Watch candidate lightning talks
It's time to choose who will represent you as an INN member on the INN Board of Directors!
Ballots will be sent Sept. 8 to the executive director or head of each INN member organization, and the ballot also can be found here. Only one qualified vote per member will be counted.
The deadline to vote is 3:15 p.m. EASTERN, Sept. 22.
Cast your vote here.
Four seats are on the ballot this year, including one uncontested seat. Seven candidates are asking for your vote. It’s a great slate and the most diverse candidate group we’ve ever had for the INN board. Read their bios and statements below.
Winners will be announced shortly after the vote closes, during the INN annual meeting at INN at Home 2020. If you haven’t yet, register here!
The top three vote-getters will serve two-year terms from June 2019 to June 2021. A fourth seat is open, fulfilling the rest of a two-year term for Anne Galloway of VTDigger, who is stepping off the board in September. The winner of that fourth seat will serve through next June and then can run again for a regular two-year term.
General information about the board can be found at INN Board of Directors.
Thank you for supporting INN and your own organization by voting for your member representatives! And thank you to each of these great candidates for running.
Meet your candidates:
Erika Dilday
CEO and Executive Director
Futuro Media
Erika Dilday currently runs Futuro Media, an organization that produces the radio shows Latino USA and In The Thick and creates audio, video and digital content for and about people of color.
Prior to Futuro Media, Dilday was the Executive Director of Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem where she oversaw community cinema and education programs and produced the award-winning documentary, In Transit.
In 2017 she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Columbia Journalism School for her work and is a 2020 Nieman Knight Visiting Fellow at Harvard exploring how we break the norms of media that alienate people of color and other marginalized communities.
Erika is currently the producer, with director Rachel Boynton of the upcoming documentary, Civil War, which explores our nation’s inability to deal with its history of slavery and how that history fuels racial tensions today.
INN trainings, programs and services your organization has participated in over the last year:
We have participated in NewsMatch for two years and have attended INN Days, both in person and on line for the past three years. We have also taken advantage of your development support.
I think that INN provides a base, a place where organizations know that they can find resources, common ground and support in what is sometimes a lonely field, Independent Journalism. I believe that some of the best tools INN provides are the access to mundane things like insurance consulting, informational databases, legal advice and other tools very specific to small business and journalism. No one else does this.
What might you work to change about INN if elected?
I think we need to find more ways to support diversity in journalism and use INN as a way to foster understanding of the issues that face journalists of color and those who are interested in being more integrated into these issues in an authentic way even if they aren't people of color. I would want to focus on creating space for difficult discussions, tough questions and better education in a way that was safe and supportive for all.
Directors generally help in three broad types of direction: 1) Problem-framing and analysis. 2) Strategy. 3) Plans, tactics and execution. What's your strongest suit among the three?
I think I am best at problem framing and analysis. It is difficult to answer this question because I think that to be effective leading an independent news organization, you have to be good at all three.
What specific skills would you like to contribute to the INN board?
I am really focused on inclusivity and on creating the opportunity to change the standards and ethics of journalism to recognize the need to look through more than one lens when it comes to ideals and practice.
Brent Gardner-Smith
Executive Director
Aspen Journalism
Brent is the founder and executive director of Aspen Journalism. His other media experience includes serving as executive director at Aspen Public Radio, working in communications at ProPublica in 2010 while earning his master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and reporting at the Aspen Daily News, The Aspen Times, KSNO and WMVY. His work has been recognized by the Colorado Press Association and the Colorado Broadcasters Association.
He's also served as a professional whitewater rafting guide on the Arkansas and Colorado rivers, where he learned to quickly turn a group of distracted and/or scared strangers into a well-oiled paddling team, full of joy, enthusiasm and competence.
INN trainings, programs and services your organization has participated in over the last year:
I watched "INN at Home" this year, which I thought was useful and informative, especially the presentations from Martin Reynolds, Steve Katz and Julie Sandorf.
AJ has been working closely this year with the "nerds" at INN on improving the AJ website, as we purchase digital consulting services from INN, and we take advantage of their free office hours. (Thanks Team INN!) INN also has always hosted our website. We are now a recent, and happy Nexis subscriber, thanks to INN, and are looking forward to our fourth year of participation in NewsMatch, which INN also does a great job with. We've been INN members since 2011 and I participated in two early and very helpful INN seminars on how to grow and thrive as a nonprofit news organization. (Anne Galloway of VT Digger was in the same seminar with me, and was clearly paying better attention!)
