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Our Staff

  • Emily Albracht

    Design Director
    Emily Albracht’s staff photo

    Emily Albracht is a multidisciplinary designer. She develops and maintains the visual design systems and brand guidelines for The Texas Tribune. She first joined the organization in 2014 as a graphic designer. Over these years, she has been crucial in elevating the Tribune brand, keeping it fresh and consistent across all platforms. Before joining The Texas Tribune, she slung espresso and was a freelance creative in the local music and festival industry. Read Articles by Emily Albracht

  • Andy Alford

    Director of Editorial Recruitment, Training and Career Development
    Andy Alford’s staff photo

    Andy Alford joined the Tribune as director of editorial recruitment, training and career development in March 2022 after a 24-year run at the Austin American-Statesman, where she rose from reporter to assistant metro editor, metro editor, senior editor and then managing editor. As managing editor since 2018, she oversaw a newsroom of more than 60 journalists; a near-doubling of digital subscriptions; and award-winning coverage that prompted the Texas Managing Editors to recognize the Statesman as Texas newspaper of the year for 2013, 2014 and 2016. Born in Dallas, Andy enrolled at Florida A&M University to study engineering, but later found her calling in journalism, her major after she transferred to the University of Houston. Read Articles by Andy Alford

  • Rebekah Allen

    Politics Editor
    Rebekah Allen’s staff photo

    Rebekah Allen is the politics editor for The Texas Tribune, where she previously served as the news editor. Before joining the Tribune, she worked as a statehouse reporter for The Dallas Morning News. Previously, she was an investigative reporter and statehouse reporter for The Advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and an education reporter at the Pensacola News Journal in Florida. Read Articles by Rebekah Allen

  • Liam Andrew

    Chief Product Officer
    Liam Andrew’s staff photo

    Liam Andrew ensures that The Texas Tribune's systems for content management, distribution and analysis align with organizational priorities and user needs. He joined the Tribune in 2015 after completing a master's degree in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies program, where he worked with a variety of research groups including the Nieman Journalism Lab, Center for Civic Media and HyperStudio. An Iowa native, Liam earned his bachelor's degree in literature and music at Yale University.

  • Virginia Arrigucci

    Deputy Director, Revenue Lab
    Virginia Arrigucci’s staff photo

    Virginia Arrigucci is the deputy director of RevLab at The Texas Tribune. RevLab is a training and innovation program that shares what the Tribune has learned in its history with other newsrooms on the path to sustainability. Before the Tribune, Virginia spent nine years at The Associated Press where she worked on digital products and audience. She is originally from El Paso.

  • Carla Astudillo

    Senior Data Visuals Developer
    Carla Astudillo’s staff photo

    Carla Astudillo is a news app and data visuals developer with a focus on elections and political data. Previously, she was a data and interactive visuals journalist at NJ.com and The Star-Ledger in New Jersey, where she helped build a database of police use of force in the state as part of a 16-month investigative project. Carla was also deputy data visuals editor at the International Business Times. She got her master's degree from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and her bachelor's degree from the University of Florida. Carla grew up in Florida but is a native of Chile. Read Articles by Carla Astudillo

  • Rob Avila

    Technical Director
    Rob Avila’s staff photo

    Rob Avila is the Technical Director for The Texas Tribune. He was born and raised in Brownsville, Texas and has been living in Austin since 2009. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas at Austin. Rob specializes in live event production, audio, video, lighting, post-production, and virtual events. Rob has over a decade of production experience with a constant drive to master his craft, learning new skillsets and researching the latest production technology/applications. Outside of work, he enjoys creating music, programming light shows, and creating abstract projection visuals.

  • Tara Ballew

    Grants and Awards Manager
    Tara Ballew’s staff photo

    Tara Ballew joined the Tribune as the grants and awards manager in May 2022. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication with an emphasis on multiplatform journalism from Sam Houston State University. She currently is working toward a Master of Public Administration degree through Lamar University. Previously, Tara interned as an account executive at Priority One Public Relations under the direction of former White House communications staff. Tara is a native Texan, coming to Austin from Huntsville. She loves to travel, having visited friends in Australia, and is obsessed with her cat, Pixie.

  • James Barragán

    Politics Reporter
    James Barragán’s staff photo

    James Barragán is a politics reporter for The Texas Tribune with a focus on accountability reporting. Prior to joining the Tribune, he worked as a statehouse reporter for The Dallas Morning News and had previous stints at the Austin American-Statesman and The Los Angeles Times. In 2021, he was a finalist for the Toner Prize for Excellence in Local Reporting for his coverage of Texas politics during COVID-19. A Southern California native, he received his bachelor's degree in history from UCLA. Read Articles by James Barragán

  • Morgan Bennett

    Business Administrator
    Morgan Bennett’s staff photo

    Morgan Bennett is the Texas Tribune's business administrator, organizing the Tribune's revenue streams and providing general operational support. They are a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where they became interested in nonprofit operations through their work with various student and community organizations. Before joining the Tribune in 2019, they previously worked at their hometown newspaper, the Colorado County Citizen.

  • John Mathew Bernal (JMAT)

    Senior Sponsorship Manager
    John Mathew Bernal (JMAT)’s staff photo

    John Mathew Bernal (JMAT) serves as the Senior Sponsorship Manager for the Texas Tribune Revenue Team. Born and raised in Austin and a graduate of Texas State University, JMAT has an extensive background in Sales and Marketing. He joins the Texas Tribune team from DoStuff Media, where he successfully designed holistic campaigns for national brands like Jack Daniel's and Budweiser. Before DoStuff, JMAT was part of the Marketing team at SXSW and Brown Distributing Co. For the last five years, JMAT has run an art nonprofit, Chula League, whose mission is to fuel and sustain the arts in East Austin.

  • Bobby Blanchard

    Chief Audience Officer
    Bobby Blanchard’s staff photo

    Bobby Blanchard runs The Texas Tribune’s audience team while strategizing with the newsroom to expand the organization’s reach and engagement across all platforms. He strives to ensure the Tribune is a leading voice every day in the conversation online around Texas policy and politics. A graduate of UT-Austin, Bobby spent his first year out of college at The Dallas Morning News as a reporting fellow, covering Texas politics and breaking news. He got his start in journalism in the poorly lit basement of The Daily Texan, followed by internships at the Houston Chronicle, KUT News and, yes, the Tribune. Born and raised in the Houston area, Bobby is a native Texan. He relies on a steady supply of Tex-Mex and Red Bull to survive. Read Articles by Bobby Blanchard

  • Jacki Brinker

    Director & Experiential Producer, Events
    Jacki Brinker’s staff photo

    Jacki Brinker is the director & experiential producer for The Texas Tribune's events. A midwest native, she moved to Austin in 2007 to complete a year of AmeriCorps service with all intentions of moving back to her "home." Texas got her good, though — Jacki joined the Texas Roller Derby in 2008, collected an MSSW from The University of Texas at Austin in 2010, and started claiming Texas as her home state by 2011. She brings ten-plus years of experience in event production, relationship building and nonprofit development, most recently producing events and campaigns for Texas Monthly.

