Mike DeLuca oversees Connecticut’s largest news media company, Hearst Connecticut Media, which has aggressively grown its presence in the state in recent years.
DeLuca has held the title of group publisher and president since 2019. He’s led the company through an acquisition spree.
In February, Hearst Connecticut acquired the Republican-American newspaper in Waterbury, cementing its status as the largest news organization in the state. The storied Waterbury daily had been owned by the same family since 1901.
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The acquisition followed Hearst Connecticut’s purchase of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester and Meriden-based Record-Journal in 2023.
Hearst Connecticut, a subsidiary of the privately owned media monolith Hearst Communications, now owns more than 30 local newspapers and websites, including daily newspapers in four of the five largest cities in the Nutmeg State — Bridgeport, Stamford and New Haven, in addition to Waterbury.
It also owns Connecticut Magazine.
Hearst Connecticut boasts that it employs more than 200 journalists across the state, including reporters, photographers, page designers and editors.
Prior to his current role, DeLuca served as senior vice president of digital, and then executive vice president of advertising sales for Hearst Newspapers. Before that, he served as chief revenue officer at Savored, a restaurant reservations and discount provider that was acquired by Groupon in 2012.