SANTA FE, NM — Alex Heard, a veteran editor at some of the nation’s leading magazines, has been named editor of Searchlight New Mexico.
Searchlight’s board announced this week that Heard will replace Sara Solovitch, who is retiring after leading the Santa Fe-based nonprofit investigative journalism organization for seven years. During that time, Searchlight has built a national reputation for its reporting across New Mexico, triggering federal and state investigations, inspiring legislative reforms, and winning national and regional awards.
Heard has been with Outside Magazine for 23 years, currently as its editor in chief. He has overseen a wide variety of longform narrative stories and essays, including investigative reporting related to outdoor topics. Before coming to Outside, he was executive editor of Wired Magazine and story editor at the New York Times Magazine. He is the author of two books, including “The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in the Jim Crow South” (2011, HarperCollins) and the editor of several others.
“It’s a thrill and honor to have the opportunity to lead Searchlight, a crucial source of great journalism produced in the public interest,” Heard said. “I will devote all my energy into building on the invaluable work of the many people who created it and have sustained it.”
Searchlight launched in 2018, with the mission to deliver high-impact investigative reporting to inspire New Mexicans to demand action on systemic problems across the state. Child poverty, which ranks among the highest of any state in the U.S., has always been at the crux of its reporting. In recent years, its coverage has expanded to include the massive expansion at Los Alamos National Laboratory, human trafficking at illegal cannabis farms, and the ongoing health care crisis in New Mexico.
Board president Susan Boe said the board selected Heard after a nationwide search. “We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Alex to the organization. We are confident his expertise and commitment to serious journalism will benefit not only Searchlight but readers throughout the state and nation,” Boe said.