Theo Francis is a reporter for the Money & Investing section of The Wall Street Journal and is based in New York.  He first joined the Journal's Dallas bureau in September 2000, covering regional news, and moved to his current beat in January 2001.

Mr. Francis began his journalism career in 1995 as a reporter/photographer for the Petersburg (Alaska) Pilot and then spent several months during 1996 working for Publication Services in Urbana, Ill.  In 1997 and 1998, he was a reporter for the Daily Record in Morris County, N. J., before joining the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in Little Rock as a business writer.

In 2003, Mr. Francis and colleague Ellen Schultz won a George Polk Award in the financial reporting category for their investigation into how companies profit from benefits plans and benefit from the deaths of workers on whom they hold life insurance. Mr. Francis was a member of a team of Journal reporters awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting for a series of stories exposing and explaining corporate scandals.  He and Ms. Schultz were also finalists in the Investigative Reporters and Editors contest.  Also in 2003, he shared a Society of American Business Editors and Writers award with other Journal reporters for their “What’s Wrong” series, for an article on how companies hide executive compensation.

Mr. Francis won the 1999 Green Eyeshade Award for business writing from the Atlanta Society of Professional Journalists and first place in health-related topics in 1998 and 1999 from the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors.  He was a finalist in the business features category of the Dallas Press Club's 1999 KATIE Awards and was selected outstanding new journalist in 1998 by the Arkansas Society of Professional Journalists.

An Illinois native, Mr. Francis earned a bachelor of science degree from the School of Journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He has a master's degree with honors from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.