By Guy Page

VTDigger announced Friday, less than a year after editor-in-chief Geeta Anand was hired, that she will step down June 30 to return to teaching at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. 

The E-I-C job will be filled on an interim basis by Susan Allen, longtime Vermont journalist and gubernatorial press secretary. 

The VTDigger announcement gave no other reason for Ganand’s departure. The state’s largest-staffed online news outlet is currently in contract negotiations with its staff labor union, but it is not known if her departure and the labor talks are related. 

Anand, a Dartmouth College grad, Rutland Herald court reporter, Wall Street Journal Pulitzer Prize-winning story reporter, and (most recently) Dean of University of California – Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, was named editor-in-chief at VTDigger, Vermont’s largest news media operation in April, 2025.

Anand succeeded interim editor Neal Goswami. His predecessor, Paul Heintz, departed in February, 2025. When Susan Allen starts work in June, she will be the fourth editor-in-chief in 16 months at VTDigger.

The nonprofit news outlet also announced several leadership changes in its newsroom.

Veteran Vermont journalist Susan Allen will start work as interim editor-in-chief beginning June 1. Allen has previously worked as a reporter, columnist, editorial writer and executive editor at several news organizations, including the Burlington Free Press, Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, Associated Press, Manchester Journal and Bennington Banner. She also previously served in the administrations of former Vermont governors Peter Shumlin and Howard Dean.

Anand has led VTDigger’s newsroom in recent years, helping expand its reach and launching a partnership with Frontline to support in-depth reporting on flooding in Vermont.

Additional editorial appointments include Ruth Hare as managing editor, effective March 16, and Shane Graber, who was promoted from senior editor to deputy managing editor on Feb. 20.

Hare previously worked as a news editor at VTDigger and held editing roles at the Rutland Herald and the Times Argus. Graber has been a senior editor at VTDigger and a longtime journalism educator.

VTDigger said it plans to begin a search for a permanent editor-in-chief in early 2027 as the organization continues expanding its statewide reporting.