Kansas City Star names new top leader after previous executive editor’s promotion

Journalists at The Kansas City Star officially have a new – though familiar – leader.

Managing Editor Andale Gross was appointed as The Star’s next executive editor on Tuesday. He makes history as the first Black editor to lead the 145-year-old organization.

Gross replaces Greg Farmer, who recently was named executive vice president at McClatchy Media, leading local news operations across the company’s 30 markets, which include The Star, the Miami Herald and The Sacramento Bee.

“I’m excited for this opportunity to continue to lead such a talented and smart group of journalists,” Gross said. “The Star and local news are as important to me as they are to Kansas City, and I’m grateful I’ll get to champion all three every day as we chart a course to a bright future for all.”

Gross has spent the past two-plus years as The Star’s managing editor.

Of the transition, Farmer said in an email to the newsroom that his partnership with his successor “has lifted me up every day.”

“Through his thoughtful leadership and excellent journalism chops he has earned this opportunity to lead a newsroom I’ll always be honored to call home,” Farmer said of Gross and The Star.

Before returning to Kansas City, Gross was the race and ethnicity editor at The Associated Press, based in Chicago. But his Missouri roots run deep. Gross grew up about 35 miles north of Columbia in Moberly, Missouri, where he met Lisa, his high school sweetheart. Now married, they have two adult sons, Aja and Avery.

He graduated from the University of Missouri journalism school, and his first job out of college was at The Star as a suburban reporter.

As managing editor, Gross led The Star’s breaking news and follow-up coverage of the Chiefs rally shooting last year and was part of the leadership team that made The Star a top newsroom in McClatchy for readership and subscriber engagement.

“That combination of journalism and business strategy is essential to success in these top newsroom leadership positions, and Andale’s capabilities in both of these will serve The Star well,” Farmer said.