Duchesne Drew

Duchesne Drew is the President of Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), a subsidiary of American Public Media Group and one of the nation’s premier public radio outlets. In this role, he leads the teams that produce MPR News, The Current, APM Reports, and YourClassical, while overseeing MPR’s rapidly expanding digital, social, and mobile services. Drew is responsible for MPR’s strategy, programming, and daily operations, serving a growing audience across the 46-station network in Minnesota and surrounding states.

Before joining American Public Media Group, Drew worked with the Bush Foundation, a private foundation based in St. Paul, Minn. There, he directed leadership programs, community innovation initiatives, and communications teams while building networks across the region as Vice President of the Community Network.

Before his work at the Bush Foundation, Drew was Managing Editor of Operations at the Star Tribune, where he began as a summer intern and ultimately rose to one of the most senior roles in the newsroom. In addition to overseeing a staff of over 50, he managed the newsroom’s recruitment and training programs and spearheaded community outreach efforts. Drew’s leadership and contributions to journalism were recognized in 2019 when he was honored with the Widening the Circle Award by ThreeSixty Journalism, a recognition for individuals advancing the next generation of journalists and promoting inclusion and diversity.

In 2021, Drew was inducted into the Hall of Achievement at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He was also awarded the 2022 Spurgeon Award for outstanding community leadership and was named to The Root 100 in 2022 and 2024, an annual list of the most influential Black Americans in arts, community, business, entertainment, media, and politics.

Drew’s commitment to community building and service is reflected in his extensive volunteer work. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the McKnight Foundation, which works to advance a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and the planet thrive. He serves on the board of the Station Resource Group, which provides strategic support to public radio stations across the country. He contributes his leadership to the Leadership Learning Community, which strives to transform leadership development to promote a more equitable society.

Drew was born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island. He graduated from Columbia College with a BA in History, having served as news editor for the Columbia Daily Spectator. He later earned an MS in Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he was later a McCormick Fellow at the Media Management Center. Drew’s previous university service includes the Columbia Daily Spectator board, and he participated in the Council of Foundations’ Career Pathways philanthropic leadership program.