Michael Gartner, 77, was born and raised on 40th street in Des Moines.

As a journalist, he has been Page One Editor of The Wall Street Journal, editor and president of The Des Moines Register, editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, general news executive of USA TODAY, and president of NBC News. In 1997 he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing at the Ames Tribune, where he was editor and co-owner.

As a public servant, he served seven years on the Board of Regents, including three years as president, and five years as chairman of Vision Iowa, the program that leveraged $250 million of state money into more than $2 billion of infrastructure, changing the face of the state and, in particular, of downtown Des Moines.

As a businessman, he is the majority owner of the Iowa Cubs baseball team and a partner with the Hansen Cos. in several downtown projects, including Ballyard Lofts. He was until recently the minority stockholder of Big Green Umbrella, which, among other things, publishes Cityview. He writes the “Civic Skinny” column for that weekly.

He is also a lawyer, a husband (of one), a father (of three) and a grandfather (of four).