MPR News names managing editor and promotes veteran editor/correspondent to deputy managing editor, investigations
Dec 18, 2025
Darius Walker to join the organization, while longtime senior editor and correspondent Curtis Gilbert will move to new role
ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec. 18, 2025 – Following a national search, MPR News announces two major leadership hires: Darius Walker will be the station’s new managing editor, and Curtis Gilbert will be the deputy managing editor of investigations. The two will start in their new roles on Jan. 5 and Dec. 28, respectively.
“Both Darius and Curtis have deep journalistic experience that will bring strong leadership to our already stellar MPR News and APM Reports teams,” said Duchesne Drew, president of Minnesota Public Radio. “Their skills and expertise will be incredibly important as we continue our mission and serve our audiences. We’re thrilled to welcome both of them into their new roles in the newsroom.”
Award-winning journalist Darius Walker joins MPR News with extensive journalistic and leadership experience, both at the local and national levels. His local experience includes WBZ Radio and WBZ TV along with WNEV TV in Boston, WNBC in New York City and WAGA in Atlanta. Walker also built and managed high-performing teams and successfully executed platforms on a national level for NPR, CNN and CBS News.
Walker served as Senior Vice President and Senior Executive Producer of CBS News Digital, where he launched CBS News’ streaming channel globally, growing traffic from 250,000 to 2,500,000 users. As CNN’s VP and NY/NE Bureau Chief, Walker managed all editorial resources, production, and assignments for a team of 95 correspondents, producers, photojournalists, and editors. He directed editorial and newsgathering for major news events, including the Boston Marathon bombing and the Sandy Hook shooting. Walker was also the Senior Director of News for CNN Washington DC where he oversaw all news gathering, including teams at the White House, Congress and Pentagon.
Walker has earned multiple national awards, including Emmy, Peabody and duPont awards, and was the first recipient of the New York Association of Black Journalists’ Trailblazer Award. Walker studied journalism at Northeastern University and Executive Management and Leadership at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.
As managing editor, Walker will lead daily coverage of MPR News across all channels, collaborating with executive editor Jane Helmke, program director Stephanie Curtis, and a standout team of deputy managing editors.
“I’m excited to join the award-winning team at MPR,” Walker said. “It’s refreshing to see the passion and caring this team has in sharing and covering stories that have real impact on the community that they serve. I look forward to growing with this team and helping new audiences experience the quality of MPR News’ work.”
Curtis Gilbert has been a reporter, producer and editor for MPR News for more than two decades. He joined the investigative/enterprise APM Reports team when it launched in 2015, and he currently serves as senior editor.
Gilbert’s work, which has been featured on NPR, “Reveal” from The Center for Investigative Reporting and many public radio stations, has uncovered wrongdoing and held the powerful accountable across the nation. His journalism leadership in partnership with Alaska Public Media led to resignations by government officials in Anchorage, and he revealed abuse and lax oversight at for-profit facilities intended to house and support troubled teenagers in the podcast “Sent Away,” produced in partnership with KUER and The Salt Lake Tribune.
Most recently, Gilbert supported the highly acclaimed podcast “Sold a Story,” which has exposed a national literacy crisis and has led to calls for change in classrooms nationwide.
As deputy managing editor of investigations, Gilbert will oversee APM Reports and MPR News enterprise and investigative projects in Minnesota and beyond. He will also further APM Reports’ goal of creating groundbreaking, national work and collaboration in education and mental health.
Gilbert is a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, where he also teaches a class in narrative journalism. He grew up in rural central Maine and now lives with his wife and son in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“I’ve been part of these newsrooms for my whole career,” Gilbert said. “I’m excited about helping them take big swings, tell powerful stories and spark positive change — in Minnesota and across the country.”
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About MPR News
MPR News has long been recognized as one of the foremost journalistic organizations in the Upper Midwest, reaching news consumers across all platforms. Reaching over 500,000 weekly listeners, the MPR News radio signal can be heard by 95 percent of Minnesotans. MPR News has received numerous awards for its reporting, including George Foster Peabody Awards, the Alfred I. DuPont Award and the RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Award. Visit mprnews.org for the latest regional, national and international headlines.
Source: Data are copyright Nielsen Audio
About APM Reports
APM Reports is the award-winning national investigative journalism unit based at MPR News. The APM Reports’ team of investigative journalists, producers, editors and researchers conduct in-depth reporting on national issues that are often hidden from public view. APM Reports’ work includes the podcasts Sent Away, In Deep and the groundbreaking Sold a Story, winner of some of the highest awards in journalism including the duPont and Murrow awards and a Peabody nomination. APM Reports’ investigations and audio documentaries are published at APMReports.org. Follow along at @apmreports on Facebook and Instagram.