Gretchen Day-Bryant, who started at the South Florida Sun Sentinel as a copy editor close to 40 years ago and rose to become managing editor in 2022, was announced Wednesday as the next executive editor of the media company.
She is set to replace Julie Anderson as editor-in-chief when she retires on Dec. 13. Anderson made the announcement during a staff-wide meeting Wednesday afternoon. The two have worked closely together over the last two years and expect the transition to be seamless for the paper.
“I’m honored and excited to take on this new role at a news organization and community I’ve loved serving for 35 years,” Day-Bryant said in a statement. “Pursuing excellent local journalism is as vital as it’s ever been, and I’m inspired every day by the dedicated reporters, photographers and editors I have the privilege of working with.”
Day-Bryant was born in South Dakota and holds a journalism degree from the University of Kansas. She began her career at the Sun Sentinel in 1985 as a copy editor, then spent three years as features editor with a Gannett paper in Delaware before returning to the Sun Sentinel in 1993. Over the years, she has held a variety of features and entertainment editing roles, overseeing topics including restaurants, health, theater, travel, niche publications and special projects.
She has been involved with both the digital and hard news sides of journalism, from the launch of the entertainment website SouthFlorida.com to the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“Gretchen Day-Bryant is a natural choice to be the Sun Sentinel’s new editor,” said Greg Mazanec, regional publisher for the Sun Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel among other newspapers. “She has deep roots in the community and the support of the newsroom. I look forward to working with her.”
Day-Bryant previously served as president of the national Society for Features Journalism. She is married to a Broward County schoolteacher, and has two adult children.
For the last six years, Anderson had served as editor-in-chief of both the Sun Sentinel and its sister paper, the Orlando Sentinel. Her departure signifies a change for the two papers, which will now have two different leaders. On Wednesday, the Orlando Sentinel also announced that Roger Simmons, the newspaper’s current managing editor, would be promoted to executive editor. Simmons has served as managing editor since 2019 and joined Tribune Publishing in 1988 as an editor of Cable TV news products.
The two papers worked together under Anderson to implement a statewide coverage strategy that led to more stories about politics, the environment and public health. Though they will no longer share an editor-in-chief, the relationship between them will continue under Day-Bryant and Simmons.
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