Team Tomorrow: Doug Heuck

He spent 20 years at the Pittsburgh Press and Post-Gazette, as a writer and business editor, penning 13 series ranging from living on the streets disguised as a homeless man to the only in-depth interview in the later years of polio pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk. The work received several national awards and three Keystone Distinguished Writing Awards, given annually for the best journalism in Pennsylvania.  The homeless series was cited in the landmark media law case “Food Lion vs. ABC News.”

Heuck left the newspaper in 2005 and founded Pittsburgh Quarterly magazine, judged by the Western Pennsylvania Press Club as the region’s best magazine every year since it began publishing in 2006. The magazine has won two prestigious Folio Eddie Awards, the global magazine industry’s biggest competition for editorial excellence.

In 1995, in order to provide the best possible information to spur Pittsburgh’s recovery from its historic economic collapse, Heuck created the nation’s third regional indicators project, comparing Pittsburgh with 14 other metro areas in 75 key measures.  He led that project in different forms until 2022.

In 2023, dissatisfied with the pace of civic progress, he founded Pittsburgh Tomorrow, a 501(c)3 nonprofit which aims to reverse the region’s continuing population loss and reinvigorate its economy by engaging, attracting, and creating a movement among a new generation of Pittsburgh “Pioneers” to make Pittsburgh the best place to live in the U.S.

Doug graduated from Kenyon College, where he was elected captain of Kenyon’s football team and won the E. Malcolm Anderson Cup, “Awarded to the student who has done most for Kenyon in the current year.” He enjoys farming, sailing, poker and writing.

Mission moment

“I started Pittsburgh Tomorrow because I think we can do a lot better here. I think we’ve got the raw materials, and I think we need to think bolder and bigger, and I think we can make this the best place to live in the country.“

Doug Heuck

Founder and CEO