What aspect of INN is most valuable and how would you support or advance it further if elected?
I think there are many valuable aspects of INN. Existing as a membership organization with high standards, number one, cannot be overlooked. That service is core, but increasingly important. General support, such as website hosting, along with training and guidance, is also very important. And serving as an organizing force for NewsMatch, and national funding, has been very valuable to Aspen Journalism and many other small organizations.
Growing the pool of philanthropic donors to NewsMatch is a motivating factor for me to throw my hat in the ring this year for the INN board. This year, this long, long year, continues to make the case for nonprofit news and the reality that citizens now have a way, right at hand, to fund better information and journalism. They can be as informed as they want to be via nonprofit news organizations. And INN can continue to lead in that effort.
What might you work to change about INN if elected?
I find no fault with the organization and support Sue Cross' strong leadership and her responsive and qualified team. (And full disclosure, Laura Frank, INN board member, has always served on AJ's journalism advisory board). Over the last ten years, INN has been a very important, helpful, and valuable organization for Aspen Journalism, and many other members, I'm sure. It's been great to watch it consistently grow and get stronger.
If I can help in some way, it would be to continue encouraging the organization to serve as a catalyst in developing adequate and sustainable funding for its member newsrooms.
Directors generally help in three broad types of direction: 1) Problem-framing and analysis. 2) Strategy. 3) Plans, tactics and execution. What's your strongest suit among the three?
Good question. Problem-framing. It has always come easy to me (sometimes maybe too easy), but so has developing a range of solutions. Ticking off to-do items, after over three decades in media production of one form or another, is second nature, so I can get things done, for sure. But let's go with a good skill for a reporter: problem-framing and analysis.
What specific skills would you like to contribute to the INN board?
I offer the skills forged by ten years and the experience of founding and managing a modestly successful local, nonprofit, and investigative news organization. (Yes, the organization is based in Aspen, Colorado, so the experience and skills have been shaped by this unique place, but I think they are also relevant for any nonprofit news organization). I am currently focused on fundraising and capacity building, am well-versed in standards and ethics and nonprofit management, and feel I can effectively describe the realities, and potential, of nonprofit news organizations to a broader audience. I'm no Evan Smith, mind you, but I'll do in a pinch.
Marcia Parker
Publisher and COO
CalMatters
Marcia was Editorial Director for Patch’s West Coast local news sites, CIR’s California Watch site launch manager, and Assistant Dean at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. She is on the boards of Institute for Nonprofit News and the Emma Bowen Foundation, and serves on the Stanford Knight Journalism Fellowships selection committee, and teaches at Northwestern University’s SF campus.
INN trainings, programs and services your organization has participated in over the last year:
I am on INN’s board and I am co-leading with Sue Cross our Statehouse News Network initiative. My team has participated in the Major Donors workshop series as well as the Internship Placement programs that include the Emma Bowen Foundation for two years and the new programs with Columbia and CUNY. We also participate in our Emerging Leaders program, and have had two of our emerging leaders in last year and this year.
What aspect of INN is most valuable and how would you support or advance it further if elected?
- Most valuable — that is a hard one to answer because all of the work we do is crucial. These are the aspects of INN what I love and that I have worked to advance as a board member:
- Research - I will continue to invest my time in helping Sue with the ongoing development of our INN Index.
Training - I will help INN expand our programming and offer myself as a trainer for areas like fundraising. - Networking - I will support strengthening INN’s member and external networking efforts by doing what I have done as a board member. That is help Sue broaden our base of funders and make introductions to funders I know whenever I can, joining calls with Sue to advance our work; and support the growth of our regional and vertical member groups to promote network building and collaborations and participate in them.
- Community: This overlaps with the Networking Goals. I will do all that I can to support community spirit and building meaningful relationships with our members by reaching out and offering help and support, including to new members or prospective members in California. I often talk with members around the country and offer advice, suggestions, share resources and things we do that can help others.
What might you work to change about INN if elected?
I don’t feel that changing INN is what we need to do. What I do see if a huge challenge ahead because we are growing fast, our membership is diverse in every way, and the needs of those members are soaring. Our organizational challenge at the high level in my view is about capacity building and resiliency and further strengthening and infusing DEI practices across the organization. CALMatters shares those major challenges and I believe as a leader of a successful INN member organization I can continue to help Sue and the INN team achieve all of our ambitious goals.
