Carol Hunter has been executive editor of The Des Moines Register since 2016 and a Register journalist since 2004, previously serving as opinion editor, politics editor and news director. She's helped direct national award-winning news enterprise and commentary, including coverage of five presidential caucus cycles.

A Kansas native and a 1979 graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism, she started her career at The New Mexican in Santa Fe and served as the top editor at The Courier-News in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and later the Green Bay Press-Gazette in Wisconsin.