BURRILLVILLE – Burrillville native Bonnie Phillips has been named news editor for ecoRI news, a non-profit publication dedicated to reporting on environmental and social justice issues in southern New England, launched in 2009.
Phillips graduated from Burrillville High School in 1984, and has worked in the news industry for more than 30 years, according to an announcement from the publication. She will head up ecoRI’s editorial team, taking over for editor and co-founder Frank Carini, as he takes on the role of senior reporter.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Rhode Island in 1988, Phillips started her career at the North Kingstown Standard-Times, and has worked at The Woonsocket Call, The Lynn (Mass.) Daily Item, and the Middletown (Conn.) Press, where she served as editor.
She spent 19 years as an editor of the Hartford Courant, where she was part of the team that won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting, and was also part of the team of finalists for the Pulitzer Prize on breaking news for coverage of the Sandy Hook school shootings. As state editor for the paper, she oversaw a staff of 15 reporters and two deputy editors.
In 2016, she took on a role as deputy editor of the Connecticut Health Investigative Team, where she worked until the recent move to ecoRI.
Phillips is also a part-time adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut.
