Ilana Lowery

Ilana Lowery, Arizona Director for Common Sense Media, is the former editor-in-chief of the Phoenix Business Journal. She left the Journal in 2018, after 23 years as a key leader at the daily business publication.

As the first director of Common Sense, Ilana is responsible for driving a strategic effort to build the organization’s presence, philanthropic base and strategic partnerships throughout the state. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of digital media and technology.

The Chicago native joined the Business Journal as a reporter in 1995. Prior to the Journal, she was an editor for Independent Newspapers Inc., a community newspaper chain based in Scottsdale. 

Ilana serves on the board for the Arizona Digital Inclusion Network and AZStrut (Arizona Students Recycling Used Technology), and is a member of the Arizona Broadband Stakeholders Network. She also recently earned a Digital Inclusion Leadership certificate from Arizona State University. 

Before moving to the Valley in 1989, she was a reporter and editor for Pulitzer Newspapers in Chicago. An award-winning journalist, she also worked as a scriptwriter and associate producer for the NBC-TV affiliate in Chicago.

A 1986 graduate of the University of Illinois, Ilana earned BA degrees in Mass Communications and English. Currently, Ilana also is a communications consultant for WESTMARC and serves as an adjunct professor at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

She served on the advisory board for the Greater Phoenix Jewish News and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Arizona Press Club and the Arizona Newspaper Association, which presented her with the Order of the Silver Key, an honor for journalists who have been in the profession for 25 years or more, contributed to the journalism profession both locally and nationally, and have inspired fellow journalists.

Ilana is a longtime advocate of causes involving social issues, education and children’s well-being, and serves on multiple committees for Valley organizations committed to these issues, including the Alliance of Arizona nonprofits, Valley of the Sun United Way, the Arizona Department of Education’s technology task force, and the Homeless ID Project.

She is a Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Athena Award finalist and was named a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine Council.