Our Staff
Susan Smith Richardson
CEO
@susaneudora1
ssmithrichardson@publicintegrity.org
Susan Smith Richardson is the chief executive officer for the Center for Public Integrity. She was previously the editorial director of Newsroom Practice Change at Solutions Journalism Network, a New York-based nonprofit that seeks to increase civic engagement and strengthen democracy. Read More
Matt DeRienzo
Editor-in-Chief
@mattderienzo
mderienzo@publicintegrity.org
Matt DeRienzo is editor-in-chief of the Center for Public Integrity. Previously, he was vice president of news at Hearst’s newspapers in Connecticut, and served as the first full-time executive director of LION, a national nonprofit that supports local independent online news publishers. He has also written a monthly column about the media industry for Editor & Publisher magazine. Read More
Jim Morris
Executive Editor
@JimGMorris
jmorris@publicintegrity.org
Jim Morris is the executive editor of the Center for Public Integrity. A journalist since 1978 and former managing editor for the Center’s environment and workers’ rights team, Morris has won more than 80 awards for his work, including the George Polk award, the Sidney Hillman award, three National Association of Science Writers awards, two Edward R. Murrow awards and five Texas Headliners awards. Read More
Mei Fong
Director of Communications and Strategy
@mfongwriter
mfong@publicintegrity.org
Mei Fong joined the Center for Public Integrity in 2019. As a Wall Street Journal China correspondent, she won multiple awards, including a shared Pulitzer for international reporting. Her first book, on China’s one-child policy, was critically acclaimed and winner of a non-fiction award by the American Society of Journalists and Authors. When tightening censorship led to a scrapping of a Chinese edition of her book, Fong released a free digital version in Chinese, paying for it through an innovative crowd-funding initiative. Her efforts led to her being named a Top 50 influencer on U.S.-China relations by Foreign Policy magazine. Read More
Earnest Offley
Human Resources Manager
earnest@publicintegrity.org
Earnest Offley is human resources manager at the Center for Public Integrity. He has helped create diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces at companies including Boston Public Schools, Cambridge Housing Association and Building Hope, a charter schools facility fund based in Washington, D.C. Read More
Marcia Maziarz
Chief Development Officer
mmaziarz@publicintegrity.org
Marcia joined the Center for Public Integrity in May 2016 as Director of Foundations and oversees its foundation portfolio, including prospect research and management, proposal writing and grant reporting. An editor and writer, she has more than 20 years of development and fundraising experience. Read More
Zachary Fryer-Biggs
Reporter
National Security
@zachFB
zbiggs@publicintegrity.org
Zach joined the Center for Public Integrity in 2018 as a national security reporter. Since 2011, Zach has covered national security and intelligence, reporting from the Pentagon and internationally most recently for Newsweek where he wrote for both the publication’s print magazine and website. Read More
Susan Ferriss
Senior Reporter
Inequality, Opportunity and Poverty
@susanferriss
sferriss@publicintegrity.org
Susan Ferriss is a prize-winning former foreign correspondent who has been investigating treatment of children by the U.S. justice and immigration system, law enforcement and the school-discipline process. Read More
Allan Holmes
Editor
Inequality, Opportunity and Poverty
@ATHolmes
aholmes@publicintegrity.org
Allan Holmes heads up the Inequality, Opportunity and Poverty team at the Center for Public Integrity. He previously reported on broadband and internet governance. Read More
Jamie Smith Hopkins
Editor
Environment
@jsmithhopkins
jhopkins@publicintegrity.org
Jamie Smith Hopkins is the environment editor and a senior reporter for the Center for Public Integrity. She joined Public Integrity in 2014. Previously, she spent 15 years as a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. Read More
Rui Kaneya
Editor
Money and Democracy
@ruikaneya
rkaneya@publicintegrity.org
Rui Kaneya is a reporter on the Center for Public Integrity’s money and democracy team. Before joining the Center in 2018, he was an investigative reporter for Honolulu Civil Beat, covering criminal justice, immigration and other social justice issues. Read More
Sarah Kleiner
Reporter
Inequality, Opportunity and Poverty
@sarahkleiner9
skleiner@publicintegrity.org
Sarah Kleiner joined the Center for Public Integrity’s federal politics team in 2017. During her 13-year journalism career, Kleiner has reported on a range of topics: state politics, city government, education, mental health, criminal justice, real estate and financial services. Read More
Alexia Fernández Campbell
Senior Reporter
Inequality, Opportunity and Poverty
@alexiacampbell
acampbell@publicintegrity.org
Alexia Fernández Campbell writes about workers’ rights for the Inequality, Opportunity and Poverty team. Before joining the Center in 2019, Alexia reported on labor issues at Vox, where she used FOIA documents to show how the Trump Organization made minimal efforts to hire American workers before applying for foreign guest workers. Read More
Carrie Levine
Senior Reporter
Money and Democracy
@levinecarrie
clevine@publicintegrity.org
Carrie Levine joined the Center for Public Integrity in October 2014 as a reporter investigating the influence of money in politics. For four years before joining Public Integrity, she worked as research director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, where she managed a five-person staff that exposed the activities of politically active “dark money” nonprofits and uncovered instances of congressional self-dealing. Read More
Kristen Holmes
Grants Accountant
kholmes@publicintegrity.org
Kristen Holmes joined the Center for Public Integrity in 2019 as the grants accountant on the development team. Holmes brings a wealth of accounting experience from her 14 years at The Washington Post Company, where she oversaw budgets for several Post-targeted products, including, the Washington Post Magazine and El Tiempo Latino, previously the Post’s Spanish language weekly publication. Read More