  • Trent Brown

    Reporting Fellow
    Trent Brown’s staff photo

    Trent Brown is a 2022 fall reporting fellow. A Massachusetts native, he is a senior at Northwestern University, where he studies journalism and French. Previously, he interned at the Wenatchee (Wash.) World, where he covered agriculture, local government, and community issues. He has served as the editor-in-chief of campus magazine North by Northwestern. When he's not in a newsroom, Trent probably is busy browsing Twitter, watching horror movies or cooking boxed mac and cheese. Read Articles by Trent Brown

  • Darla Cameron

    Managing Editor for Visual Journalism
    Darla Cameron’s staff photo

    Darla Cameron is the managing editor for visual journalism for The Texas Tribune. She oversees the work of the photo, multimedia and data visuals teams and works closely with the product, engineering and design teams to elevate the Tribune’s visual journalism. Previously, she was the data visuals editor, leading a team of developers at the intersection of graphics and news applications. Before joining the Tribune, she worked at The Washington Post and the Tampa Bay Times. Darla is a Colorado native with a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. Read Articles by Darla Cameron

  • Reese Castro

    Media Manager
    Reese Castro’s staff photo

    Reese Castro is the media manager for The Texas Tribune, returning to the Tribune after being the marcom fellow in Spring 2020. She oversees media relations to help raise the profile of The Texas Tribune’s important storytelling. She has a wide range of experience in PR from previous in-house and agency positions across different industries. Reese is Texas born and raised with a degree in public relations and minors in sociology and business public policy from the University of Texas at Austin.

  • Sewell Chan

    Editor in Chief
    Sewell Chan’s staff photo

    Sewell Chan joined The Texas Tribune as editor in chief in October 2021. Previously he was a deputy managing editor and then the editorial page editor at the Los Angeles Times, where he oversaw coverage that was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2021. Chan worked at the New York Times from 2004 to 2018, as a metro reporter, Washington correspondent, deputy Op-Ed editor and international news editor. He began his career as a local reporter at the Washington Post in 2000. A child of immigrants, Chan was the first in his family to graduate from college. He has a degree in social studies from Harvard and a master's in political science from Oxford, where he studied on a British Marshall scholarship. He serves on the boards of Columbia Journalism Review, Freedom House, Harvard Magazine and News Leaders Association. He is a member of PEN America, the Council on Foreign Relations and numerous journalism organizations. Read Articles by Sewell Chan

  • Fabiana Chaparro

    Scripps Howard Multimedia Fellow
    Fabiana Chaparro’s staff photo

    Fabiana Chaparro is a Scripps Howard multimedia fellow at the Texas Tribune. She graduated from the University of Houston with dual degrees in journalism and political science, and a minor in creative work. During her time at university, Fabiana interned with several organizations, including CNN, ABC 13, Houston Public Media and NPR's Next Generation Radio. She is originally from Cabimas, Venezuela. Read Articles by Fabiana Chaparro

  • Natalie Choate

    Chief Communications Officer
    Natalie Choate’s staff photo

    Natalie Choate is an expert strategist and communications specialist with extensive experience of creative problem solving. Throughout her career, she’s built resilient systems and frameworks to drive results across a range of domains and industries. Prior to her work leading marketing and communications in nonprofit media, she ran local and regional political campaigns in Texas and drove successful public policy initiatives in the Texas Legislature. As a small business owner, Natalie is driven by the opportunity to build brands and bring big ideas to life.

  • Matthew Choi

    Washington Correspondent
    Matthew Choi’s staff photo

    Matthew Choi is a Washington correspondent for The Texas Tribune. Matthew previously covered energy and climate policy at Politico, where he wrote the Morning Energy newsletter. Matthew was also a breaking news reporter, covering campaign events during the 2020 presidential election and the Mueller investigation. Before joining Politico, Matthew was a two-time reporting fellow at The Texas Tribune based in Austin, reporting on education, health care, immigration, guns, agriculture and land management. He graduated from Northwestern University where he studied journalism and political science and was managing editor of The Daily Northwestern. In his free time, Matthew enjoys cooking French country food while listening to Simon and Garfunkel. Read Articles by Matthew Choi

  • Lexi Churchill

    Research Reporter, ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative unit
    Lexi Churchill’s staff photo

    Lexi Churchill was most recently a Scripps Howard research fellow at ProPublica, where she published an investigation exposing how the Trump administration’s quick and quiet crackdown on Idaho’s Medicaid procedures created new red tape that kept children with special needs and the state’s poorest residents from maintaining insurance. She also led reporting efforts for the “Sins of Omission” project and has been involved in ProPublica's coronavirus coverage over the last few weeks. Before joining ProPublica, Lexi interned at several organizations, including CNBC and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Lexi will report to Katie Zavadski, the research editor at ProPublica. Read Articles by Lexi Churchill

  • Kiah Collier

    Reporter, ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative unit
    Kiah Collier’s staff photo

    Kiah Collier is an investigative reporter for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Initiative. She previously worked at the Tribune as a reporter and associate editor since 2015, covering energy and environment through the lens of state government and politics. She was a reporter on “Hell and High Water,” a Peabody Award–winning collaboration between ProPublica and the Tribune that explored the vulnerability of the Houston area to a large, devastating hurricane. In addition to the Peabody Award, she has been honored with the Knight-Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism, the National Edward R. Murrow Award for best investigation, and the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award. Read Articles by Kiah Collier

  • Caroline Covington

    Scripps Howard Data Visualization Fellow
    Caroline Covington’s staff photo

    Caroline Covington is Texas Tribune's Scripps Howard Data Visualization fellow. She comes from Texas Standard at KUT public radio where she tracked and visualized key government decisions early in the pandemic, and reported extensively on mental health. Prior to that, she was a freelancer for public radio, podcasts and digital news outlets. She received her master’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, earned a master’s degree in French studies from New York University and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Covington specializes in health care and mental health journalism and in taking deeper dives into these topics through data and visuals. Read Articles by Caroline Covington

  • Juleanna Culilap

    Design Fellow
    Juleanna Culilap’s staff photo

    Juleanna Culilap is a senior design major at the University of Texas at Austin and a 2022 fall design fellow. She is design editor at The Daily Texan, design director of SPARK Magazine and a student ambassador for UT’s School of Design and Creative Technologies. Previously, Juleanna was a print graphic design intern for Victoria’s Secret PINK and a participant in the 2022 Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection summer residency.

