Former Star Tribune editor Nancy Barnes gives a toast to Star Tribune staff after the newspaper won two Pulitzer Prizes in April 2013 in Minneapolis. Jerry Holt/The Star Tribune

BOSTON — The Boston Globe named Nancy Barnes as its next editor on Monday, elevating a woman to serve in the top job for the first time in the newspaper’s 150-year history.

Barnes has worked as the chief news executive at NPR and has run major newspapers. She announced in September that she would be leaving NPR.

Barnes will be the paper’s 13th editor.

Linda Henry, CEO of Boston Globe Media Partners, said Barnes is “renowned for her commitment to high-quality journalism, her excellent leadership skills, and her passion for innovation.”

“She not only brings the leadership experience of being the top editor of two different metro newspapers, but she also transitioned to running a digital and audio newsroom,” Henry said.

Barnes will start on Feb. 1. She will follow Brian McGrory, who said in September that he would step down after 10 years as editor to become chair of the journalism department at Boston University.

Barnes, 61, joined NPR four years ago as senior vice president for news and editorial director.

She said in September that she would leave the network, citing a decision by NPR’s chief executive officer to create a more senior position to oversee both news and programming,

Barnes served as senior vice president and executive editor of Hearst Corp.’s Houston Chronicle from 2013 to 2018. She also oversaw Hearst’s San Antonio Express-News and the Beaumont Enterprise.

She further spent more than a decade at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where she was named executive editor in 2007.