Hermene Hartman
President & Chief Executive Officer
Hartman Publishing, Inc.

As president and chief executive officer of the Chicago-based Hartman Publishing, Inc., Hermene Hartman is one of the most significant and influential black women in American publishing. Her flagship publication, N’DIGO, was founded in 1989 and has since achieved the largest African-American newspaper circulation in the nation and the largest alternative newspaper circulation in Chicago. N’DIGO was the first publication to feature the political promise of Barack Obama in a cover story. In 1995 N’DIGO PROFILES was established as a special annual publication, with a targeted insert in the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business. Hartman’s daily commentaries are heard in the mornings on WVAZ-FM.

Additionally, Hartman is founder and president of the N’DIGO Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1995. It sponsors an annual black tie gala to raise funds for educational purposes. In 2004 Hartman became president of the Alliance of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs. She has been the first woman to serve and the first president to hold a second term.

Hartman has received more than 200 awards for outstanding achievement in media, business, community services, education and communication.