An early love for sports writing opened the door to a life in journalism for George Stanley.
Stanley is a native of Laredo, Texas, where his father flew fighter jets in the U.S. Air Force. After his time in the service, his father’s work in the paper industry brought the family to Green Bay.
Stanley’s interest in journalism grew after he won an Associated Press sports writing contest at Abbot Pennings High School in De Pere. He went on to study journalism at UW-Madison and began his career at the Lake Geneva Regional News, Ducks Unlimited magazine and the Kansas, Wichita Eagle.
In 1989, Stanley returned to Wisconsin as a state reporter for the Milwaukee Sentinel. He became the business editor of the Sentinel in 1993 and took over the same position when the Sentinel and Milwaukee Journal merged in 1995.
Stanley was named editor of the Journal Sentinel in 2015 after leading the newsroom as managing editor for 18 years. Under Stanley’s leadership the Journal Sentinel won every major prize in journalism. The newspaper was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist ten times in the 21st century and won the Pulitzer Prize three times during Stanley’s editorial tenure.
Stanley served as president of the News Leaders Association in 2021 and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association in 2023. He was a leader for many years in the Wisconsin Associated Press Editors, the Associated Press Managing Editors and the American Society of News Editors.
