Emily Ristow

Director of Local News Transformation, American Press Institute

Emily Ristow is the Director of Local News Transformation at the American Press Institute, where she manages the Major Market Table Stakes program and coordinates efforts across the various Table Stakes programs. Table Stakes is an innovative yearlong program that helps news leaders transform their organizations' journalism and business through intensive change management training.

Before coming to API, Emily was the Loyalty and Engagement News Director for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, her hometown newspaper. She helped develop and oversee the Journal Sentinel's strategy to grow its loyal audience and to increase its number of digital subscribers.

Emily oversaw the newsroom's engagement strategy across digital platforms, including its sites, apps and social media accounts. She developed the Journal Sentinel's social media strategy, and under her direction, the Journal Sentinel grew its Facebook reach by six times in a year.

The social media and digital subscription efforts came out of the Journal Sentinel's participation in the 2017 Table Stakes program. Emily later led the Journal Sentinel team as it participated in the alumni program. She was a coach in the Gannett-McClatchy Table Stakes program.

She also coaches journalists on audience-focused thinking, social listening and digital storytelling techniques.

Previously, Emily was the Journal Sentinel's social media editor. She has also worked as a digital producer, copy editor and print designer. She graduated from the University of Missouri with degrees in journalism and political science.