Nelson named Journal Sentinel business editor
Veteran Milwaukee editor and reporter Jim Nelson has been named business editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Nelson started with the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1985 as local, state government and business reporter. He became a metro editor after the 1995 merger of the Sentinel and Milwaukee Journal, and then spent more than 15 years in the Journal Sentinel’s business news department as a deputy business editor.
Most recently Nelson covered the development and opening of Fiserv Forum and the business side of sports while writing about breaking news and trends for the Journal Sentinel. He also helped launch the newspaper’s PolitiFact coverage.
He will be joined in managing the Journal Sentinel’s financial news coverage by Jen Steele, named deputy business editor.
Steele has been with the business news department for the last two years. She previously worked on the Journal Sentinel’s copy/production desk.
Steele is a native of Davenport, Iowa. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has been at the Journal Sentinel since 2004.
“Both Jim Nelson and Jen Steele are talented editors with a passion for business news that goes back to college, where Jim studied economics and Jen studied business,” said George Stanley, editor of the Journal Sentinel. “They’ll lead a team that covers Wisconsin business issues with more depth, knowledge and context than any other news source.”
Nelson and Steele both started their journalism careers at the Daily Cardinal student newspaper at UW-Madison.
Greg Borowski, the Journal Sentinel’s deputy editor for news, projects and investigations, said Nelson is “a veteran journalist with deep roots in Milwaukee.”
“Over the years, his assignments have touched just about every corner of the community, but his heart has always been in covering business,” Borowski said. “He and Jen Steele, and our world-class team of reporters, will continue to provide the area’s strongest coverage on issues vital to our readers.”
Nelson is an Appleton native and graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is on the board of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, or SABEW, and is past president and board member of the Milwaukee Press Club. He also is a parttime instructor at Marquette University.
Nelson is one of three Federal Aviation Administration licensed drone pilots in the Journal Sentinel newsroom.
“It’s a privilege to be working with such a talented group of journalists on behalf of our readers,” Nelson said.
Nelson succeeds Steve Jagler, who resigned as business editor in December to become corporate communications director of the engineering, planning and design firm Graef.