INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING WORKSHOP - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff and Advisory Board
- Research / Reporting Intern
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Audrey Hill is a third-year student at American University with a double major in journalism and CLEG (Communications, Legal Studies, Economics, Government).
Hill, originally from New York City, is an editor of the campus investigative magazine, AWOL. She is passionate about using investigative journalism to shine a light on stories that impact marginalized groups and hold those in power accountable. She approaches journalism grounded in the belief that the gray areas are where the best stories live.
When she is not reporting, she can be found spending time with friends, surreptitiously whispering Spanish into her phone to maintain her streak on Duolingo, or with her nose buried in a book.
Job Titles:
- Executive Editor
- Emeritus Executive Editor
- Journalist
- Professor of Journalism at the American University School of Communication
Charles Lewis is a professor of journalism at the American University School of Communication in Washington, D.C., and the founding executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop. He has been a Ferris Professor at Princeton University, a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. He is now emeritus executive editor at IRW.
Lewis, a former ABC News and CBS News "60 Minutes" producer, founded two Pulitzer Prize-winning nonprofit news organizations, the award-winning, nonprofit Center for Public Integrity (1989) and its International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (1997), the first global network of premier investigative reporters to develop and publish online multimedia exposés across borders. The ICIJ published the Panama Papers in April 2016, its 26th cross-border investigation; it is the largest collaboration in the history of journalism, involving a leaked cache of 11.5 million financial records, analyzed and reported by more than 370 journalists in 76 countries and published in over 100 newspapers around the world.
Charles Lewis is a former producer for CBS News' "60 Minutes," and ABC News. He founded the Center for Public Integrity and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists as well as several other nonprofit news groups before forming IRW, where he was executive editor until May of 2022, when he became emeritus executive editor. In 2018, Harvard University's Nieman Foundation awarded him the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence. He is the author or co-author of six books. Lewis teaches investigative journalism.
Charles Lewis, a national investigative journalist for more than 30 years, and Wendell Cochran, a longtime business reporter, editor and faculty member, joined forces to create the Investigative Reporting Workshop in 2009.
Job Titles:
- Web Developer
- Journalist and Programmer
- Web and Interactive Developer
Chris Amico is a journalist and programmer with international experience who is a senior developer for storytelling at the USA TODAY Network.
He previously worked as an interactive developer at PBS FRONTLINE and was an application developer at NPR. He is co-founder of Glass-Eye Media LLC. He works as a developer for IRW.
He has written for local newspapers, reported and built software for national news organizations and founded local news sites. He is interested in finding new ways to get and share information and expand news organizations' offerings.
AU's first Investigative Broadcaster in Residence, Chris Halsne has been on television for 30+ years. He's managed special-projects units in Seattle, Denver, and Oklahoma City. His work has received top honors from the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Press Club, and the RTDNA.
One of the top animal-rights reporters in the country, Halsne has also been honored by the Humane Society of the United States for his undercover exposés. A documentary filmmaker, fiction author, and podcast creator, he takes a multi-media approach to every investigative news idea.
Halsne is married to an accomplished ultra-runner who sells virtual-reality surgical teaching simulators. They have two daughters.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff and Advisory Board
- Graduate Research / Reporting Intern
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Associate Professor of Investigative Journalism, University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism
Emily Seymour is pursuing a master's degree in journalism, with a concentration in investigative journalism, from American University. She is a reporting fellow with the Investigative Reporting Workshop.
Seymour previously interned with Voice of America, where she worked on the team focusing on news geared toward younger generations. She also interned with Index on Censorship, a London-based nonprofit, where she focused on advocacy writing and reporting on free expression. She honed her investigative reporting and writing skills at The Eagle, AU's student newspaper, when she was an undergraduate student.
Gabriella (Gabby) Allen is a senior at American University, majoring in journalism and minoring in justice studies. She is a reporter for The Eagle, American University's student newspaper, and currently on its multimedia team. Throughout her years as a student journalist, she has covered diverse topics, from inmates at Sing Sing Correctional Facility engaged in a rehabilitation program to small business owners in Washington, D.C., recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Allen was recently selected by the Online News Association to work in its 2022 Student Newsroom and Innovation Lab. She hopes one day to merge her studies involving social and criminal justice with journalism to give voice to those who are often silenced.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Chairman, Namibia Media Trust, and Founder, the Namibian
Job Titles:
- PBS Newshour Correspondent
Hayden Godfrey is a graduate student at American University, where he is pursuing a Master of Arts in Journalism & Public Affairs with a focus on investigative journalism. Originally from Toronto, Ontario, his work has appeared in The Toronto Star, The National Post and numerous other outlets across Canada. He is an alumnus of Toronto Metropolitan University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Communication in 2022. When not working furiously on a story, Godfrey can be found listening to the records of Genesis or Elton John, reading the latest Bob Woodward book, or watching his beloved Toronto Blue Jays.
