Mi-Ai Parrish is a journalist and media executive, most recently president of USA TODAY NETWORK Arizona, and publisher of The Arizona Republic, a daily newspaper, and azcentral.com in Phoenix, Arizona. It is the largest media company in Arizona and the largest local media company in the USA TODAY Network and a Pulitzer Prize winner in her tenure. She is the first minority to be named to that position. She holds an endowed chair at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communitications as Sue Clark-Johnson Professor of Media Innovation and Leadership. She also is CEO and President of MAP Strategies Group. Previously, she was president and publisher of The Kansas City Star and kansascity.com, and was the first woman and first minority to hold that post. Five years prior to that, she was president and publisher of The Idaho Statesman, which was a Pulitzer-Prize finalist in breaking news. She was an editor and writer in newsrooms including the Chicago Sun-Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Star Tribune, Virginian-Pilot and Arizona Republic before becoming a president and publisher. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Merrill College of Journalism, and was named the 2013 Journalism Alumna of the Year. Parrish has also served twice as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize.
Awards and honors
Parrish is the 2018 winner of the Ocotillo Award for Legislative Advocacy, 2017 winner of the ATHENA Businesswoman of the Year, recipient of the Asian Corporate Entrepreneur Leader Corporate Champion, and PSA Behavioral Health Corporate Champion award winner. She was 2016 Best Opinion Writer in the USA TODAY Network for work on the First Amendment and freedom of speech. Parrish was honored with Gannett Company's annual award for company Purpose. She is the vice chairwoman of the Banner Foundation Health board, the secretary of the Greater Phoenix Leadership board, appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey as a Zanjero business ambassador, and serves on the boards of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Sandra Day O'Connor Institute, Poynter Institute Advisory Board, American Cancer Society CEOs Against Cancer, and Arizona Community Foundation. Parrish has provided commentary on free speech and the First Amendment to outlets including ABC World News Tonight, CNN, Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, CBS Evening News, Sky TV, UnoTV, BBC and others. Her work has been covered in the Washington Post, USA TODAY, New York Times and more.
2016 U.S. presidential race
Parrish has been the focus of politically motivated threats of physical violence based on The Arizona Republic, a Republican-supporting newspaper, endorsing Hillary Clinton, the Democratic president nominee. The newspaper staff have been threatened with physical violence.
2017 Arizona Legislature Sex Harassment Investigations
After a female member of the Arizona State House of Representatives lodged allegations of harassment by another Arizona house member, other women spoke out. Parrish published an account of an encounter with the accused legislator that had been witnessed by her attorney.