Directors generally help in three broad types of direction: 1) Problem-framing and analysis. 2) Strategy. 3) Plans, tactics and execution. What's your strongest suit among the three?
All 3. I have contributed as a board member to all of these and will continue to do that.
What specific skills would you like to contribute to the INN board?
Fundraising, network building and nonprofit business expertise have been and will continue to be where I can help Sue the most.
Norberto Santana, Jr.
Publisher & Editor in Chief
Voice of OC
Norberto Santana, Jr. is an award-winning investigative reporter with nearly two decades reporting experience, most recently engaging Orange County government institutions and decision makers as the founding publisher of the nonprofit digital newsroom, Voice of OC.
As publisher and editor in chief, Santana oversees all newsroom, engagement and fundraising operations and also writes a weekly Opinion column about Orange County government.
In 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Orange County Press Club recognized Santana as Orange County’s best columnist.
In 2018, the Los Angeles Press Club named Santana as Online Journalist of the Year.
In 2018, the Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists recognized Santana as a “Distinguished Journalist.”
And in 2013, the California Chicano News Media Association honored Santana with a lifetime achievement award.
Santana also has served on the INN board of directors, the national nonprofit advocating investigative journalism, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and the California First Amendment advocacy group, CalAware.
In addition to journalism, Santana also teaches public affairs and investigative journalism as an adjunct faculty professor at Chapman University.
Before founding Voice of OC in 2009, Santana was a lead investigative reporter for the Orange County Register from 2004-2009, focusing on county government.
He’s spent nearly two decades just focusing on local governments across Southern California, previously as a staff writer with outlets such as the San Diego Union Tribune and the San Bernardino County Sun.
Santana began his journalistic career in the early 1990s as an apprentice reporter with Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C. covering daily floor action in the U.S. Congress and followed that up with a stint covering the territorial Senate for the U.S. Virgin Islands Daily News.
In addition to his experience as a journalist, the Southern California native has a master’s in Latin American Studies, has worked as an elections analyst on National Endowment for Democracy programs across Latin America and was one of the founders of CubaNet.org, a website featuring the work of dissident journalists inside Cuba that has operated since 1995.
INN trainings, programs and services your organization has participated in over the last year:
Our newsroom works with INN on the Largo IT publishing platform and also has participated in the major gifts tutorials as well as the informational seminars on the PPP Loan process earlier this year.
What aspect of INN is most valuable and how would you support or advance it further if elected?
Direct help to members.
That’s what our association does so well.
Whether it’s mentoring at an event, or a direct tip from a panel or list-service, INN has done.a really good job of connecting us all together, creating a support network for a community of people who share similar goals and are learning from each other in real time.
It’s the most exciting aspect of what INN does and I’d like to continue supporting that kind of connectivity and real time tutoring as a board member.
As our field keeps evolving, I am also a strong supporter of continuing to develop and maintain a strong core of journalistic ethics and standards.
Additionally, as a board member, I am very supportive of staff efforts to continue training nonprofit news business leaders from a diverse background.
What might you work to change about INN if elected?
INN can lead the way in helping spur a diverse media ecosystem in America by not only directly bolstering small publishers in practical ways but also by thinking more deeply about what publishers of color need in their markets to thrive.
Specifically, INN can expand on its existing efforts and really double down on events, training and mentoring to help small publishers of color develop their own nonprofit community news business models.
Directors generally help in three broad types of direction: 1) Problem-framing and analysis. 2) Strategy. 3) Plans, tactics and execution. What's your strongest suit among the three?
I am a strong Jack of All Trades.
I see myself as a constant voice for the member, especially the small member, newsrooms that are battling every day to put out good news that can be monetized in a way that’s consistent with the strong ethics and values associated with news reporting.
I am direct and possess a can-do attitude toward challenges and well as a passion for the development of strong standards and practices
What specific skills would you like to contribute to the INN board?
As a small publisher who has run a nonprofit newsroom for more than 10 years, I bring a strong record of experience managing and growing a small newsroom from the ground up.
Over the past decade, I have dealt with every aspect of the business model and watched it develop since first joining INN back in 2009 just when the association got its start.
My strongest effort in recent years has been working closely with INN leadership on journalism standards and ethics issues, ensuring that our members are protected as journalists within a changing publishing world.
I have also been a strong voice for diversity in INN grants, events and training and will continue to do so if re-elected by members.