Ibrahim Aksoy is a graduate student at American University, studying Journalism and Public Affairs with an International Specialty. Aksoy majored in digital journalism at Pace University in New York, where he was a regular contributor and news editor at the Pace Chronicle. His professional interests include global journalism, immigration and authoritarianism in the 21st century. As a lover of languages, Aksoy looks forward to reporting internationally in his professional career. His hobbies include traveling, aviation photography and practicing new languages.
Job Titles:
- Lead Developer
- Journalist, Software Developer
- Lead Developer, Accountability Project
Jacob Fenton is the lead developer of The Investigative Reporting Workshop's Public Accountability Project. He's worked previously as Editorial Engineer at The Sunlight Foundation, as Director of Computer-Assisted Reporting at IRW, and as a reporter and editor for newspapers in Pennsylvania and California. In 2015 he was a JSK Fellow at Stanford, where he worked on structured data extraction and machine learning.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Retired Reporter, Des Moines Register Former Director, John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships Program and an Emeritus Professor at Stanford University
Job Titles:
- Data Editor
- Its Data Editor
The Workshop employs a core group of journalists to produce its investigations, related stories and blog. A development director and administrative coordinator keep operations running smoothly.
LaFleur was previously senior editor for data journalism for the award-winning Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, which she joined in 2013, and where she worked as a senior editor, managing news apps developers, data reporters, investigative reporters and fellows. She also contributed to or edited dozens of major projects while at Reveal.
John Sullivan, a Pulitzer Prize winner from The Philadelphia Inquirer, is a reporter and Associate Investigations Editor on The Post's Investigations team, an investigative reporter-in-residence at American University and a senior editor at the Investigative Reporting Workshop.
He pairs grad students with various investigative teams inside the Post; students research, build databases, fact-check and interview. Sullivan also teaches an investigative practicum at the graduate level.
Sullivan was a senior lecturer and assistant director of Medill Watchdog and on the journalism faculty at Northwestern University, after working for nearly a decade at The Inquirer, where his assignments included covering the war in Iraq, state government, city hall, science and health and was a member of the paper's investigative team.
His stories have forced officials to answer for systemic failings and to undertake an overhaul of the city's child welfare system (winner of a Casey Medal in 2007); to restructure the criminal courts after it was shown that people charged with violent crimes escaped conviction on all charges in almost two-thirds of cases (winner of several national awards and finalist for the Selden Ring, 2010) and to terminate a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program that had allowed corporate polluters to burnish their green image (a finalist for a Pulitzer in 2009).
Most recently Sullivan led a team of five reporters who examined violence in the Philadelphia schools. The series won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2012, a Casey Medal and the IRE Award.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff and Advisory Board
- Reporter
Designer and visual journalist Kelly Martin spent 15 years at Atlantic Media as an art director for Government Executive magazine before coming to American University for a digital media certificate and then developing his own business. Martin has been working with IRW for several years, creating interactive maps for such projects as "Assault on Justice," and our series on water problems in Louisiana as well as informational graphics on the health of the banking industry.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff and Advisory Board
- Operating Producer
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff and Advisory Board
- Office Coordinator
Job Titles:
- NPR Investigative Reporter
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Weil Family Professor of Journalism, Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Former Washington Post Executive Editor
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Founder and Director, Center for Journalism and Public Ethics in Mexico
Job Titles:
- Managing Editor
- Journalist
Lynne Perri is IRW's managing editor and a journalist-in-residence in the School of Communication.
Lynne Perri is a journalist-in-residence and senior professorial lecturer at American University, and also managing editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop.