  • Vianna Davila

    Reporter, ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative unit
    Vianna Davila’s staff photo

    Vianna Davila is a reporter with the ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative unit. Previously, she was the editor of The Seattle Times’ Project Homeless initiative, which examines the causes and effects of homelessness in the Seattle region. She began with the project in 2017 as a reporter, before becoming editor in 2019. Her work with the team was recognized by the Solutions Journalism Network as some of the best solutions reporting of 2018. She previously reported for the San Antonio Express-News, where over 13 years she produced stories on city politics, regional transportation and criminal justice. Her six-part project “The Next Million” explored gentrification, affordable housing, changing demographics and other urban issues in San Antonio, winning the Best of the West 2017 Journalism Contest for online presentation. She graduated from Rice University with a B.A. in English and master’s of journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, with a specialty in documentary film. Her master’s thesis film, “In His Blood,” about the lives of overnight television news videographers, was named the best documentary short at the 2009 San Antonio Film Festival. She has previously taught journalism at the University of Washington, Texas State University and Texas A&M University-San Antonio. She is a San Antonio native and a 10th-generation Texan. (Photo: Bettina Hansen, The Seattle Times) Read Articles by Vianna Davila

  • Justin Dehn

    Multimedia Producer
    Justin Dehn’s staff photo

    Justin Dehn is a multimedia producer at The Texas Tribune whose focus is video and audio production. He's been shooting and producing news for more than two decades. At the Tribune, Dehn has been behind the camera for Tribune special projects God and Governing, Hurting for Work, Paid to Prosecute and the Emmy award winning documentary 13 Hours to Midnight. He is also the producer and host of the Tribune’s daily news podcast The Brief. Read Articles by Justin Dehn

  • Zach Despart

    Politics Reporter
    Zach Despart’s staff photo

    Zach Despart is a politics reporter for The Texas Tribune. He investigates power — who wields it, how and to what ends — through the lens of Texas government. He previously covered Harris County for the Houston Chronicle, where he reported on corruption, elections, disaster preparedness and the region’s recovery from Hurricane Harvey. An upstate New York native, he received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Vermont. Read Articles by Zach Despart

  • Sneha Dey

    General Assignment Reporter
    Sneha Dey’s staff photo

    Sneha Dey is a general assignment reporter on the breaking news team. She joined The Texas Tribune full time in 2022 after working in our newsroom as a reporting fellow. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied journalism, legal studies and creative writing. The New York native has previously worked for the Chicago Sun-Times, NPR and Chalkbeat. She has also served as editor in chief of The Daily Northwestern. Read Articles by Sneha Dey

  • Erin Douglas

    Climate Reporter
    Erin Douglas’s staff photo

    Erin Douglas is the climate reporter for the Texas Tribune. She was previously a business and economy reporter at the Houston Chronicle where she covered labor, energy and the environment. She studied journalism and economics at Colorado State University, and her first newsroom job was interning at The Denver Post, her hometown newspaper. Based in Austin, Erin is always planning her next road trip. Read Articles by Erin Douglas

  • Emily Dresslar

    Director, Revenue Lab
    Emily Dresslar’s staff photo

    Emily Dresslar is a former journalist who has developed a specialization in working on new ventures in news media, supporting digital innovation teams by managing operations, strategic partnerships and revenue development. Before joining the RevLab, Emily was Head of Business Operations for The Compass Experiment at McClatchy, a Google News Initiative-funded project. Prior to that, she was Head of Strategic Partnerships for Calkins Digital, an innovative technology start-up serving the news media industry. Emily earned a master’s degree in Media Strategy from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and she is also a past member of the board of directors of the Local Media Consortium.

  • Allison P. Erickson

    Military Affairs Fellow
    Allison P. Erickson’s staff photo

    Allison P. Erickson joined the Tribune in August 2022 as a reporting fellow covering military and veterans issues in Texas through a new partnership with Military Veterans in Journalism. Allison served as a Medical Service Corps officer in the U.S. Army from 2011 to 2018, rising to the rank of captain and completing a combat deployment to Afghanistan. She is a recipient of the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal and an Army Commendation Medal. A native of San Antonio, Allison studied editorial journalism at Texas Christian University before she joined the military. She has written for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas Monthly and The Point. She has a master’s degree in creative publishing and critical journalism from The New School in New York. She has since worked freelance assignments in print and digital news and produced podcast reporting on migration, politics and health. Read Articles by Allison P. Erickson

  • Chris Essig

    Editor for Data Visuals
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    Chris Essig is the data visuals editor at the Texas Tribune. He leads a team of developers who build charts, maintain public databases and analyze data for reporters to help them hold elected officials accountable. Chris has been a newsroom developer for 10 years and has worked in several local newsrooms. As a native of the Midwest, Chris received his journalism degree from Eastern Illinois University and spent six years in Iowa working at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids and at the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier in Waterloo. Read Articles by Chris Essig

  • Joshua Fechter

    Urban Affairs Reporter
    Joshua Fechter’s staff photo

    Joshua Fechter is the urban affairs reporter for The Texas Tribune, covering policy — including housing affordability, evictions, policing and transportation — and politics in Texas' major metropolitan areas. Before joining the Tribune in August 2021, Joshua covered City Hall for the San Antonio Express-News. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. Read Articles by Joshua Fechter

  • Mitchell Ferman

    Energy and Economy Reporter
    Mitchell Ferman’s staff photo

    Mitchell Ferman is a reporter for The Texas Tribune covering energy and the economy from a base in Houston. Before joining the Tribune he was a reporter for The Monitor in McAllen, where he covered cross-border trade, politics and the city of McAllen. He also regularly freelanced from the Rio Grande Valley and beyond for The New York Times, Texas Monthly and Reuters, writing about topics including the family separation crisis and unexpected consequences of the border wall. He graduated from the University of Missouri. Read Articles by Mitchell Ferman

  • Irma Fernandez

    Development Officer
    Irma Fernandez’s staff photo

    Irma Fernandez is a development officer at The Texas Tribune. She is a graduate of St. Edward’s University and received a Fulbright grant to Brazil post-grad. Irma worked in politics for several cycles, spending time in Texas, Florida, and Nevada. She is an overly passionate sports fan, thinks Friday Night Lights is the greatest show of all time, and does it all for her dog named Ramsey.

  • Brandon Formby

    News Editor
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    Brandon Formby studied journalism at Texas Tech University. After graduation, he worked at The Dallas Morning News, where he covered local politics, suburban government and regional transportation. He joined The Texas Tribune (but remained in Dallas) as its first urban affairs reporter in 2016. He became the Trib’s night news editor (and moved to Austin) in 2019 and was named news editor in 2022. He doesn't understand Texas cities' taco wars or the inclination to stay loyal to one restaurant; he believes it's OK to love all tacos. Read Articles by Brandon Formby

  • Brandyn Friedly

    DevOps Engineer

  • Nic Garcia

    Regional Editor

  • Uriel J. García

    Immigration Reporter
    Uriel J. García’s staff photo

    Uriel J. García is an immigration reporter based in El Paso. Before joining the Tribune, he worked at the Arizona Republic where he covered police violence and immigration enforcement. He started his journalism career at the Santa Fe New Mexican where he focused on covering the city's immigrant community and criminal justice issues. Originally from Mexico, he grew up in Phoenix and graduated from Arizona State University. Read Articles by Uriel J. García

  • Eddie Gaspar

    Associate Photo Editor
    Eddie Gaspar’s staff photo

    Eddie Gaspar is an associate photo editor at The Texas Tribune, a job he took on after working as the Tribune’s photo fellow for two semesters. Eddie is a senior at the University of Texas. He has worked as a photo editor at The Daily Texan, a multimedia intern at KUT and a contributor at Do512. He has also worked for Texas Student Television’s “Austin Underground” and UT’s Cactus Yearbook. Eddie is fluent in Spanish. Read Articles by Eddie Gaspar

  • Emily Goldstein

    Copy Chief
    Emily Goldstein’s staff photo

    Emily Goldstein is the copy chief at The Texas Tribune. Emily previously worked at The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Observer. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri and her master's degree from the University of North Texas. Read Articles by Emily Goldstein

  • Luis Gonzalez

    Executive Assistant
    Luis Gonzalez’s staff photo

    Luis Gonzalez is The Texas Tribune's first executive assistant. He supports the senior management team in carrying out the publication's collective mission. Luis has worked in the government, educational, nonprofit, and private sectors. Previously, Luis occupied positions of increasing responsibility at The University of Texas at Austin, where he majored in journalism, graduating in 2013. He worked at the School of Architecture, in the Office of the President, and Dell Medical School. Most recently, he supported Fluence by OSRAM as the executive assistant to the CEO. Luis also has extensive nonprofit experience. He served on the board of allgo and is active with Any Baby Can. He also participated in the ATXelerator, which trains young leaders for public service. He currently serves as Vice Chair of Austin's Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Luis considers journalism his first love. Originally from Hebbronville in South Texas, Luis has called Austin home since 2009.

