Great Work Starts Here.
From overseeing high-quality sports shows to feature-length documentaries, much of my work as a media executive comes down to service: serving members of my team, serving companies by exploring content and distribution channels and finding new partnerships, and serving audiences by bringing quality content to life. This commitment, across every level of newsrooms I’ve led, includes exceptional reporting and award-winning investigative journalism.
SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM
Beyond the Violence
Years of extreme gun violence have left many Birmingham residents living in fear. In 2024 major cities nationwide saw decreases in gun-related murders, but not Birmingham. In 2025, AL.com’s Beyond the Violence has become a comprehensive effort based on solutions-based journalism. I led the content plan effort to ensure the news operation went beyond what crime-ravaged Birmingham looked like to focus instead on how the city could thrive. By partnering with the community, city leaders, local activists, and police, Beyond the Violence is an ambitious effort that aims to help shape the future of one of the South’s leading cities.
Coverage by the investigative team at AL.com has spanned many years, but 2024 was a pivotal year that saw major impact. Denied is one of 2024’s strongest examples of how news organizations can change laws, lives and minds. AL.com examined the state parole board’s pattern of declining parole for the most low-risk, elderly, and ailing offenders. The work ignited action among legislators, policymakers and other leaders, and shifted Alabama’s parole rate to 20 percent by the end of 2024, up from just 8 percent the previous year.
That’s the equivalent of 250 more people getting out of Alabama prisons in 2024 than in 2023.
USA TODAY Voting Rights Project
I conceived and led the publication of a state-by-state voting rights guide that examines changes in laws across all 50 states and U.S. territories. It was designed to publish ahead of the 2022 midterm elections as a tool to help voters understand and navigate changes in their state. It also allowed them to register to vote as well as check their current voter registration status. The effort marked a comprehensive approach that had never been taken before.
Perilous Course
Perilous Course was a multi-state series chronicling the real-world impact of climate change through the eyes of everyday people. In 2022, I directed the team of East Coast editors, reporters, producers and visual journalists who captured heart-wrenching stories and hopeful solutions posed by experts and residents alike.
Gannett/USA Today Network reimagines Its Police Coverage
After recognizing problems in police coverage that lacked context and follow up on important details and often focused on negative aspects of minority communities, I put together a team of journalists to examine the issue across the northeast region. What resulted was a comprehensive new approach that eliminated use of most mugshots, redirecting coverage to include views from impacted communities (not just the police), and sought to offer broader analysis around crime coverage—not just single events.
When the work was completed in 2021, Gannett wanted the new model implemented across its 200 websites nationwide. The effort has been covered nationally by outlets from Poynter Institute to the Washington Post.
Clayton County Courthouse in Georgia
Following the 2020 presidential election, I traveled to metro Atlanta’s Clayton County, a voting district that has changed dramatically since I left there in 2000. TThe county, once solidly red, went blue in 2020 and served up a victory for Joe Biden.
The Asbury Park Press took an exhaustive look at the inequities surrounding the difference in sentencing and legal punishments for crack vs. heroin convictions. Our journalists documented racial disparities that were hard-wired into national drug laws and the criminal justice system since the 1980s crack epidemic. This series won Best of Gannett and NABJ Public Service awards.
Investigative Journalism: Protecting the Shield
This January 2018 series was led by the best investigative news team around, including investigations director Paul D'Ambrosio, investigative reporters Andrew Ford, Kala Kachmar, Susanne Cervenka and Ken Serrano, and breaking news reporter Alex Gecan. The package has earned regional and national recognition, including the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and top investigative honors from the National Association of Black Journalists.
The coverage of NJ police abuses, excessive force, DWI dismissals and a consistent lack of oversight for rogue cops led to substantial changes in police accountability. In addition, the state attorney general:
Ordered mandatory, random drug testing for all cops in all police stations. Before our reporting, more than 100 towns had no drug testing policy.
Established a statewide “early-warning” system* to identify and remove cops who violate 16 new standards, including having too many citizen complaints against them, too many unjustified “use of force” actions and violent, domestic dispute issues. Police chiefs are now required to send suspect cops to the county prosecutor for review.
Joined policymakers and legislators in the call for change. The AG said publicly that he was seeking “outlier” officers to take them off the streets while the state Senate majority leader emphasized the need for continued transparency and accountability.