Jena Janovy

Jena Janovy is a senior deputy editor who directs and coordinates feature and enterprise storytelling for ESPN and espnW. She is responsible for maximizing the high quality and amplifying the value of ESPN's enterprise storytelling by driving content planning, strategy and execution across platforms. She oversees ESPN.com and espnW collaborations with ESPN The Magazine, The Undefeated, ESPN International, linear feature teams, audio and social channels to deliver ESPN’s most ambitious storytelling to fans wherever they are.

Jena joined ESPN in 2006 and previously co-directed the ESPN Digital & Print Media Enterprise team, establishing the vision, strategy, goals, operations, management, structure, personnel and processes for the production of digital and print features, projects and enterprise storytelling. She has won two Sports Emmys and been nominated for four additional Sports Emmys for her work as coordinating producer of content for ESPN.com.

Jena began her journalism career in 1988 at The Omaha World-Herald. Before joining ESPN, she was an assistant sports editor at The Charlotte Observer, where she oversaw NFL, NBA and enterprise coverage. Prior to Charlotte, she held reporting and editing positions in metro news and sports at The Omaha World-Herald and The Anniston Star.

Jena is a former member of the ESPN Editorial Board. She was a 2015 fellow in the Punch Sulzberger Leadership Program at Columbia University. She is a member of the Association for Women in Sports Media; Investigative Reporters and Editors; and the Online News Association. She's a past president of the Omaha Press Club, where she was chairwoman of publications, education and finance committees, a writer and cast member for the Press Club Show and member of the Omaha Press Club Journalism Education Inc. board of directors. She was a 1992 Fellow at the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, University of Maryland College of Journalism, studying race, class and ethnicity.

Jena, a native of Lincoln, Neb., holds a master of science degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor of arts degree in political science from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she was a captain and starter for the women's basketball team. She lives in West Hartford, Conn., with her dog, Maddie.