  • Amiee Gonzalez Johnson

    Events & Festival Manager
    Amiee Gonzalez Johnson’s staff photo

    Amiee Gonzalez Johnson is the Events and Festival Manager at The Texas Tribune. She comes to us from Mondo, the creative arm of the Alamo Drafthouse. During her time there, she produced MondoCon 3-5 and countless other events at San Diego Comic Con, Texas Frightmare Weekend, Thought Bubble and DesignerCon. She loves her cat (Von), traveling, spending time with family, taking in a film festival whenever she can, the San Antonio Spurs and is a little bit of a sneakerhead. Originally from Brownsville, Texas she's called Austin home for the last 20 years. --

  • Marissa Greene

    Engagement Fellow
    Marissa Greene’s staff photo

    Marissa Greene is a fall 2022 engagement fellow. She is a senior journalism student at the University of Texas at Austin, where she produces podcasts for The Drag, the audio production house at the Moody College of Communication. Before she became a Longhorn, Marissa was editor in chief of ACCENT, Austin Community College’s student-run multimedia organization. She previously has interned for Austin PBS, Austin's community licensed public television station, and KERA, the public broadcasting organization for North Texas.

  • Catherine Grooms

    Advertising Operations Manager
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    Catherine Grooms manages advertising operations at The Texas Tribune. Before joining the Tribune in the fall of 2017, she worked as a clothing designer in New York, where she also attended Parsons School of Design. As a native Austinite, she is glad to be back in her hometown.

  • Dave Harmon

    Environment, Energy and Immigration Editor
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    Dave Harmon joined the Tribune in January 2017 as the editor for the investigative and projects team. After graduating from the University of Texas with a journalism degree, he started his reporting career in the Rio Grande Valley at The (McAllen) Monitor, covering health care and the environment. After a short stint at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he returned to Austin and spent 18 years at the Austin American-Statesman as a reporter, assistant metro editor and finally a member of the investigative team. Read Articles by Dave Harmon

  • Karen Brooks Harper

    Health and Human Services Reporter
    Karen Brooks Harper’s staff photo

    Karen Brooks Harper reports on health and human services. An alumna of the University of Missouri-Columbia Journalism School, Karen arrived in Texas in 1995 to join the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, spent several years in Laredo and Mexico covering immigration and the drug war for Knight-Ridder newspapers, and has covered Texas politics for more than two decades for news organizations including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Dallas Morning News and Reuters. Read Articles by Karen Brooks Harper

  • Ashley Hebler

    Engineering Manager
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    Ashley Hebler is the engineering manager at The Texas Tribune and enjoys implementing engaging and meaningful experiences for users on the web. She received a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics at Texas A&M University and a master's degree in mass communication with a focus on digital media from Texas State University. Ashley is a native Texan from Galveston and enjoys navigating the beautiful rivers of the Texas Hill Country.

  • John Hernandez

    Assistant Director of Audience
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    John Hernandez is the assistant director of audience at the Tribune. After fellowships at APM Reports and Minnesota Public Radio, John went on to work in journalism support at the American Press Institute and Resolve Philly, where he convened newsrooms in collaboratives and cohorts that focused on best practices related to elections reporting, community listening, and nuanced coverage of Indigenous people. John is a proud graduate of Texas State University’s journalism school. He was born in Bogota, Colombia but grew up in Queens, New York, which is why you’ll probably catch him wearing a Mets hat almost every day. Read Articles by John Hernandez

  • Jinitzail Hernández

    Video Journalist
    Jinitzail Hernández’s staff photo

    Jinitzail Hernández joined the Texas Tribune as a video journalist in May 2022. Jini previously worked as the senior multimedia producer at CQ Roll Call in Washington, D.C., where she covered defense policy and politics through articles, podcasts and videos. Previously, Jini worked in Jerusalem as a press and policy fellow at The Media Line, a nonprofit American news agency. Jini graduated with a master's in journalism from Northwestern University and was awarded the Deborah Orin Scholarship from the White House Correspondents' Association. A Chicagoan, Jini is a native Spanish speaker and is interested in using video to tell immersive policy stories through the lives of the people affected. Read Articles by Jinitzail Hernández

  • Reagan Hicks

    Graphic Designer
    Reagan Hicks’s staff photo

    Reagan Hicks is a graphic designer at The Texas Tribune and works to push the Tribune’s brand forward in fresh and exciting new ways. Before joining the Tribune, he was a multidisciplinary designer and art director at a small creative agency in East Austin. Originally from El Paso, he attended Texas State University, receiving dual degrees in Communication Design and Photography.

  • April Hinkle

    Chief Revenue Officer
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    April Hinkle is The Texas Tribune's chief revenue officer. She holds an advertising degree from the University of Texas and is responsible for the Tribune’s corporate revenue programs, speakers’ bureau and licensing of content. Previously April spent over 20 years at Texas Monthly, as retail advertising director, advertising and marketing director, associate publisher and publisher.

  • Dan Hu

    RevLab Fellow
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    Dan Hu is a journalism student at Northwestern University and a 2022 fall RevLab fellow at the Texas Tribune. He is the executive director of The Yappie, a nonprofit publication dedicated to covering Asian American and Pacific Islander political news. He also serves on the board of advisors at the Glen Nelson Center at American Public Media Group. His work has been published in The New York Times and The Washington Post.

