Jim Parsons was named WTAE News Director in July 2016 following a three-year tenure as Assistant News Director.

Previously, Jim was an investigative reporter for WTAE from 1998 to 2013. His groundbreaking series of investigative reports in 2007 about lavish spending by board members of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency led to the resignation of the student loan agency’s CEO and ultimately helped to bring about a new open records law in Pennsylvania, known as the Right to Know Act. The reporting on PHEAA was honored by Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. with the IRE Medal and by the University of Georgia with the George Foster Peabody Award.

As Assistant News Director, Jim oversaw the investigative reporting in 2015 about slow response times by local fire departments that led to a second Peabody Award for WTAE.

Parsons is a native of Westfield, N.J., and a graduate of the University of Dayton.