Ann M. Simmons, award-winning journalist and former WSJ Moscow bureau chief, named executive editor of Northeastern Global News
For three decades, Simmons has reported on the world’s most vital stories — from political upheaval in Russia to wildfires in Los Angeles. She will join Northeastern’s award-winning news organization in October.
For more than three decades, Ann M. Simmons has been where some of the world’s most significant news events have unfolded: Russia, as policies shifted under Mikhail Gorbachev and later Vladimir Putin; West Africa during civil war; the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her next stop: Northeastern University.
Simmons, a decorated journalist and former Moscow bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, has been named executive editor of Northeastern Global News, the university’s award-winning news organization. Currently based in London, Simmons will join NGN’s Boston-based newsroom Oct. 13.
“I am honored to be joining Northeastern, and I’m really excited about this opportunity,” Simmons says. “The university’s global mission is remarkable. NGN is here to share its stories, and I’m hoping to be able to help push it into the stratosphere.”
A veteran international reporter who has worked in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and North America, Simmons has expertise in Russia and the former Soviet empire. She covered a failed coup attempt against Gorbachev’s presidency in the 1990s for Time Magazine. As the WSJ’s Moscow bureau chief from 2018 to 2025, she had a close-up view of the social, political and economic changes of Putin’s regime.
In between, she served as a writer and editor on global development for the Los Angeles Times, reporting in Africa and the United States. She was part of a reporting team whose coverage of wildfires in California won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news.
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Renata Nyul, Northeastern’s vice president for communications, says that Simmons’ wealth of global experience makes her a perfect fit for the future of NGN.
“Northeastern Global News continues to set the standard for excellence as a news platform with a mission to promote knowledge,” Nyul says. “I am thrilled to welcome Ann, a global journalist whose award-winning work at some of the world’s most premier news organizations has influenced how we understand consequential geopolitical issues. Her leadership will not only mark a new chapter for NGN — it will take us further in our mission to inform and inspire.”
Simmons has a reputation in journalism circles as a courageous, unflinching reporter with a steadfast commitment to the truth. She’s a go-to source on Russia for TV news programs, appearing most recently to discuss its latest developments on networks, including ABC and CNN. In August, she was named Foreign Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists.
What Simmons loves about journalism is the perpetual opportunity to delve deeper — to get past surface-level headlines and narratives to uncover fresh, human stories that can educate and have a lasting impact. That impulse makes her eager to dive into the world-class research and expertise on hand at Northeastern, and explore new and innovative ways to share it with the world.
“There is so much going on in terms of science and technology,” she says. “We’ll be looking to highlight all of the innovations across our campuses. We’ve got terrific AI research here, and I want to get more involved in that because it’s the future.”
That appetite to always learn more — in the field and through formal study — has been another feature of Simmons’ career. She has a double honors bachelor’s degree in Russian and Norwegian, as well as a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, where she received a 2025 Alumni Award for her outstanding contributions to journalism. She was a Nieman fellow at Harvard University and, in spring 2025, a resident fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics.
Simmons added, “I’ve reported on the frontlines on many of the world’s most important stories over the past three decades. I’m now looking forward to reporting from a new frontier—Northeastern.”