Theo Francis is a reporter for the Money & Investing section of The Wall Street Journal and is based in New York.  He joined the Journal's Dallas bureau in September 2000, covering regional news, and moved to New York to cover mutual funds in January 2001.  He currently covers insurance.

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.  He and Ms. Schultz were also finalists in the Investigative Reporters and Editors contest.  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. 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. In June 2004, along with colleagues Susanne Craig, Ianthe Jeanne Dugan, and Kate Kelly, Mr. Francis received the Loeb Award for Deadline Writing for “The Day Grasso Quit as NYSE Chief.” In 2004, he and colleague Ellen E. Schultz received the New York Press Club’s Award for Business Reporting for “Hidden Roots of the Pension Crisis,” and were also finalists for a Gerald Loeb award.

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.

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.