I have also worked with INN on research efforts around the use of IT and donor software systems in past years and have a good understanding of what small publishers are looking for from INN, in terms of direct assistance or consulting.
Khushbu Shah
Editor in Chief
The Fuller Project for International Reporting
Khushbu Shah is the Editor in Chief of The Fuller Project, overseeing and implementing the editorial agenda and the newsroom’s groundbreaking reporting on women to expose injustice and spur accountability. She also leads partnerships with a myriad of prestigious U.S. and international outlets.
Khushbu brings deep expertise on the interconnected issues impacting women and their communities to the Editor in Chief role, where she upholds the highest standards of The Fuller Project’s unbiased, non-partisan, rigorous journalism.
Khushbu reports on the intersection of race, politics and social justice, writing regularly for outlets such as The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Lily, Pacific Standard and Columbia Journalism Review, amongst others. Her in-depth reporting on police brutality in the U.S. has brought light to the stories of families and mothers of Black men and women killed by police.
Prior to joining The Fuller Project, Khushbu spent over a decade at prominent media outlets including CNN, BBC, NPR/PBS-licensed stations and multiple networks. She began her career as an editor at age 24 in Afghanistan where she led a team of 25 researchers for Moby Group, a news and entertainment group that now reaches 300 million. A member of both the South American Journalists Association and the Asian American Journalists Association, she has worked from Afghanistan, India, the West Bank, Venezuela, Mexico and across the United States.
INN trainings, programs and services your organization has participated in over the last year:
The Fuller Project is a new member of INN. We have recently joined the list serve and already connected with many members. We look forward to participating in trainings, programs, connecting with and amplifying the work of other members.
What aspect of INN is most valuable and how would you support or advance it further if elected?
We have in-house expertise on pitching, media training, and trainings on gender, all of which we would like to bring to the INN network. There are many trainings in which we would also like to participate. Because we are a new non-profit, INN is invaluable in expanding our reporting and networks.
What might you work to change about INN if elected?
As EIC of The Fuller Project, my priority has been to expand our reach and partnerships, not only in the work we do but to ensure diversity is part of the culture: in the partnerships we build, the journalists we work with and how we get our stories to the communities we write about. I would prioritize bringing these values to INN, as well.
Directors generally help in three broad types of direction: 1) Problem-framing and analysis. 2) Strategy. 3) Plans, tactics and execution. What's your strongest suit among the three?
Plans, tactics and execution
What specific skills would you like to contribute to the INN board?
network-building; making news media more inclusive; knowledge in journalism standards and ethics; expertise in gender and race issues.
Ronald Smith
Editor/Project Director
Milwaukee Neighborhood Service
Ron Smith is an instructor of practice in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication and the editor/program director for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. The nonprofit service provides evidenced-based journalism coverage of Milwaukee’s communities of color and is staffed by professionals, student-journalists and community residents. Before his current role, Ron served as the managing editor for news at USA TODAY.
In addition, he was the deputy managing editor for daily news and production at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where he oversaw the breaking news hub, production desks and was the key point person for print story selections and workflow. Ron has been blessed to work in newsrooms across the country, including The Oregonian, the Los Angeles Times and Newsday. He’s also worked as an advertising sales director and as the interim student adviser for New Expression, a citywide teen publication written by and for Chicago youths that had a monthly circulation of 70,000. He has edited several Pulitzer Prize-winning reports and is known for championing great journalism and the great journalists who produce great works.
A sought-after speaker, Ron has led sessions for Poynter, American Society of News Editors, National Association of Black Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association. He served as the co-leadership chairman for the American Society of News Editors and worked as an instructor for the organization’s Emerging Leaders Institute, which trains diverse mid-career professionals to be newsroom leaders.
INN trainings, programs and services your organization has participated in over the last year:
I am grateful for everything INN offers and have participated in INN at Home, along with webinars on fundraising. I take advantage of and use the organization’s robust online resources as well.
What aspect of INN is most valuable and how would you support or advance it further if elected?
INN is invaluable in so many ways that it is hard to list just one thing. For starters, it builds community for hundreds of nonprofit newsrooms that differ in scale, funding and approaches. I would like to help the organization grow by drawing on my experiences in leadership at newsrooms that ranged from small and ambitious to some of the nation's largest organizations. In the end, it doesn’t matter the size of your newsroom, but it does matter your vision for it.
