Bruce Hight

Bruce Hight worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for 37 years, with 32 of them at the Austin American-Statesman. Hight covered a variety of beats and issues, but most involved government and politics, including city, county, state and federal elected bodies, and agencies and elections. After 25 years as a reporter at the Statesman, Hight moved over to the Editorial Board, where he helped shape the newspaper’s stance on various issues, ranging from presidential election endorsements to city affairs. However, the most fun he had covering a story was Elvis Presley’s funeral in 1977. He left the American-Statesman in 2009 and joined what is now Hill+Knowlton Strategies, where he was a senior vice president until his retirement in 2016.

A native of Dallas, Hight majored in journalism at the University of Tennessee, where he was editor of the school’s daily newspaper, The UT Daily Beacon, as a senior and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications in 1972. He spent four years as a reporter at The Commercial Appeal, the newspaper in Memphis, Tenn., before joining the American-Statesman.