Nick Lucchesi Takes Helm at The New Stack

Happy first Monday of 2026 to The New Stack (TNS) readers! It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to Nick Lucchesi, our new editor-in-chief (EIC). After an exhaustive search, we found our person, who comes with a combination of longtime experience and vision for what’s next. Most recently, Nick served as editor-in-chief for Laptop Magazine, part of the Future PLC group of publishers. Nick joins TNS as his predecessor, Heather Joslyn, retires this month. We needed a solid replacement for Heather — someone who could come in and maintain the world-class tech news operation that TNS is, as well as prepare us for an AI-driven future that is likely to impact all of publishing. Nick fits the bill here. Bringing Clarity to Complexity Nick told me one thing that attracted him to TNS was that on the about page for the publication, there’s a sentence that becomes more apt each day: “Technology is complex. We make it clear.” “I’ve spent my career seeking out sometimes complex problems and issues and explaining them, while also identifying narratives for interested readers, no matter their level of expertise,” he said. “As generative AI drives software development forward, the complexities of increasingly powerful technology must continue to be explored with curiosity and rigor, as should the people driving change in the space. Bringing clarity to the complex is how The New Stack will reach more and more of the world’s estimated 47 million software developers.” Moreover, Nick told me he prioritizes the convergence of a data-informed editorial strategy and human-centric storytelling. “Our recent reader survey shows that 72% of our audience relies on us to share the latest news and identify new tools and trends,” he said. “I’m here to ensure that every piece of news we publish provides immediate insight or utility for our audience of technologists building at scale.” What Readers Can Expect Readers can expect a blend of depth and velocity under Nick’s leadership, he said. “I am a long-time admirer of the original interviews and deep dives that define The New Stack, and we will continue to invest in the journalism that drives the conversation,” Nick told me. “Readers can also expect a quicker editorial pulse. To be truly essential, we must be a daily destination. Readers can expect to see an increased emphasis on timely news production — ensuring that TNS is the first place one looks when the industry moves.” In addition, Nick said his immediate priority is to conduct a listening tour — both with the TNS editorial team as well as with the community and the creators we cover. “I’m not coming in to change the foundation of what makes The New Stack great. Instead, my focus is on optimizing how we deliver that value to our community of readers,” he said. “We’ll be looking at how we can better utilize different formats to meet developers where they are. My goal is to support this world-class team in becoming even more agile as we report on the development of at-scale technology.” Where Lucchesi Comes From At Laptop Magazine, Nick led coverage on hardware and software for an audience of experts and spearheaded a comprehensive rebranding of the publication’s newsletter strategy to concentrate on the future of computing. In addition, he has held numerous leadership roles at media organizations, including serving as editor-in-chief and executive editor of Inverse. During this period, he oversaw audience growth to more than 30 million monthly unique visitors and guided the team to a Digiday award for the Inverse Daily newsletter. His professional history spans journalism and content strategy, including working for Asana and holding senior editorial roles at Village Voice Media across publications such as the Village Voice, the St. Louis Riverfront Times, and the Denver Westword. “What I really like about Nick is how he also comes from that alternative weekly background,” Alex Williams, TNS founder and publisher, said about Lucchesi. “And when you work at an alternative weekly or a small newspaper, you really learn about why efficiencies — both editorial and operational — are so important.” A Journalist Through and Through “He’s a journalist through and through, you know, he’s always been a journalist, and he wanted to be a journalist since he was a little kid,” Alex noted. Nick, who reached me for this article while at a Hampton Inn just inside the western border of Pennsylvania halfway to his home in Brooklyn, NY, indicated that journalism is in his blood and has been for a long time. Indeed, “I grew up in a household where news radio was constantly playing in the kitchen,” Nick told Alex during the interview process. “That early experience, combined with subscriptions to newspapers and later, magazines, made becoming a reporter feel like a natural vocation.” Like Nick, many young people know exactly what they want to do at an early age, and they’re usually the ones who excel. This reminds me of how lots of precocious young people saw the world early and knew they wanted to be journalists to keep folks informed about the world around them. For instance, a whole generation of young girls — like a couple of friends of mine — had their journalistic dreams affirmed by Mary Tyler Moore and her eponymous TV show — “You’re gonna make it after all!” Meanwhile, lots of young boys with journalistic hopes may have been affirmed by Clark Kent as a mild-mannered reporter at The Daily Planet and aspired to be that. OK, Clark Kent might be a stretch, because any kid familiar with Kent likely wanted to be his alter ego Superman. But one of Nick’s superpowers is not just his nose for news, but his organizational skills. “He’s super well organized,” Alex said. Part of that comes from having worked at Asana, a provider of a work management platform designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work. Not only did he work there, but he launched the digital magazine The Workback while at Asana. That skill, in addition to Nick’s editorial experience and lifetime commitment to journalism, put him over the top with Alex. I, too, was involved in the interview process, along with my colleagues Frederic Lardinois and Loraine Lawson. We interviewed the finalists for the gig and Nick acquitted himself well with us. My Hope Nick starts today as EIC, although Heather will stay on until the end of the month to ensure that the transition goes smoothly. Like Nick, Heather has a keen eye for news and possesses strong organizational skills. Yet (and I’ve said this to the staff), I believe one of her unadvertised superpowers is empathy. Not empathy as in weakness or dare I say “wokeness”, but in the sense of fairness and balance and truth in reporting. I don’t think that changes with Nick. My hope is that it will not. The post Nick Lucchesi Takes Helm at The New Stack appeared first on The New Stack.