Jerry DiColo (MBA ’15), right, discusses a story with a fellow editor in the Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate newsroom.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Jerry DiColo (MBA ’15)
Jerry DiColo (MBA ’15) got his first taste of journalism as a copy boy in the sports department of the Boston Globe and was instantly hooked. After graduating from Boston College in 2006, the New Jersey native moved to New York and joined Dow Jones & Co. DiColo soon established himself as a business reporter, covering energy and commodities for Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal. But in 2012, he married his longtime girlfriend — a born-and-bred New Orleanian — and like many New Orleans expatriates, she wanted to come home.
For DiColo, moving to New Orleans led to more than just a new home. It led to a new career path.
“I’d been covering business for several years and thought that maybe I could be on the inside, instead of on the outside looking in,” he says. “My editor said, ‘If there’s anything you can stand doing that isn’t journalism, you should try it. If you love journalism, you’ll come back anyway.’”
To prepare for his career change, DiColo enrolled in the Freeman School’s MBA program in 2013 with a concentration in finance. Despite the academic load, he still found time to freelance, including covering the corruption trial of former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for The Wall Street Journal. Shortly after his graduation in 2015, DiColo joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. as a vice president and investment specialist, managing investments for individuals, families, and
endowments and foundations. DiColo stayed with JPMorgan for three years, but he eventually came to the realization that his editor had been right.
“I tried my hand in business, but I love journalism too much,” DiColo says. “After three years away, I felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. I knew that I needed to go back, and, as fate would have it, that’s when The New Orleans Advocate came calling.”
In 2018, The New Orleans Advocate — which recently merged with The Times-Picayune — asked DiColo to become its metro editor, and DiColo quickly accepted. In that role, DiColo helps lead news coverage for New Orleans and the broader Gulf South region.
“My time at Tulane and at JPMorgan was a great pause,” he says. “It helped me understand what my skills are and what I really enjoy doing. I came to find out that I truly enjoy building stories and reporting them. I like the adrenaline that comes with breaking news, and I also like those times where you can really dig into a topic.”
Now, after having served as metro editor for a year, DiColo believes he’s better at his craft than ever. And he thanks the Freeman School for that.
“Going to business school gave me the tools to perform my job at a higher level,” he says. “I thought it would change my career path, and it did for a little while. But ultimately it gave me a whole new set of skills to apply to journalism, and I’m a much better journalist because of it.”
