Leona Allen is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who has spent 25 years as a reporter, editor and newsroom manager. She's reported on subjects that include education, criminal justice, local government and state government. She's served as statehouse bureau chief, suburban editor, general assignments editor, night city editor, deputy metro editor, assistant managing editor and deputy managing editor in her career. While at the Akron Beacon Journal, she was part of the reporting team that won the 1994 Pulitzer for public service journalism for its yearlong examination of race relations in the city of Akron. That work sparked community dialogue and interaction that continues today.

Currently, Allen manages a Dallas Morning News staff of more than 100 who produce breaking news, beat coverage, daily stories, enterprise and projects for 1A, the Metro section, and 11 hyper-local weekly sections for print and on the web. As the deputy managing editor, she works closely with advertising, marketing and research to tailor content to readers' needs to take advantage of opportunities to monetize that content. In addition, she manages the department's $2 million annual salary and non-salary budget. The Dallas native has a unique perspective on the newspaper industry having witnessed one of the first local newspaper wars while working at the Morning News' rival Dallas Times Herald until it folded in 1991. The graduate of North Texas State University moved back to the Dallas area in 1994. She lives Rowlett and has a 7-year-old daughter, Lauryn Alexandria.