Aug. 2, 2016 — Directors of the Institute for Nonprofit News have elected Laura Frank, president and general manager of news at Rocky Mountain PBS, as board chair for the nationwide network of investigative and public service news organizations.
"Journalism matters. INN members are paving the way forward at such a crucial time. I'm honored to help them and excited for the future,” Frank said.
Frank succeeds Brant Houston, who will serve as chair emeritus for one year and also was elected secretary. Houston is Knight Chair of Investigative Reporting at the College of Media at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"Having served as the chair of INN since its inception, it has been great experience to share in the successes of INN," Houston said. "I thank all those that have supported and contributed to INN's quick rise to being an absolutely integral part of journalism's future."
Reg Chua, executive editor, editorial operations, data and innovation at Thomson Reuters, was re-elected treasurer.
“INN provides valuable and important services to the non-profit news community, and Laura is well-placed to lead the organization on its next step,” Chua said.
Frank was founder of I-News, the nonprofit investigative news organization that merged with Rocky Mountain Public Broadcasting in 2013. RMPBS News continues to deliver multimedia investigative reports to news outlets across the Rocky Mountain region. Frank, a Denver native, has more than two decades of experience at daily newspapers and in radio and public television. She was an investigative reporter at the Rocky Mountain News until it closed in 2009. Her stories have won top awards in both print and broadcast, helped release innocent people from prison, protect abused children and win aid for sick nuclear-weapons workers.
Frank and Houston were among representatives of 27 organizations that founded INN (then the Investigative News Network) in 2009 as a collective of nonpartisan, nonprofit newsrooms dedicated to serving the public interest. Today, INN has grown to nearly 120 nonprofit media organizations in North America. INN functions as an innovation network, helping members develop new ways to support journalism and engage communities, providing business, technology and leadership support and a framework for collaboration. INN’s work helps newsrooms bring investigative and civic news to more people, hold the powerful accountable and build democratic participation. More information can be found at https://archive.inn.org.
For further information: INN CEO Sue Cross, sue@inn.org or 213.709.7126