Positioning YOU to achieve your goals.
Marisa Porto is an entrepreneurial business and media leader who helps position people and organizations to achieve their strategic, organizational, and communications goals.
Founder and CEO
Marisa is the CEO and founder of Porto Strategies, a company with more than 30 years of experience in the media, nonprofit, and higher education sectors. She has served in leadership and advisement roles in media, startups, higher education, and nonprofit organizations. Marisa currently provides consulting expertise to organizations in the United States and globally.
Higher Education
Marisa served Hampton University as the university's executive in residence, providing business assessments for the administration and as assistant dean at Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications. She has taught classes in entrepreneurship, management, strategic communications and content strategy and editing.
News Veteran
Marisa served as publisher and editor in chief of Tribune Publishing’s Virginia operations, a multi-million business unit for the national media company. She also held top news positions at Gannett Corp. As a news and business leader, she focused on content strategy, change management and business development.
Award-Winning Writer and Media Executive
Marisa is an award-winning writer of news, features, and opinions. As a news leader, her teams have won numerous state and national awards including Carmage Walls Award for editorial excellence, the George Loeb Award for business journalism, the Al Nukkula Award for reporting on law enforcement, and the Associated Press Managing Editors award for Innovation in Journalism.
Nonprofit Consultant and Leader
In addition to her work in the for-profit sector, Marisa has held advisory and leadership positions at nonprofits. She is currently on the news advisory council of The Trust Project, an international nonprofit devoted to media transparency. She is a past president of the Virginia Press Association and a past board member of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. She also has been a strategic consultant for the Maynard Institute for Media Education, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the number of BIPOC leaders in top media positions in the industry. Lifelong Girl Scout, Chair of the Girl Scout Council of the Colonial Coast and Gold Award Girl Scout.
Governmental Advisor
Marisa served a four-year term on Virginia’s Freedom of Information Advisory Council and was chair of the public records subcommittee. During her tenure, the board conducted a 10-year review of the state’s law for recommended improvements. Most recently, she served on a special subcommittee to examine Virginia's public records law on criminal investigations.