Jeff Harrington was born in 1962 in Toledo, Ohio. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1984 with a dual major in American Studies and French. He has reported and edited at the City News Bureau of Chicago, the Toledo Blade and the Cincinnati Enquirer. He came to the St. Petersburg Times in 1998 to cover banking and insurance, and subsequently added oversight of several other beats (including major technology companies in the area, advertising and economic development). He is currently acting deputy business editor. He received a Loeb award in 2003 for a business story titled "The CEO and His Church."