Our board & advisors

Board of Directors

Irving Washington, Board Chair

SVP and Executive Director, Health Information and Trust Initiative, KFF

Peter Lattman, Vice Chair

Managing Director, Media, Emerson Collective

Rosental Alves

Professor, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, University of Texas at Austin

Jim Brady

Principal, Spirited Media Consulting

Jelani Cobb

Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism, Columbia Journalism School

Jeff Cohen

Executive Vice President of Communications, Arnold Ventures

Michelle De La Isla

Former Mayor, City of Topeka, Kan.

Teresa Gorman

Associate Director, Public Square, Democracy Fund

Joe Natoli

EVP and CAO, Baptist Health South Florida
Former Publisher, Knight Ridder

Hilary Schneider

CEO, SimpliSafe

Maria Thomas

Co-Founder & CEO of Sunday Health, Board Director and Startup Advisor

Board Emeritus

John Thornton, 1965-2025

Board member emeritus

Read more about our history, including the story of our founding.

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The maintenance of an informed public is the responsibility of the public itself, not the incidental byproduct of a series of commercial transactions.

John Thornton, Board member emeritus, Co-Founder of the American Journalism Project & Founder of the Texas Tribune

Advisory Circle

We are also grateful for the guidance and support of our expanding Advisory Circle.

Laurence Baer

Chief Executive Officer and President, San Francisco Giants

Marsha Cooke

Vice President, ESPN Films and Executive Producer, 30 for 30

Simone Coxe
Farai Chideya

Host and producer, Our Body Politic

Pamela Maffei McCarthy

Deputy Editor of The New Yorker 1992-2020

Graciela Mochkofsky

Dean, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism

Dr. Anya Schiffrin

Senior lecturer, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs

Evan Smith

Senior Advisor, Texas Tribune and Senior Advisor, Emerson Collective

Richard Tofel

Principal, Gallatin Advisory LLC and former president, ProPublica

Co-Founders

John Thornton

Co-founder & Partner, Elsewhere Partners

Elizabeth Green

Founder and CEO, Civic News Company

Photo courtesy of our grantee partner City Bureau.