Heather Burns

Heather joined USA TODAY in 2025 as the company's first women's sports editor. She leads women's sports content strategy across the network, working collaboratively with national and local editors and writers to build on our industry-leading coverage and the USA TODAY Studio IX brand.

She is a career sports journalist who has spent more than 36 years in the industry, most recently leading ESPN's digital NFL team. She spent 17 years at ESPN, working as a senior editor on the news desk, deputy editor on espnW and senior deputy editor over NFL.

Heather began her journalism career working at local Gannett papers. She started out as a high school sports reporter in Iowa City and in 2000 made the transition from reporter to editor, first as a copy editor and then assistant sports editor at The Detroit News.