Alison Overholt

Alison Overholt has been Editor-in-Chief of espnW since 2014 and became Editor-in-Chief of ESPN The Magazine in 2016 — the first woman to head a national, general-interest sports magazine.

 

Overholt first joined ESPN in 2005 as general editor, sports business and lifestyle for ESPN The Magazine. She departed ESPN in 2010 to found her own digital content strategy company, working with brands including NASDAQ OMX, Time Inc., Hearst Publishing, Trinity Wall Street and The Robin Hood Foundation on digital launches, app development, website redesigns and original content creation. She returned to ESPN in 2014 as espnW’s editor-in-chief. Since returning to ESPN, Overholt has overseen the transformation of espnW.com and espnW’s significant rising influence across ESPN’s platforms and beyond the network. Overholt added oversight of ESPN The Magazine in 2016 and under her guidance, the magazine received the prestigious National Magazine Award for General Excellence in the "news, sports, and entertainment" category by the American Society of Magazine Editors, and was named the top magazine of 2016 in terms of brand audience reach according to the Association of Magazine Media. Adweek named Overholt one of the 30 Most Powerful Women in Sports two years running, and she is an "Up-and-Coming Trailblazer" on the 2016 Folio 100 list. 

 

Overholt began her career as a writer and editor at Fast Company, and her writing has appeared in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, and O: The Oprah Magazine. Born in New York State, Overholt spent her childhood in Hong Kong. She is a former high school basketball player and an avid runner, having finished the Honolulu Marathon in 2003 and the New York City Marathon in 2013, with several half marathons between and since. She graduated with honors from Harvard University with an A.B. in government, and lives in West Hartford, CT, with her husband and their two children.