Lauren Gustus

Lauren Gustus

CEO & Executive Editor, The Salt Lake Tribune

Salt Lake City, Utah

Sego passes your request to the speaker; she replies to you directly.

Speaker levelProfessional Speaker

Primary sectorsEducation (K-12 / higher ed) · Energy & sustainability · Media, marketing & communications

Utah focusYes

About

Lauren is CEO and Executive Editor of The Salt Lake Tribune, which was the first major metro news organization to become a nonprofit. It achieved sustainability in 2021 under Lauren’s leadership.

The Tribune shares its daily reporting with journalism partners across the state through the Utah News Collaborative. In 2023, The Moab Times-Independent donated itself to The Tribune. In 2025, she launched The Southern Utah Tribune, which is delivered to 40,000 homes for free each month.

Lauren also helped incubate the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a group organizations focused on elevating solutions to the lake’s challenges that has spurred hundreds of millions in support for the lake.

Under her stewardship, The Tribune will transition from subscribership to membership, making the nonprofit’s reporting free to read online.

She is a coach in the Media Transformation Challenge, supporting news leaders across the country as they look to make performance-driven change.

Speaking formats

Experience level

Professional Speaker

Frequent / professional speaker (10+ speaking engagements in the last 2–3 years)

Topics & expertise

Civic & Community

  • Civic engagement & public service
  • Cross-sector partnerships (business + government + nonprofit)
  • Nonprofit leadership & governance
  • Philanthropy, fundraising & social impact
  • Rural vs. urban community needs

Communication & Storytelling

  • Communicating with frontline employees
  • Communicating with senior leaders / boards
  • Difficult conversations & feedback
  • Digital presence & thought leadership (LinkedIn, etc.)
  • Executive presence (online & in-room)
  • Media training & interviews
  • Storytelling for leaders

Culture/HR & Talent

  • Coaching & mentoring programs
  • Employee engagement & retention
  • Organizational change & transformation
  • Performance reviews & goal setting (OKRs, KPIs, etc.)

Entrepreneurship & Startups

  • Building an executive team as a founder
  • Scaling a startup / growth stage

Functional Expertise

  • Communications & PR

Gender & Equity

  • Inclusive leadership practices
  • Motherhood, caregiving & careers
  • Women on boards & commissions

Industry Expertise

  • Education (K-12 / higher ed)
  • Energy & sustainability
  • Media, marketing & communications
  • Nonprofit & philanthropy

Leadership & Management

  • Board governance & board relations
  • C-suite readiness
  • Difficult conversations
  • Executive leadership
  • Leading through change
  • People management & coaching
  • Performance management
  • Vision, strategy & execution

Strategy/Innovation & Change

  • Change management & adoption
  • Data-informed decision-making
  • Digital transformation
  • Strategic planning & execution

Technology & Innovation

  • Artificial intelligence & responsible AI

Utah & Regional Issues

  • Faith, culture & work in Utah
  • Mountain West / regional issues
  • Rural Utah & regional equity
  • Utah business & economic landscape

Wellbeing & Personal Growth

  • Work–life integration

Request an introduction to Lauren Gustus

Tell her about your event. Sego passes the request along and she replies to you directly.

Speaker introduction request