  • Pu Ying Huang

    Photo Editor/Photographer
    Pu Ying Huang’s staff photo

    Pu Ying Huang leads The Texas Tribune's photo team. Pu started working for the Tribune as a freelancer in 2017, chronicling Hurricane Harvey’s catastrophic flooding in Houston. Soon after, Pu moved to Bogotá, Colombia, where she honed her Spanish and created a moving body of work on the plight of migrants who have fled the decadelong economic and political crisis in Venezuela. During the tumultuous year of 2020, Pu photographed an encampment of asylum-seekers in Matamoros, Mexico, and protests in Houston that followed the murder of George Floyd. Her work has appeared in many outlets, including Reuters, Al Jazeera English, VICE, ProPublica, NBC News and NPR. Read Articles by Pu Ying Huang

  • Alishba Javaid

    Reporting Fellow
    Alishba Javaid’s staff photo

    Alishba Javaid is a 2022 fall reporting fellow. She is a junior at the University of Texas at Austin, where she studies journalism and international relations and global studies. She has been a videographer and life and arts reporter at The Daily Texan, where she featured marginalized student voices. She is president of the UT chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association and is passionate about the accurate representation of people of color in the news. She describes herself as a big book and language nerd who likes to watch cat reels on TikTok. Read Articles by Alishba Javaid

  • John Jordan

    Deputy Photo Editor
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    John Jordan is the deputy photo editor at The Texas Tribune. Before coming to work at the Tribune, John spent several decades as a touring and recording musician. In 2005, he left the road (well, sort of) to join a statewide political campaign. After that, John joined the Austin bureau of The Dallas Morning News, where he worked for four years before joining the staff at The Texas Tribune. Before serving as deputy photo editor, John was operations manager, doing a bit of everything at The Texas Tribune, from working with photographers to editing our directory of elected officials to making fresh guac y queso every Friday. Read Articles by John Jordan

  • Kassie Kelly

    Membership Manager
    Kassie Kelly’s staff photo

    Kassie Kelly oversees The Texas Tribune's membership program. She joined the Tribune in 2021 after managing the membership program at the San Antonio Report, a digital-only, local nonprofit news organization. Kassie received a bachelor's degree in music and political science from Trinity University. Before moving to Austin to join the Tribune team, Kassie called San Antonio home for the large majority of her life – and (rightly) believes San Antonio's breakfast tacos are far superior to Austin's.

  • Jade Khatib

    Data Visuals Fellow
    Jade Khatib’s staff photo

    Jade Khatib is a 2022 fall data visuals fellow. They have previously worked as an interactives intern at the Seattle Times and a health care fellow at Business Insider. They are studying journalism and interaction design at Northeastern University, where they have served as the multimedia manager and managing editor for Northeastern's student newspaper, The Huntington News.

  • Eleanor Klibanoff

    Women's Health Reporter
    Eleanor Klibanoff’s staff photo

    Eleanor Klibanoff is the women's health reporter at The Texas Tribune. She was previously with the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, where she covered sexual assault, domestic violence and policing, among other things. She has worked at public radio stations in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Missouri, as well as NPR, and her work has aired on All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Here & Now. She lives in Austin with her enormous cat, Grover Cleveland. Read Articles by Eleanor Klibanoff

  • Lomi Kriel

    Reporter, ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative unit
    Lomi Kriel’s staff photo

    Lomi Kriel is a reporter with the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative unit. Previously she was a reporter at the Houston Chronicle covering immigration, often focused on the Texas border. Six months before the Trump administration announced its family separation policy, Kriel uncovered how the government was secretly using the prosecution of illegal entry to detain parents until deportation and send children to federal shelters. Her stories resulted in the release of one mother and helped spur a pivotal American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit largely ending the practice. She received the 2019 George Polk Award for national reporting, in part for her continued work on family separations. Kriel, who was born and raised in South Africa, immigrated to the United States in 1998. She has also worked as a Central American correspondent for Thomson Reuters and a criminal justice reporter for the San Antonio Express-News. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia University and speaks Afrikaans and Spanish. Read Articles by Lomi Kriel

  • Evan Lambert

    Chief Financial Officer
    Evan Lambert’s staff photo

    Evan Lambert joined the Tribune in October 2019 as chief financial officer. He brings a diverse background and experience in nonprofit financial management, international development, microfinance and public accounting. His previous experience includes working as the CFO of United Way for Greater Austin and as CFO of Pro Mujer International, a New York-based international development org serving more than 250,000 women in Latin America. A native of New York, Evan has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the McCombs School of Business at UT-Austin. He’s a father of two, a Peace Corps alum, an avid cyclist and outdoorsman, and fluent in Spanish.

  • Terri Langford

    Health and Human Services Editor
    Terri Langford’s staff photo

    Terri Langford is the Tribune's health and human services editor. Langford is a veteran journalist, having worked at the Florida Times Union, The Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, WNYC, Honolulu Civil Beat and Texas Standard/KUT. She holds a bachelor's degree in government from the University of Texas. Read Articles by Terri Langford

  • Ren Larson

    Data Reporter, ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative unit
    Ren Larson’s staff photo

    Ren Larson is a data journalist who comes to the Tribune from The Arizona Republic, where she reported on elections, immigration, environmental contamination and wildfires. Her 2019 project "Ahead of the Fire," which analyzed nearly 5,000 Western communities for wildfire hazard and human vulnerabilities, won a 2019 EPPY award for innovation, the MIT Knight Science Journalism's Victor K. McElheny award and was a finalist for the Philip Meyer Award. She holds a masters of public policy and an M.A. in international and area studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Before entering journalism in 2015, she worked as a city planner, a case manager and a data analyst. Read Articles by Ren Larson

  • Elexus Liggins

    Office Manager
    Elexus Liggins’s staff photo

    Elexus Liggins is the office manager for The Texas Tribune. She joined the Tribune in July 2022. She earned her associate's degree at San Antonio College and transferred to the University of North Texas where she graduated with a bachelor's in international studies and a minor in Spanish. Elexus is the first point of contact for visitors to our office and serves a critical role in the support system for Tribune employees. Her personal mission is to help others prosper and excel, and she cannot resist eating flavorful dishes, being on the dance floor and binge-watching fascinating shows.

  • Brian Lopez

    Public Education Reporter
    Brian Lopez’s staff photo

    Brian Lopez is the Public Education Reporter for The Texas Tribune. He joined the Tribune in August 2021 after a covering local government at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for a little over a year. The Star-Telegram was his first gig after graduating from the University of Texas at Arlington in May 2020 where he worked for the student-run newspaper The Shorthorn. When not on the job, he's either watching or playing soccer. Read Articles by Brian Lopez

  • Jayme Lozano

    Reporter/South Plains and Panhandle
    Jayme Lozano’s staff photo

    Jayme Lozano joins The Texas Tribune as our first Lubbock-based reporter, covering the South Plains and Panhandle through a partnership with Report for America. Read Articles by Jayme Lozano

  • Evan L’Roy

    Photographer
    Evan L’Roy’s staff photo

    Evan L’Roy is a Poynter-Koch 2022-2023 fellow and a photographer at The Texas Tribune. He was a spring photography fellow in 2021 and a contract photo editor after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a radio-television-film degree. Evan has worked as a cinematographer and photographer for Austin TV station KXAN, The Daily Texan and various commercial/film productions. With a focus on enterprise stories, Evan will produce visual projects about the environment and homelessness in collaboration with Tribune reporters. Read Articles by Evan L’Roy

  • Natalie Martinez

    Social Media Editor
    Natalie Martinez’s staff photo

    Natalie Martinez is the social media editor at The Texas Tribune. Previously, she researched and reported on misinformation campaigns on social media and tech platforms for Media Matters for America and MoveOn. Natalie graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2017 with a B.A. in American Culture Studies and Film & Media Studies.

  • Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera

    Education and Urban Affairs Editor
    Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera’s staff photo

    Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera is the education and urban affairs editor at The Texas Tribune. He previously worked as a digital editor at KUT.org, breaking news editor at the Austin American-Statesman and content editor at the University of Texas' Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Before that he worked as a reporter for several English- and Spanish-language publications covering the U.S.-Mexico border, drug violence, immigration, technology and public safety. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UT, grew up in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and has impossibly high standards when it comes to tacos al pastor. Read Articles by Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera

  • Matthew McCrary

    Senior Full-Stack Engineer

  • Jolie McCullough

    Criminal Justice Reporter
    Jolie McCullough’s staff photo

    Jolie McCullough reports on criminal justice issues and policy for The Texas Tribune, ranging from coverage on policing and courts to prisons and the death penalty. She came to the Tribune in early 2015 from the Albuquerque Journal, and has previously worked at the Arizona Republic. She is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Read Articles by Jolie McCullough

  • Kate McGee

    Higher Education Reporter
    Kate McGee’s staff photo

    Kate McGee covers higher education for The Texas Tribune. She joins after nearly a decade as a reporter at public radio stations across the country. She most recently covered higher ed at WBEZ in Chicago, but started on the education beat in 2013 at KUT in Austin. She has also worked at NPR affiliates in Washington D.C., New York City and Reno, Nevada. Kate was born in New York City and primarily raised in New Jersey. She graduated from Fordham University. Her work has appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Here and Now, and The Takeaway. Read Articles by Kate McGee

  • William Melhado

    Night General Assignment Reporter
    William Melhado’s staff photo

    William Melhado is a Poynter-Koch fellow for 2022-23 and a general assignment reporter on The Texas Tribune’s breaking news team. Originally from Colorado, William graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in chemistry and then taught science at a public high school in the Bronx, New York, while completing a master’s in secondary science education at CUNY Lehman College, also in the Bronx. He then taught science at schools in Tanzania and Nepal before changing careers. He has also received fellowships from the Education Writers Association and The Hechinger Report. Read Articles by William Melhado

  • María Méndez

    Service and Engagement Reporter
    María Méndez’s staff photo

    María Méndez is a reporter focused on connecting with Texans to help them navigate politics and public policy and find the resources they need. Previously, she reported on public education at the Austin American-Statesman, border and business issues at Texas Public Radio and politics and breaking news at The Dallas Morning News. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, interned at The Texas Tribune as an engagement fellow and worked for The Daily Texan, UT’s student newspaper. She was born in Guanajuato, Mexico, grew up in Austin and speaks Spanish.

  • Marquis Mills-Cooper

    Project Manager, Revenue Lab
    Marquis Mills-Cooper’s staff photo

    Marquis Mills-Cooper joined the Texas Tribune in March of 2021 and is the Revenue Lab project manager. Prior to becoming a project management professional in 2020, Marquis enjoyed a 21-year career in the United States Army as an All Source Intelligence Warrant Officer(Chief Warrant Officer 2). He served in multiple countries and supported combat operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo with timely and accurate intelligence. Marquis originally hails from Queens, New York, is a father of one daughter and likes writing and going to the gym. He’s also a collector of edged weapons and does volunteer work in his spare time. He’s a student at Austin Community College where he majors in Government. Marquis is happy to be out of uniform and to be here with the Tribune, but will probably still answer to “hey, chief” if you want to have some fun with him.

  • Ayan Mittra

    Senior Managing Editor
    Ayan Mittra’s staff photo

    Ayan Mittra is the senior managing editor at The Texas Tribune. Ayan joined the Tribune after working more than 10 years at The Dallas Morning News. He spent his first seven years there as a copy editor. In 2008, he moved to the political desk, supervising the daily presentations and working with reporters in the field. He then worked as a night city editor, supervising the coverage of late-breaking news. He was also on the editing team for the 2009 and 2011 legislative sessions. A native of Beaumont, Ayan graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Read Articles by Ayan Mittra

  • Stephen Neukam

    D.C. Reporting Fellow
    Stephen Neukam’s staff photo

    Stephen Neukam is a 2022 fall reporting fellow in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate journalism student at the University of Maryland, where he is learning investigative and data journalism. Before joining the Tribune, Stephen was a reporting intern for The Hill, where he covered Congress and a wide range of policy issues. He is also a fellow at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. Stephen looks forward to roaming the halls of the U.S. Capitol to keep Texans informed. Read Articles by Stephen Neukam

  • Alex Nguyen

    Reporting Fellow

  • Grayson Norwood

    Director of Human Resources
    Grayson Norwood’s staff photo

    Grayson Norwood oversees human resources at The Texas Tribune. She joined the organization in January 2020, after more than 13 years at The Contemporary Austin. A native Austinite, Grayson graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in history.

  • Reese Oxner

    Product Manager
    Reese Oxner’s staff photo

    Reese Oxner is the product manager for The Texas Tribune. He previously was the Tribune’s breaking news reporter. Before arriving at the Tribune, Reese interned on NPR’s news desk, was a summer reporting fellow at the Tribune and worked part-time covering Arlington for the Dallas Morning News. He was the editor in chief of The Shorthorn, the University of Texas at Arlington’s student-run newspaper, where he earned the 2019 editor of the year award from the Texas Collegiate Press Association. He studied web design in college and really, really likes Korean BBQ. Read Articles by Reese Oxner

  • Alfredo Palacios

    Graphic Designer
    Alfredo Palacios’s staff photo

    Alfredo Palacios is a graphic designer at The Texas Tribune. He works closely with the events and festival teams to produce their visual assets. Prior to joining our design team, he was the content marketing and design intern at AQUILA Commercial. Alfredo graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos with a degree in communication design. Outside of work, Alfredo enjoys photography and painting.

  • David Pasztor

    Senior Editor and Writing Coach
    David Pasztor’s staff photo

    David Pasztor is a senior editor, overseeing coverage of demographics, voting and criminal justice, and writing coach. Over three decades, David worked for the Kansas City Star; the Dallas Times-Herald; New Times Inc., a publisher of alt-weeklies; and the Texas Observer. David initially retired in 2008 but was lured back into journalism in 2014, when he first joined the Tribune as a night news editor and projects editor. He retired for a second time in 2016, but was lured back to the Tribune in 2019 as a part-time story-editor. He returned full-time in 2022. Read Articles by David Pasztor

  • Jonathan Peacher

    Full-stack Engineer
    Jonathan Peacher’s staff photo

    Jonathan Peacher is a full-stack engineer at The Texas Tribune. He received a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining the Tribune, he was an engineer for his alma mater, where he developed web applications to help broaden participation in computing among K-12 teachers and students. He enjoys going on long hikes with his fiancée and playing board games, at least when none of their four cats are running across the table.

  • Alex Powers

    Analytics & Data Manager
    Alex Powers’s staff photo

    Alex Powers is The Texas Tribune's analytics & data manager, focused on developing an internal data strategy and architecture that can help the Tribune leverage insights from data to best serve and inform Texas. He has worked as an EMT, a GED teacher, and an analytic consultant for clinics and hospitals. Through his health and education work – and as a longtime reader of the Tribune – he has seen firsthand how state policy impacts everyday lives, and he is very excited to use his skills to further our mission.