Lynne Perri is IRW's managing editor and a journalist-in-residence in the School of Communication, where she teaches reporting, journalism ethics, a history of American investigative reporting and visual journalism. She is a former deputy managing editor for graphics and photography at USA TODAY, and a former reporter and editor at The Tampa Tribune and Tallahassee Democrat.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff and Advisory Board
- Graduate Reporter and Researcher
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Managing Editor, INewsource
Job Titles:
- Financial Operations Manager
Financial Operations Manager Michael Laing joined IRW after 25 years in a variety of roles at The Washington Post. Most recently he was with the Client Solutions Team, where he developed print and digital advertising campaigns. Laing previously worked for an insurance broker in Washington. When away from the city, he enjoys contributing to the operation of his family's farm in New York's Hudson Valley. Laing graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in history.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff and Advisory Board
- Video Editor Intern
Job Titles:
- Development Director
- Member of the Staff and Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff and Advisory Board
- Graduate Researcher / Reporter
Pamela Roberts brings to IRW decades of nonprofit fundraising experience connecting donor interests with the missions of strong organizations. She raised philanthropic support for Imagination Stage, the National Press Foundation, the Shakespeare Theatre Company, and others. Most recently she served as an advancement writer in AU's Development and Alumni Relations office. Pam received an MS from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and a BA in Political Communications from The George Washington University.
Job Titles:
- FRONTLINE Producer - Writer
- PBS Writer - Producer
FRONTLINE producer-writer Rick Young and reporter and correspondent David Hoffman, formerly of The Washington Post, also produced the documentary "Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria," which aired in the fall of 2013 on PBS, and they are working on follow-up stories related to antibiotics and food.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Founding Director
- Member of the Advisory Board
Shwetha Surendran's first story was about basketball. Sports led her to writing, and writing has led her back to sports. Surendran is a journalism graduate student at American University and the ESPN-AU Fellow for 2022-'23. She has bylines in The Associated Press, WBUR, The New Indian Express and The Hindu, with experience in narrative podcast development. In her spare time, she solves crosswords, cheers on Charles Leclerc and get unnecessarily competitive at board games.
Sophia Steele is earning her master's degree at American University in investigative journalism. She graduated with a bachelor's in English from Clemson University, where she wrote for the opinions column of the Tiger newspaper. Steele is one of the staff writers for the free press magazine, Zeal & Pristine, and also writes for the sister site, Baby Z. Her personal blog, SoupScribbles, contains articles on mental health and lifestyle tips. When she isn't writing, Steele is either reading all sorts of books or is out hiking with her dog.
Job Titles:
- Washington Post Database Editor
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Publisher, News Digest Magazine Editor - in - Chief, Newsbreaksnow
Susan White has edited or co-edited three Pulitzer Prize-winning projects at three different news organizations: The San Diego Union-Tribune, ProPublica and InsideClimate News. She also edits narrative nonfiction podcasts, including Room 20 for the L.A. Times Studios and The Plot Thickens: Peter Bogdanovich for Turner Classic Movies. White was a TV critic and education reporter for the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader and writing coach, enterprise editor and border editor at the Union-Tribune.
Before she became a newspaper reporter she edited two city magazines: The Kansas City Town Squire and Indianapolis magazine.
She graduated from the University of Oklahoma, where she specialized in fiction writing, and was editor of the student newspaper.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff and Advisory Board
- Research / Reporting Intern
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Division Director
- Business Reporter, Editor
- Senior Editor, Retired
Wendell Cochran, retired, is the co-founding senior editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop. He joined the American University School of Communication in 1992. Cochran spent more than 40 years practicing and teaching journalism. Along the way, he covered everything from local government to Congress to presidential campaigns. He has bylines from nearly 40 of the 50 states. He worked as a business reporter, special projects editor, and project director for leading news organizations including the Kansas City Star, Des Moines Register and Gannett News Service. He has also worked as a contributing editor to Top Producer, a leading agriculture magazine.
He spent most of his career as a business reporter and editor, specializing in topics such as agricultural policy, international trade, and banking and finance. His stories have won or shared four national reporting awards, including the Amos Tuck Award for Economic Understanding, the John Hancock Award for Business Reporting (twice) and the National Headliners Award. He is a former member of the board of directors of Investigative Reporters Editors Inc.
Wendell Cochran, a former journalism division director in the School of Communication and a longtime business reporter, co-founded IRW with Lewis. Cochran is retired. He launched BankTracker, a project IRW published in early 2009 to track the financial health of banks and credit unions, and which IRW staff continue to update.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Staff and Advisory Board
- Design Intern
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Chief Editor, the New Times, Moscow
Rosental Calmon Alves, founding director, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas; Knight Chair in International Journalism, the University of Texas at Austin
Job Titles:
- Journalist - in - Residence
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Media Consultant and Educator Founding Director, Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong