Kat Wingert

Notable work and positions

Observer Media Group — Executive Editor and Chief Operating Officer
Business Observer — Former Managing Editor
Longboat Observer — Former Managing Editor
Columbia Daily Tribune — Former City Reporter

Biography

Kat Wingert is a Florida journalist and media executive who leads editorial and business operations for Observer Media Group, publisher of a family of community and business newspapers across Florida, including the Longboat Observer, East County Observer, Sarasota/Siesta Key Observer, Business Observer, and Jacksonville Daily Record. She began her career as a city reporter for the Columbia Daily Tribune in Missouri, and worked in outreach marketing at the University of Wyoming before returning to journalism as managing editor of the Longboat Observer and later the Business Observer, where she oversaw content planning and editorial coverage for a business-focused weekly and its website. Wingert holds an MBA from the University of Wyoming. As executive editor and COO of Observer Media Group, she oversees editorial standards and business operations across the company's publications, including its approach to newsroom use of artificial intelligence, and represents the company at journalism-ethics forums such as a Poynter Institute summit on AI and journalism. A longtime supporter of public libraries, Wingert was elected president of the Library Foundation for Sarasota County's board of directors in 2025, having served on the board since 2018.