  • Jessica Priest

    Engagement Reporter, ProPublica/Texas Tribune Investigative Unit
    Jessica Priest’s staff photo

    Jessica Priest is an engagement reporter on The Texas Tribune/ProPublica Investigative Initiative. She’s previously worked for the Fort Worth Report, USA TODAY out of the Austin-American Statesman newsroom, the Victoria Advocate and the Temple Daily Telegram. She is a Texan whose work has often made an impact — be it local officials in Victoria pursuing funding for mental health after she highlighted a gap in services or the state’s highest criminal court granting a death row inmate a new trial after she detailed a prosecutor’s conflicts of interest. Jessica also has experience reporting on local government and the environment. After she exposed questionable hirings and payments at a port and later a water district in another part of the state, both public entities underwent reforms. After she showed the effects of companies’ air and water pollution on the Gulf Coast, residents organized and regulators took action. Read Articles by Jessica Priest

  • Terry Quinn

    Chief Development Officer
    Terry Quinn’s staff photo

    Terry Quinn is a sixth-generation Texan and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. She has worked as a volunteer and professional for over 23 years to raise funds for many nonprofit organizations in Austin and around Texas, most recently The Nature Conservancy of Texas and The Contemporary Austin. For the Tribune, Terry leads the work with the foundations and the individuals whose philanthropic support make the mission of the Tribune possible.

  • Roxanne Rodriguez

    IT Support Specialist
    Roxanne Rodriguez’s staff photo

    Roxanne Rodriguez joined The Texas Tribune in April 2022 as an IT support specialist. She supports multiple departments at the Tribune, applying her specialized skills to operations and infrastructure. Previously, Roxanne worked as a technology support specialist at the Lackland Independent School District in San Antonio. Roxanne received her BBA in cybersecurity from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a minor in digital forensics.

  • Jhair Romero

    Copy Editing Fellow
    Jhair Romero’s staff photo

    Jhair Romero is a fall 2022 copy editing fellow and a senior at the University of Houston, where he is studying journalism. Jhair previously worked as a copy desk intern at Sports Illustrated and spent a summer reporting for the Houston Chronicle. He also has worked extensively with his college newspaper, The Cougar, where he served as editor in chief in the 2020-21 academic year.

  • Sumaya Saati

    Development Officer
    Sumaya Saati’s staff photo

    Sumaya Saati is a Development Officer at The Texas Tribune. She earned her undergraduate degree from UT Austin and graduate degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Sumaya has legislative and policy experience including working at the Texas State Senate during the 80th legislative session. She brings nearly 10 years experience in fundraising for organizations including Thinkery and UT Austin's College of Natural Sciences, and earned her Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) credential in 2019. She is a native Austinite, a third-generation Texan, and a long-time fan of the Tribune.

  • Pooja Salhotra

    East Texas Reporter

  • Yuriko Schumacher

    Designer/Developer

  • Jeremy Schwartz

    Reporter, ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative unit
    Jeremy Schwartz’s staff photo

    Jeremy Schwartz has been an investigative reporter in Texas for nearly a decade, covering issues including voting rights and border security for the Austin American-Statesman and USA Today Network. His work has resulted in the overhaul of Texas' inspection process for farmworker housing, sparked Congressional investigations of a failed Department of Veterans Affairs research program and uncovered misleading border arrest and drug seizure statistics maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Schwartz won the National Association of Hispanic Journalists' Latino Issues award for his 2017 investigation into the political underrepresentation of Latinos in Texas cities and counties, and the Headliners Foundation of Texas Reporter of the Year award, among other honors. He previously served as Cox Newspapers' Latin America correspondent in Mexico City from 2005 to 2009, and before that, he covered the U.S. Border Patrol and immigration at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Read Articles by Jeremy Schwartz

  • Shyla Sharma

    Engineering Fellow
    Shyla Sharma’s staff photo

    Shyla Sharma is a senior at St. Edward’s University in Austin and a 2022 fall engineering fellow. She is pursuing a degree in computer science with a minor in mathematics. She has completed several research projects in cybersecurity, including a project with the U.S. Strategic Command. Shyla has worked as a computer science laboratory assistant and math tutor at St. Ed’s and volunteers at a local elementary school with Students for Expanding Austin Literacy. One of her goals is to help create a safer virtual environment through her work in cybersecurity.

  • Becca Silvas

    Copywriter
    Becca Silvas’s staff photo

    Becca Silvas is a copywriter at the Texas Tribune on the marketing and communications team. Previously, Becca has served as senior communications associate at the World Justice Project in Seattle, WA, and as marketing and communications coordinator at KERA, Dallas' NPR and PBS member station. She earned her master's in mass communication with a concentration in global media from Texas State University in 2016, and a B.A.I.S. in International Studies and B.A. in Spanish in 2014, also from Texas State University. With a longtime passion for public service and writing, Becca has also been a public affairs intern at the U.S. Embassy in London, an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Central Texas Food Bank, and a digital marketing intern at Austin-based firm PR By the Book.

  • Dan Simmons-Ritchie

    Front-End Engineer
    Dan Simmons-Ritchie’s staff photo

    Dan Simmons-Ritchie is a front-end engineer at the Texas Tribune. He works across departments to design, build and implement the user interface systems of the Tribune's website and other digital products. Before he was a software engineer, Dan was a journalist for eight years, specializing in investigative reporting and data analysis. He's earned more than a dozen journalism awards over the course of his career, including a 2013 Sigma Delta Chi Award for public service journalism and a 2016 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for investigative reporting. Born and raised in New Zealand, Dan moved to the U.S. in 2011. He has a bachelor's degree in English literature and media studies from Victoria University of Wellington.

  • Evan Smith

    CEO
    Evan Smith’s staff photo

    Evan Smith is the CEO and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, a pioneering nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news organization whose deep coverage of Texas politics and public policy can be found at its website, texastribune.org, and in newspapers and on TV and radio stations across the state. Since its launch in 2009, the Tribune has won international acclaim and numerous honors, including a Peabody Award, 23 national Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association and three general excellence awards from the Online News Association. Evan is also the host of “Overheard with Evan Smith,” a weekly half-hour interview program that airs on PBS stations around the country. A native of New York, he's a graduate of Hamilton College and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Read Articles by Evan Smith

  • Azul Sordo

    Photo Fellow
    Azul Sordo’s staff photo

    Azul Sordo is the 2022 fall photo fellow. Azul is an undergraduate journalism student at the University of North Texas, where she also works with Hatch Visuals, a nonprofit, student-led photo agency. She previously worked as a photojournalism intern for KERA, where she collaborated with reporters to create visually engaging stories. Azul is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, and enjoys covering topics related to immigration.

  • Sahana Sridharan

    Marketing and Communications Fellow
    Sahana Sridharan’s staff photo

    Sahana Sridharan is a 2022 fall marketing and communications fellow and a senior at the University of Texas at Austin and will graduate in December with a degree in advertising and a minor in business administration. Prior to joining the Tribune, she was a product marketing intern for Caterpillar Inc.

