The Philadelphia Inquirer’s top brass succeeded in wooing Amanda Bennett ’75 to become the paper’s first female editor Monday.

The announcement concludes an intense month-long search, in which Bennett was the only serious contender, insiders said.

Although she did not apply for the position, Inquirer publisher Robert J. Hall courted her single-mindedly almost from the outset, according to Inquirer Managing Editor Anne Gordon.

“I think she was the sole candidate,” Gordon said. “She was someone that our publisher Bob Hall identified from the beginning and very enthusiastically pursued.”

Bennett, who is also a Crimson editor, will depart her position as editor of Kentucky’s Lexington Herald-Leader—owned by media giant Knight-Ridder, which also owns the Inquirer—to assume her new post on June 23. She has been part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting teams.

Bennett will replace Walker Lundy, 60, who has held the paper’s top job for just 18 months. Lundy’s decision to step down last month after a relatively short tenure came as a surprise to the Inquirer staff.

Inquirer staffers say they hope Bennett will bring strong leadership to a paper that has seen four editors in the last 13 years, after former editor Gene Roberts led them to 17 Pulitzer Prizes during an 18-year reign that ended in 1990.

“We’re very hopeful that Amanda Bennett will bring some much-needed stability to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s top leadership,” Gordon said.

Bennett’s arrival at the Inquirer comes on the heels of a round of sweeping changes at the paper.

Under Lundy, the Inquirer refocused its coverage on local news content. The paper also recently eliminated its weekend magazine due to financial concerns.

With the paper coming off a period of “awful upheaval,” Bennett may have arrived at a perfect time, according to current colleague Joel Pett, an editorial cartoonist.

“There’s a lot of rancor...on the staff,” he said. “There may be nowhere to go but up.”

Bennett was introduced to the Inquirer staff at a June 2 meeting, and Gordon said she was “well received.”

According to an Inquirer article yesterday, Bennett has indicated that there are no more major changes in the pipeline.

Bennett, who worked at the Wall Street Journal for 23 years, served on a team there that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for stories about U.S. AIDS policy.

She became managing editor for enterprise reporting at The Portland Oregonian in 1998. While there, she led the team that won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Bennett left Portland to become editor of the Herald-Leader just 21 months ago. Pett said she would be missed in Lexington.

“It’s too bad that she didn’t have time to stick around long enough to really let all of her good ideas and good qualities make their mark on the newspaper,” he said. “When a big job comes calling, and the [Knight-Ridder] corporation has kind of fingered you for it, it’s damn hard to say no.”

And Herald-Leader publisher Tim Kelly said that although he was excited for Bennett, he would be sorry to see her go.

“She really didn’t have any choice,” he said. “I’m thrilled for her, not so thrilled for us.”

According to Mark Hester, a business editor at the Oregonian who worked with Bennett, her ambition has helped make her successful.

“She’s extremely driven and sets the bar extremely high,” he said. “When necessary, she could step in and help you to clear that bar.”

Naomi Kaufman Price, the Oregonian’s assistant suburban editor, said Bennett is not only personally successful, but also effective at motivating those around her.

“She truly wants people around her to succeed,” Price said. “She wasn’t here that long, but she certainly made a big impression on the folks she worked with.”

Price said Bennett’s keen sense of humor and ability to have fun were among her best qualities.

“She’s well aware that she’s smart, but she doesn’t mind being ‘smart-funny,’” Price said. “That’s really the joy of working with her.”

Bennett will fit well into her new surroundings, Kelly said.

“She has the journalistic cache and the east-coast sensibilities,” he said. “I think Amanda’s got what it takes to succeed there.”

And Bennett will succeed in turning the paper around, Price said.

“I just don’t doubt that Amanda will restore the paper to its glory,” Price said. “I’m sure it will be just a kick to be there.”

—Associated Press material was used in the reporting of this article.

—Staff writer Stephen M. Marks can be reached at marks@fas.harvard.edu.