A longtime syndicated investment columnist for the Chicago Tribune, Leckey is a former CNBC anchor and the author or editor of 10 financial books that include an annual Random House business journalism anthology. 

As founding director of the Reynolds Center in 2003, Leckey launched a program that, from its Cronkite headquarters, has trained more than 12,000 journalists nationwide, produces the BusinessJournalism.org site and oversees the annual Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism. 

Since initiating Cronkite’s Business Journalism Specialization, Leckey, in addition to teaching, has each year assisted students in finding internships and full-time jobs covering business and the economy at major news organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad. He previously was the founding director of the Bloomberg Business Journalism Program at University of California, Berkeley.

A Fulbright Scholar at Sun Yat-sen University in China in 2014, Leckey has over the past decade frequently lectured in that country, appeared on China Central Television as a commentator on economic events and written articles for Chinese magazines and books. 

Leckey was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economics Journalism and a Media Studies Fellow, both at Columbia University. He serves on the advisory boards of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship and the Arizona Fulbright Association. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at major professional events here and abroad and is regularly quoted on business and journalism topics by a variety of news outlets.