Lexi Belculfine, a four-year veteran of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, has been named editor of The Incline, the soon-to-launch mobile-first site in Pittsburgh from the founders of Billy Penn.
Lexi has spent the last three years as a reporter for the P-G, covering City Hall as well as handling police, crime, general assignment and breaking news for the newspaper and its website. Prior to her time as a reporter, Lexi worked as a copy editor.
“We’re thrilled to have someone so smart, energetic and well-sourced in Pittsburgh to be The Incline’s editor,” said Jim Brady, CEO of Spirited Media, which owns and will operate The Incline. “Her love of journalism and of Pittsburgh made her a great fit for this position, and we look forward to having Lexi get started.”
“Billy Penn quickly established itself as the leading innovator in smart, accessible and important local news coverage and reader engagement in Philadelphia,” says Lexi. “I’m honored and eager to bring the best of that model to The Incline, where we’ll be committed to telling Pittsburgh’s untold stories, making the rest easier to navigate and helping bring readers together.”
A Penn State graduate, Lexi also served as editor of The Daily Collegian, the independent, student-run daily newspaper, during a particularly tumultuous time on campus — the filing of sexual assault charges against assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, the firing of legendary coach Joe Paterno, and his subsequent death. Lexi served as an officer in the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and is a board member of the Collegian’s Alumni Interest Group.
She lives in the city’s North Side with her husband, Adam Smeltz, a Post-Gazette enterprise reporter. She starts August 1.
The Incline’s next step is the hiring of a news staff and a director of sales and events, in anticipation of a launch before Labor Day.
