Phil Haslanger

Phil Haslanger has straddled the worlds of skepticism and belief in two careers. A UW–Madison grad (BA in sociology in 1971, MA in journalism in 1973), he worked at The Capital Times from 1973 to 2008 as a reporter, city editor, editorial page editor and managing editor.

During his time on the editorial page, he served as president in 2002 of what was then the National Conference of Editorial Writers. More recently, he was on the board of the Religion News Service and served as president in 2016. He now chairs their advisory council. He was named to the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Hall of Fame in 2021 and was named a distinguished alumni of the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communications in 2022.

During the 2000s, he began exploring a career in ministry and was ordained in 2007 as a minister in the United Church of Christ. He served as a pastor at Memorial UCC in Fitchburg until retiring in 2017. Then he served for about two years as a parish associate at Christ Presbyterian Church in Madison, retiring again in 2024. He serves on the boards of JustDane and Pres House. He is married to Ellen Reuter and has two sons and two daughters and seven grandchildren