Resumé

ResumÉ

Journalism experience

Axios
Twin Cities reporter • St. Paul, Minn. • Dec. 2023 - present

Report and publish the Twin Cities newsletter as part of a four-person reporting team.
Focus on local government coverage, with a special emphasis on city hall in Minneapolis and St. Paul — though I write about topics as varied as hot sauce, hockey and history.
Published a special issue of the newsletter focused on police reform efforts in Minneapolis in the four years after George Floyd's murder.

MinnPost
Metro reporter • Minneapolis, Minn. • Jan. 2023 – Dec. 2023

Covered local governments in the Twin Cities, focusing primarily on city hall issues in Minneapolis and St. Paul, publishing exclusive stories and deep-dive profiles.
Coordinated election surveys for Minneapolis and St. Paul city council candidates.
Enterprised data projects on campaign finance and election results.
Hosted a MinnPost social: alive event: a MinnPost Social.

Southern California Public Radio
Senior reporter, K-12 education • Los Angeles, Calif. • Feb. 2016 – Jan. 2023

Primarily covered the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest school system.
Investigated the role of parent fundraising in L.A. schools, building a database of parent donations from scratch, overseeing the launch of a first-of-its-kind tool allowing comparisons of fundraising totals, and analyzing how these fundraising totals compared with some $5 billion in district spending.
Covered the Los Angeles teachers strike, which shuttered the district for six days in January 2019. My coverage also appeared on NPR news shows, 1A, the BBC & WNYC's The Takeaway
Host KPCC's call-in radio show AirTalk on a fill-in basis
Host Morning Edition & All Things Considered on a fill-in basis, including during elections and breaking news situations
Host live events for KPCC In Person including school board candidate forums and virtual roundtable discussions on school funding.

Coverage appeared on KPCC public radio and LAist.com, the former Gothamist LLC-owned site acquired in Feb. 2018.

KPLU Public Radio (now KNKX)
Youth & education reporter • Seattle, Wash. • March 2014 – Jan. 2016

Produced an hour-long documentary, Renaissance Beach, on efforts to turn around a long-struggling Seattle high school
Covered the Seattle teachers strike, which left the state's largest school district closed for six days in September 2015

StateImpact Indiana & WFIU Public Radio
Education reporter • Bloomington, Ind. • June 2011 – February 2014

Launched & maintained a blog on education policy for a collaboration between and NPR News and local member stations
Enterprised bi-weekly radio features and spots for a statewide network of public radio stations and national broadcast on NPR shows
Collaborated with NPR editors on deadline-sensitive, data-driven reporting
Hosted live public affairs television & radio programs
Moderated the only debate during the 2012 campaign for Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction, the state's top education official

KBIA Public Radio
Columbia, Mo. • May 2008 – May 2011

Produced weekly show, Talking Politics, covering state and local policy issues for central Missouri's NPR member station.
Anchored newscasts during All Things Considered
Hosted live coverage for local and midterm elections in 2010

KOMU News
Columbia, Mo. • September 2007 – May 2011

As a one-man band reporter at central Missouri's NBC affiliate, produced video stories on daily and long-term deadlines
Anchored live newscasts on weekday mornings and evenings and on weekends
Set up and shot live broadcasts while operating ENG news van

KTTC News • Rochester, Minn. • July 2009 – Aug. 2009 • As an intern, shoot reporter packages, edit video and report original hard news.

Reuters Television • Brussels, Belgium • May 2010 – July 2010 • Edit & shoot video as an intern for an international news agency covering EU politics, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

California State University, Northridge
Part-Time Lecturer • Los Angeles, Calif. • August 2020 – December 2023

Instructor for JOUR 430: Public Affairs Journalism, an upper-division class requiring students to book guests, craft thoughtful live panel discussions, write scripts and web stories, handle social media promotion and cut video.
Executive Producer for On Point, CSUN's half-hour, weekly public affairs show. I oversee and edit the 20 students in JOUR 430 as they report, line-produce and host each show.

HONORS & AWARDS

Finalist, 2016 Education Writers Association Awards: Beat Reporting (Audio Category)
2014 National Edward R. Murrow Award: Best Website, StateImpact Indiana (Small Market Online Audio)
2013 National Edward R. Murrow Award: Small Market Radio News Documentary, Progress Report: Education in Indiana
2013 M.J. Bear Fellow: An annual honor the Online News Association gives to three "stand-out" journalists under 30 who have focused on cross-platform reporting
2011 Public Radio News Directors, Inc. (PRNDI) Award: First Place, News Feature, How YouTube is Changing The Classroom
2011 PRNDI Award: First Place, Continuing Coverage, Franklin Township Busing

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES

Data-Driven Reporting • Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Google Fusion Tables, Carto • Some experience with Microsoft Access
Visual Journalism & Video Editing • Final Cut Pro, Avid NewsCutter, Edius • Proficient on Sony XDCAM, Sony DVCPRO, some experience on Nikon D700 • Some photography experience
Audio Recording & Editing • Marantz PMD660, PMD661, Zoom H4N • Adobe Audition

EDUCATION

University of Missouri '11 • Columbia, Mo.
BJ Convergence Journalism, BA Political Science

References & more information available upon request: [email protected]