M. Alexis Scott is publisher of the Atlanta Daily World, a newspaper founded by her grandfather in 1928.  She has responsibility for the overall editorial content and general management of the paper, which targets the African American community in metro Atlanta.   In 1932, the Atlanta Daily World, founded by W.A. Scott, II, became the nation's first black-owned daily newspaper.  The paper now publishes once a week and can be accessed daily over the Internet at www.atlantadailyworld.com. 
 Ms. Scott joined the family business in 1997, following a 22-year career with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Cox Enterprises, Inc., where she worked her way up from reporter to vice president/community affairs at the Journal-Constitution and then director of diversity at Cox.  Following a family/shareholders meeting in 1997, Ms. Scott and four other family members were elected to the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Daily World, Inc., and Ms. Scott was elected Chair of the Board, President and Publisher of the company.

In addition to her duties as publisher of the newspaper, Ms. Scott is a regularly featured commentator on "The Georgia Gang," a week-in-review program on politics broadcast on FOX 5 in Atlanta. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Life Financial Group.

Ms. Scott is also active in nonprofit organizations. She is secretary of Kenny Leon's national theater company True Colors; a member of the boards of the High Museum of Art, the Piedmont Park Conservancy; the Historic South View Cemetery Preservation Foundation; the Atlanta History Center, the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and Central Atlanta Progress. In 2003, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin appointed her to the board of the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency. She is also a member of the Atlanta Rotary Club and the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust (originally appointed by Gov. Zell Miller).

Previously, Ms. Scott has chaired the boards of the Atlanta Children's Shelter, the Atlanta Communities in Schools program, the Atlanta NAACP Youth Achievement Academy, St. Jude's Recovery Center, and the Friends of Spelman.  She has been an officer of the boards of the High Museum, the Center for the Visually Impaired and the Dogwood City Chapter of the Links.

In addition to general community service, Ms. Scott has been active in nonprofit professional organizations. She served as chair of the Succession Planning Committee for the National Newspaper Publishers Association; was co-chair of the NNPA Editorial Committee; a past president of the Atlanta Press Club and the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association of Media Women; past vice-chair of the board of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education; and past treasurer of the Atlanta Chapter of Society of Professional Journalists. She also organized and chaired two diversity affinity groups -- one local and one national.

Ms. Scott has received many awards and honors, including the 2005 Millennium Pacesetter Award from the Atlanta Business League; a 2004 Georgia Press Association Award for Column writing; the 2004 Imperial Court Daughters of Isis Hall of Fame Award; the 2004 TD Jake's Megafest Phenomenal Woman Award; The Network Journal's 2004 Top 25 Influential Women in Business; an honorary doctor of humane letters from Argosy University in Atlanta in 2003; being named a 2003 Diva by Business-to-Business Magazine, receiving the 2002 Heritage Award from the Frank Ski Kids Foundation; 2001 Grimes Fellowship from the Cox Family Enterprise Center at Kennesaw State University; and the 2001 Citizen of the Year Award from Southwest Hospital and Medical Center. 

She also was named among "20 Women Making a Mark on Atlanta" in 1998 by Atlanta Magazine, and the 1998 Pioneer Black Journalist by the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists.  Ms. Scott is a member of the 1989 YWCA Academy of Women Achievers, a member of the 1986 Salute to America's Top 100 Black Business and Professional Women by Dollars and Sense Magazine; 1984 Bronze Woman of the Year in Professions by Iota Phi Lambda Sorority; local and co-winner of the 1983 Media Woman of the Year award by the National Association of Media Women; and 1983 winner of the commentary award by the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists.

On behalf of the Atlanta Daily World, Ms. Scott received the 2004 President's Award from the Atlanta Branch NAACP; the 2002 Atlanta Regional Minority Media Firm of the Year Award from the Minority Enterprise Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the 2002 Media of the Year Award from the Georgia Conference of the NAACP, and the 2001 Media of the Year Award from the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. 

A native Atlantan, Ms. Scott is a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School, and attended Barnard College in New York City and Spelman College in Atlanta.  She also attended the Columbia University School of Journalism as a summer participant in the 1974 Michelle Clark Fellowship Program.  She is a 1992 graduate of the Regional Leadership Institute and a 1991 graduate of Leadership Atlanta.

She has two sons.  She and her family are members of First Congregational Church, U.C.C., where Ms Scott served as presiding officer from 1982-1992.  She currently is a member of the Sunday School staff and the Board of Missions.