Bio + Professional Background
Hollis R. Towns is a nationally recognized media strategist who has led successful teams for more than 25 years. He is credited with creating Gannett's police coverage strategy that led to national recognition and for envisioning the Center for Community Journalism (CCJ), a self-contained news structure that combined Gannett's small to mid-sized media properties into a self-sustaining operation.
Hollis is a firm believer in training and coaching. From creating APP University as Editor of the Asbury Park Press to the more recent AMG Academy, the in-house training program launched in 2024 at AL.com, where he most recently served as Editor-in-Chief and VP of Content, Hollis has consistently championed professional development. He also serves as a mentor and coach for the National Association of Black Journalists' talent and development program.
Most recently, Hollis was appointed to the Poynter Institute's National Advisory Board, one of the nation's premiere journalism training and advocacy organizations.
Throughout his career, Hollis's teams have reached the upper echelons of journalistic excellence. His teams have won a bevy of national awards, including being a Pulitzer finalist in the prestigious public service category for a series on New Jersey taxes. His investigative team was featured in the Columbia Journalism Review. Hollis has judged numerous journalism awards, including the Pulitzer (three times) and the Poynter Prizes (twice).
In 2025, Hollis led his team at AL.com to launch Beyond the Violence 2.0, a comprehensive solutions-journalism initiative that seeks to tackle Birmingham’s intractable gun violence. His team won 27 citations at the 2024 Alabama Press Association Awards, winning first-place in numerous categories.
As a savvy digital strategist, Towns introduced data-driven stories to AL.com, implemented SOPHI - an AI tool to drive subscriptions -- and revamped the high school sports coverage. Early results were spectacular. AL.com broke its all-time traffic records in 2024 with 370 million pageviews while subscription growth from preps coverage also set records.
But Hollis is more than a traditional editor; he leans into the business side of journalism, using data to inform decisions and embracing AI to deliver journalism in areas where media companies no longer have reporting firepower. In the early 2000s, his sites were among the earliest to adopt data analytics in newsrooms and implement QR codes to drive online engagement.
Hollis' teams also experimented with early versions of AI to deliver basic real estate and sports stories long before LLMs and everyday artificial intelligence took shape.
As Manny Garcia, executive editor of the Houston Landing, a non-profit news operation in Texas, noted, "Hollis is not your traditional editor. Hollis thinks like a CEO but with the chops of an editor. He's the total package."
Hollis grew up in middle Georgia and graduated from Fort Valley State University. He attended college on a football scholarship and was a standout linebacker in both high school and college. His siblings were standout athletes as well; his sister Paula played for Pat Summit and the Tennessee Lady Vols.
His passion for journalism began in high school when he wrote an essay published in the local paper about how regressive policies divided the races at Peach County High School. At Fort Valley State, Hollis joined the student newspaper and wrote numerous articles that challenged the status quo on campus.
That led to national internships at the Detroit Free Press and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was offered a full-time job at the AJC before graduating from college, which was unheard of at the time for a young journalist landing a position at a national publication.
At the AJC, Hollis covered race relations, public housing, and the Olympic Games. He landed exclusive interviews with icons like President Jimmy Carter, Coretta Scott King, Minister Louis Farrakhan, and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, among others.
Hollis' career progression began when he left the AJC to become managing editor of the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette, an Advance Local daily. His successful work in Michigan led to his being named Executive Editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett operation.
His achievements in Cincinnati brought him to New Jersey, where he oversaw the Asbury Park Press and Gannett's other nine properties in the state. After several promotions, Hollis was named VP of News for Gannett, overseeing more than 150 sites in more than a dozen states in the company's east coast operations.
He most recently served as VP News for AL.com and Alabama Media Group, stepping down in March 2025 to pursue other opportunities.
