Bridge Michigan expands again, hires editor of innovation, daily news

• Lisa Yanick Litwiller has built a career growing audiences and changing culture
• She becomes Bridge’s executive editor of innovation and daily news on Jan. 3
• Yanick Litwiller is key member of leadership team charged with continuing growth of Bridge to next generation

Award-winning editor Lisa Yanick Litwiller joins Bridge Michigan on Jan. 3 as executive editor of innovation and daily news, capping an expansion designed to lead Michigan’s premier nonprofit news site into another generation of growth.

Yanick Litwiller, 46, of Mount Pleasant comes to Bridge from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Center for Public Integrity, where she was director of audience since 2021. She had a similar role at the Hearst Newspapers chain of 11 daily and five weekly newspapers in Illinois, Michigan and Texas.

Her hiring follows a year of transition in Bridge that includes the retirements of Publisher John Bebow this month and Senior Editor David Zeman on Feb. 1; promotion of Joel Kurth to executive editor of impact and enterprise this summer and the ongoing hiring of two deputy editors.

Related:

• Bridge Michigan top editor David Zeman retiring after award-winning career
• How Bridge Michigan grew from a playground idea to national reputation
• John Bebow retires after building Bridge into national model for nonprofit news

“As we say goodbye to both John Bebow and David Zeman, we’re excited to bring Lisa’s experience to our newsroom and to add a representative of mid-Michigan to the voices at our table,” said Katy Locker, chief executive officer of the Center for Michigan, Bridge’s nonprofit publisher.

“There are endless opportunities for innovation in the delivery of Bridge Michigan’s reporting and our entire team is excited to partner with Lisa to explore these and lead Bridge Michigan to new growth and impact.”

The restructured newsroom is designed to allow Bridge Michigan to continue producing its signature deep-dive investigations into public policy and government, while exploring new ways of reaching readers with different mediums.

Yanick Litwiller has a proven track record of growing audience, fostering culture change and increasing engagement in an ever-changing industry — and she has deep roots in community journalism.  

She not only has helped lead fundraising, engagement and product campaigns, but also led an investigation into child sexual abuse connected to Boys & Girls Club in Connecticut that won national awards.

After years on the national stage, the move to Bridge returns Yanick Litwiller to her roots. 

She grew up in metro Detroit and graduated from Central Michigan University, where she served as an adjunct faculty member for several years. Yanick Litwiller also worked as engagement editor at the Morning Sun in Mount Pleasant and as an on-air personality and news editor at WCFX-FM in Clare and Mount Pleasant.

She is expected to oversee daily production of Bridge Michigan and work closely with Kurth, Growth Strategy Director Bill Emkow and other members of the leadership team.

The moves follow a decade of growth at Bridge, which was founded in 2011 and has won more than 200 state and national journalism awards, including five Michigan Press Association Newspaper of the Year honors and three Michigan Journalist of the Year awards.

In the past three years, Bridge expanded coverage, hiring breaking news, capitol and business reporters and launching new newsletters.

The hiring of two deputy editors also is likely to be announced early next year.