  • Patrick Svitek

    Political Reporter
    Patrick Svitek’s staff photo

    Patrick Svitek is the primary political correspondent for The Texas Tribune. Patrick logged countless miles on the 2016 campaign trail, covering the many Texas angles of the momentous presidential race. He previously worked for the Houston Chronicle's Austin bureau. He graduated in 2014 from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He is originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Read Articles by Patrick Svitek

  • Chris Svoboda

    Audio/Visual engineer
    Chris Svoboda’s staff photo

    Chris Svoboda is the audio/visual engineer at The Texas Tribune. After receiving a BFA in Animation & Illustration from SUNY Fredonia in 2009, Chris worked as freelance visual artist/film maker in the Buffalo, NY area till 2015. There he worked on projects ranging from commercial graphic design, web design, and poster art, to short films, music videos, and interactive video installations. In early 2015 he was offered work out west in New Mexico in the independent film industry. After relocating he worked on short films and feature length films with a focus on camera department and post production. In mid-2016 Chris relocated to Austin, where he worked his way up the ranks in the live audio-visual industry. For six years he worked as a lead video technician and technical director for live corporate events. Chris also likes to record music and create visual art like drawing, painting, and video art. When he’s not doing any of these things, you might find him out on a hike around Austin with his Catahoula Leopard Dog, Enzo.

  • Shelby Tauber

    Assistant Photo Editor

  • Jillian Taylor

    Multimedia Fellow
    Jillian Taylor’s staff photo

    Jillian Taylor is a 2022 fall multimedia fellow. She is a senior at Southern Methodist University in Dallas studying journalism and creative computation with a focus in film. She is a staff videographer at The Daily Campus and is the producer for the short documentary, “#BlackAtSMU,” which won a 2022 National Black Film Festival award. She previously interned at The Dallas Morning News, covering politics. When not hard at work, you can find her exploring the great outdoors or cuddling up with a hoard of dogs.

  • Lucy Tompkins

    New York Times Headway Reporting Fellow

    Lucy Tompkins works for the Tribune as a housing and homelessness reporting fellow through The New York Times’ Headway Initiative, a philanthropically supported initiative that examines the world’s challenges through the lens of progress. She began at The Times reporting for the national desk, contributing to live coverage of the Covid pandemic in 2020 and early 2021, and jumping in to cover major news events from winter storms to bombings and mass shootings around the country. Her work with the Headway team began in spring 2021. She grew up in Bozeman, Montana, and studied journalism at the University of Montana. Read Articles by Lucy Tompkins

  • Zahira Torres

    Senior Editor, ProPublica/Texas Tribune Investigative Unit
    Zahira Torres’s staff photo

    Zahira Torres is the editor for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative unit, a first-of-its-kind collaboration to publish investigative reporting for and about Texas. Prior to joining the unit, Torres was a senior editor with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network where she worked with reporters in local and regional newsrooms on investigative projects. A native of El Paso, Texas, Torres was the first Latina and second woman to serve as the newspaper’s editor in its more than 100-year history. While at the El Paso Times, Torres also served as enterprise editor for the USA Today Network’s Texas/New Mexico newspapers. She was part of a team that developed and edited “The Wall: Untold Stories, Unintended Consequences,” which won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. Torres began her career at the Times as a news clerk while attending the University of Texas at El Paso. She later became the Austin bureau chief for the newspaper. During that time, she worked to uncover a cheating scheme at the El Paso Independent School District — the city’s largest — that denied many El Paso children the right to a proper education. She later became an education reporter for the Denver Post and Los Angeles Times before returning to her Texas roots. Read Articles by Zahira Torres

  • Perla Trevizo

    Reporter, ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative unit
    Perla Trevizo’s staff photo

    Perla Trevizo is a Mexican-American reporter born in Ciudad Juárez and raised across the border in El Paso, Texas, where she began her journalism career. Trevizo spent more than 10 years covering immigration and border issues in Tennessee and Arizona before joining the Houston Chronicle as an environmental reporter. She has written from nearly a dozen countries, from African refugee camps to remote Guatemalan villages, with the goal of broadening readers’ understanding of the global issues that impact the local communities where she has worked. Her work has earned her national and state awards including the Dori J. Maynard Award for Diversity in Journalism, French-American Foundation Immigration Journalism Award, and a national Edward R. Murrow for a story done in collaboration with Arizona Public Media. She was also honored as the 2019 Arizona Journalist of the Year by the Arizona Newspaper Association. Read Articles by Perla Trevizo

  • Alexa Ura

    Demographics Reporter
    Alexa Ura’s staff photo

    Alexa Ura is a reporter at The Texas Tribune. As the Tribune’s demographics reporter, she covers the intersection between politics and race with an emphasis on the state’s surging Hispanic population. She also covers voting rights issues for the Tribune, where she started as a reporting fellow in 2013. She’s a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. Read Articles by Alexa Ura

  • Jesus Vidales

    Reporting Fellow
    Jesus Vidales’s staff photo

    Jesus Vidales is a 2022 fall reporting fellow and a junior at the University of Texas at Austin. Jesus has worked for The Daily Texan and Texas Familia student publications. When he is not writing, he enjoys fostering a community of Hispanic journalists by being a part of the National Association for Hispanic Journalists at UT. Read Articles by Jesus Vidales

  • Jacob Villanueva

    Chief Creative Officer
    Jacob Villanueva’s staff photo

    Jacob Villanueva manages a team of designers to develop and maintain The Texas Tribune’s visual and brand strategy across products, platforms and marketing channels. He integrates his expertise of more than 20 years in design, interactive, video, photography and digital media production. Read Articles by Jacob Villanueva

  • Allyson Waller

    Newsletter Writer
    Allyson Waller’s staff photo

    Allyson Waller is a newsletter writer at The Texas Tribune. Previously, she was part of the 2020-2021 New York Times Fellowship class where she worked as a general assignment reporter for the publication’s breaking news desk. Allyson is a graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, where she majored in journalism. While at UT Austin, she interned at the Miami Herald as a local government reporter and The Texas Tribune as an investigative fellow. When not closely following politics and state policy, Allyson enjoys listening to podcasts, watching documentaries and stocking up on fiction books. Read Articles by Allyson Waller

  • Matthew Watkins

    Managing Editor for News and Politics
    Matthew Watkins’s staff photo

    Matthew Watkins is the managing editor for news and politics for The Texas Tribune. Before becoming an editor, he worked as a reporter at the Tribune, The Dallas Morning News and The Eagle in Bryan-College Station. He earned his bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University. Read Articles by Matthew Watkins

  • Emma Williams

    Engagement Fellow
    Emma Williams’s staff photo

    Emma Williams is a 2022 fall engagement fellow, born and raised in Austin. She will graduate from the University of Texas at Austin in 2023 with a major in journalism and a minor in government. She has covered Austin culture and local and state politics in her work for the Daily Texan, Austin Monthly magazine and KUT, Austin's local NPR station. In her free time, she loves cooking and yoga. Read Articles by Emma Williams

  • Todd Wiseman

    Senior Editor, Video and Multimedia
    Todd Wiseman’s staff photo

    Todd Wiseman is the senior editor, video and multimedia, at The Texas Tribune. Todd previously worked at the Austin School of Film and Synthetic Pictures and interned for director Richard Linklater. At The Texas Tribune, Todd helped develop the Stump Interrupted series, which won a national Edward R. Murrow award. He also co-produced the award-winning documentary "Beyond The Wall." A Fort Worth native, he graduated from the University of Southern California with a dual degree in film and English. Read Articles by Todd Wiseman