Troy Thibodeaux

Troy Thibodeaux is director of digital news for The Associated Press. He leads the newsroom teams focused on growing and engaging AP’s audience, both on our own platforms and on social media and emerging platforms. He also oversees AP’s data journalism, research and graphics teams, which all share the common goal of bringing technical skills into the service of AP’s journalism to find and tell stories in new ways. Although he began his career wanting to be an English teacher, a side job during grad school led him into the world of technology (fortunately at a news organization), where he started as a technical writer and eventually became a full-time software developer. He was part of the team that saw Nola.com through Hurricane Katrina, developing ad hoc solutions that kept the news flowing and helped rescuers find people in need. In 2007, he had the good fortune to find a way to pull his editorial and technical interests together in a single job, as a news applications developer building interactive graphics for the 2008 election in AP’s Washington, D.C. bureau. He later helped establish the data journalism team and was able to hire and work with some of the smartest, kindest people he’s ever met. He somehow managed to talk his bosses into letting him move back to New Orleans in 2010, where he still lives with his artist wife, eight-year-old twin sons and an old bulldog.  Although he left teaching behind years ago, he’s still fascinated by learning and is always on the lookout for new ways to learn and to help encourage others to learn, too. In better times, he loves seeing live music and playing tourist in his own town.