As the nation continues to wrestle with racial unrest and the challenges that come from it, INN must figure out ways to ensure its members understand, appreciate and implement diversity and inclusion policies so our newsrooms look like the communities we serve. I’ve spent my entire career focused on such issues and want to help INN take it to the next level. I "proceed until apprehended” and am not afraid to roll up my sleeves to help others -- all while having fun and bringing a little “Ronshine” along the way.
What might you work to change about INN if elected?
I always hesitate to talk about what I would change in an organization before I learn its DNA and see firsthand its weaknesses. With that said, I would want INN to consistently develop communication protocols that meet the needs of members. In particular, I would want the organization to survey the members at least once a year to determine what services people feel they need to bolster their organizations. From there, INN would know what to prioritize.
I would also want to learn how INN members want services delivered. Do they want more in-person gatherings? Are there ways members can teach and coach one another? These are questions that are already being asked I am sure. I want INN to use data to inform how it programs and serves its base and to be relentless in meeting the needs of members.
Directors generally help in three broad types of direction: 1) Problem-framing and analysis. 2) Strategy. 3) Plans, tactics and execution. What's your strongest suit among the three?
I am a leader who believes in plans, tactics and execution. Although it’s great to have a vision, if you can’t figure out a way to implement strategy, then you are wasting time. And as nonprofit leaders, we don’t have the time. Our world is already filled with enough chaos—no matter the size. So I don’t want to just talk... I want to act. We must be doers, not sayers.
What specific skills would you like to contribute to the INN board?
I believe I can help INN with networking, diversity training, journalism education and leadership training and development -- which is an area I believe our members need and want. I strongly believe in communication, creativity and collaboration.
Nancy West
Executive Director
New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism
Nancy West founded the nonprofit New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism in April of 2015. West is the executive editor of the center’s daily news website InDepthNH.org.
West has won many awards for investigative reporting during her 30 years at the New Hampshire Union Leader and since founding InDepthNH.org.
She has taught investigative journalism at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting’s summer program for pre-college students at Boston University and now takes on interns to pass on the tradition of ethics in journalism that she finds is lately in short supply at some legacy newspapers. West is passionate about government transparency.
While growing InDepthNH.org, there have been many changes in how failing legacy newspapers are being funded in New Hampshire that make the success of ethical nonprofit journalism imperative to our future democracy. InDepthNH.org has a tiny budget but does the best reporting in the state because its reporters are passionate about what they do even though they are still all contract workers and InDepthNH.org cannot afford any full-time employees.
InDepthNH.org will build a professional organization that will create jobs that pay a living wage and honor its profession.
Nancy serves on the board of local press association and hopes to continue to serve on INN's board as well.
INN trainings, programs and services your organization has participated in over the last year:
We have taken advantage of almost all of the training programs and services available through INN over the last five years, including most recently preparing for NewsMatch, which has helped us stay alive during the worst fundraising years and taught us how to do better every year.
INN fiscally sponsored us for the first year, showed us how to create a business plan and apply for our own 501C3 designation. INN has taught us how to be a business and how to grow that business in an ethical way. INN training has focused on every facet of nonprofit news from fundraising to writing a better, more engaging newsletter.
InDepthNH.org wouldn't be growing as we are today, however slowly, without the help of INN. Director Sue Cross quickly answers our questions and provides us with a role model to move forward in more turbulent waters than ever. INN's listserv helps unite members big and small to help us all grow.
What aspect of INN is most valuable and how would you support or advance it further if elected?
The most valuable aspect of INN is promoting our standards of excellence for the growth of nonprofit news to readers and funders. If elected, I would focus on getting the word out about the difference between the failing legacy news world and the passionate growth of nonprofit news and why it urgently matters.
What might you work to change about INN if elected?
If elected, I would work to change our image and more loudly blow our own horn. I would also promote more emphasis on watchdog and investigative news.
Directors generally help in three broad types of direction: 1) Problem-framing and analysis. 2) Strategy. 3) Plans, tactics and execution. What's your strongest suit among the three?
My strongest suit would be in problem-framing and analysis. In five years, I have discovered many hurdles I didn't expect to fundraising and continuing to do our work that I didn't expect and believe the on-the-ground experience of a still small startup are eye opening and will help all members in the long run.
What specific skills would you like to contribute to the INN board?
Knowledge in journalism standards and ethics are strong suits because of my experience with one foot in the best of old school news and the other marching forward building the future of news. If we lose our ethical way just once, it is all over. We cannot let that happen.