute for Society | Fiduciary board membership |
| Lincoln Institute of Land Policy | Fiduciary board membership |
| Washington Post | Paid media appearance (may include written, audio, video, or other digital format) |
| Lincoln Institute of Land Policy | Reimbursed travel |
| Column pbc. | Fiduciary board membership |
| Column pbc. | Reimbursed travel |
| Chautauqua Institution | Fiduciary board membership |
| Chautauqua Institution | Reimbursed travel |