Louis Boccardi

Who is Louis Boccardi?

Louis D. Boccardi was President and Chief Executive Officer of The Associated Press, the world’s largest news organization, from 1985 until his retirement in 2003. Prior to assuming the presidency, he served one year as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and 10 years as executive editor in charge of AP's news operations.

During his tenure as CEO, Boccardi repaired the news cooperative's sometimes-shaky finances and started the process of moving AP's news report into the Internet age. That process has quickened substantially under his successor, Tom Curley.

Born in New York City, Boccardi holds a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. He joined the AP as executive assistant to the general news editor in 1967 after eight years with New York newspapers, during which he rose to the position of assistant managing editor of the New York World-Telegram and Sun and its successor newspaper, the New York World Journal Tribune. He was appointed AP managing editor in 1969, executive editor in 1973 and vice president in 1975.