Origin Capital Partners announced that Melissa Harris, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and former Chicago Tribune business columnist, has been named the firm’s vice president of marketing. In her new role, Harris will focus on growing Origin’s new real estate crowdfunding platform.
She brings 15 years of journalistic experience to her position, including the last six years as an acclaimed business columnist for the Chicago Tribune. An MBA candidate at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Harris has demonstrated her keen business sense by winning admittance to Booth’s prestigious New Venture Challenge.
As a Business Columnist for the Chicago Tribune, Harris reported on Chicago’s leading business executives and civic leaders. While there she launched a column, called Chicago Confidential, for the Tribune’s business section; led a one-year examination of Illinois tax credits for businesses (effort was nominated for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in local reporting); and broke national and local business news, including Groupon’s rejection of Google’s $6 billion buyout offer. She previously held reporting positions at The Baltimore Sun and The Orlando Sentinel.