Pratheek Rebala
News Developer
@pratheekrebala
prebala@publicintegrity.org
News developer Pratheek Rebala spent three-and-a-half years as an interactive graphics intern in the D.C. bureau of Time magazine while simultaneously completing a degree in international affairs at George Washington University. Read More
Peter Newbatt Smith
Research Editor
psmith@publicintegrity.org
Before coming to the Center for Public Integrity, Peter Smith was employed as a law clerk at the firm of Gaffney & Schember, P.C., in Washington, D.C. He received his bachelor’s degree in medieval European history from Harvard University and his law degree from American University. Read More
Shane Yost
Director of Individual Giving
syost@publicintegrity.org
Shane Yost joined the Center for Public Integrity in November 2019 as the Director of Individual Giving. In that role, he builds and develops relationships with people who are committed to investigative journalism. He has sixteen years of fundraising experience with a focus on individual giving. Read More
R. Jeffrey Smith
Editor
National Security
@rjsmithcpi
jsmith@publicintegrity.org
Smith worked for 25 years in a series of key reporting and editorial roles at The Washington Post, including national investigative editor, national security correspondent, national investigative correspondent, and a foreign staff bureau chief based in Rome. In 2006, he won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, along with two colleagues at the Post, for articles on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Read More
Janeen Jones
Design Editor
jjones@publicintegrity.org
Janeen Jones is the design editor for the Center for Public Integrity. Before joining the Center, she worked as a graphic designer at The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Chronicle of Philanthropy and POLITICO. She has also worked at various newspapers as a copy editor, reporter and news editor. Read More
Kristine Villanueva
Audience Engagement Editor
Kristine Villanueva is the Center for Public Integrity’s audience engagement editor. Before that, she was an audience engagement fellow at POLITICO, where she launched a crowdsourced project on marijuana policy. She holds a B.A from Rutgers University-Newark, and an M.A in social journalism from the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism. Read More
Joe Wertz
Senior Reporter
Environment
@jwertz
jwertz@publicintegrity.org
Joe Wertz joined the Center for Public Integrity’s environment and labor team in 2019. He previously worked as a managing editor and senior reporter at StateImpact Oklahoma, a journalism collaboration of public radio stations in Oklahoma, where he covered environment and energy for NPR audiences and other national outlets. Read More
Liz Essley Whyte
Reporter
Money and Democracy
@l_e_whyte
lwhyte@publicintegrity.org
Liz Essley Whyte is a reporter for the Center for Public Integrity’s money an democracy team, where her investigative work has won awards from the National Press Club, Editor & Publisher, the Association of Health Care Journalists and more. Read More
Joe Yerardi
Data Reporter
@JoeYerardi
jyerardi@publicintegrity.org
Joe Yerardi is a data reporter at the Center for Public Integrity, reporting on a broad range of topics. In this role, he combines traditional reporting techniques with data analysis, visualization and programming to tell investigative stories. Read More
Chris Zubak-Skees
Data Editor
@zubakskees
czubakskees@publicintegrity.org
Chris Zubak-Skees is a computational journalist who works at the intersection of media, technology and design. Projects he contributed to have won Loeb, Goldsmith and Philip Meyer awards, as well as a bronze at Malofiej. Read More
Megan Cattel
Intern
@meganisinspace
mcattel@publicintegrity.org
Megan Cattel grew up in Florida and graduated from Fordham University in 2015. She spent four years teaching English in Shanghai, China, while freelancing for local arts and culture outlets. Read More
Alex Eichenstein
James R. Soles Fellow
@alexeichenstein
aeichenstein@publicintegrity.org
Alex Eichenstein is the 2019 James R. Soles Fellow and is working with the communications team. She graduated from the University of Delaware in June with an Honors degree in English, women and gender studies, and political science. Read More
Alex Ellerbeck
American University Fellow
aellerbeck@publicintegrity.org
Alex Ellerbeck is the 2019 American University Fellow reporting on immigration. Her background is in human rights and free expression advocacy. Previously, she led the North America program at the Committee to Protect Journalists. Before that, she researched internet freedom in Latin America at Freedom House. Read More
Kio Herrera
Intern
@kioherr
kherrera@publicintegrity.org
Kio Herrera most recently interned with CNN’s Investigative Unit, covering government and public health. She started her journalism career as a current events reporter for TIME Magazine’s educational division. Prior to that, she was a Spanish language book editor at Penguin Random House. Read More
Taylor Johnston
Data Fellow
@TF_Johnston
tjohnston@publicintegrity.org
Taylor Johnston is a fellow at the Center for Public Integrity and is working with the data team to utilize and build upon her skills in journalism, data analysis and design. She recently graduated with two bachelor’s degrees from Ohio University, where she studied journalism at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and interactive information design in the School of Visual Communication. Read More
Alex Moore
Intern
amoore@publicintegrity.org
Alex Moore joins the Center for Public Integrity as an intern sponsored by the Columbia Social Enterprise Summer Fellowship program. He is an MBA student at Columbia Business School (CBS). Before CBS, Alex worked as a compliance team member at the private equity firm TPG Capital, based in Fort Worth, Texas. His undergraduate studies were in finance at Texas Christian University. Read More
Tori Powell
Emma Bowen Fellow
tpowell@publicintegrity.org
Tori B. Powell is a rising senior at the American University pursuing a double bachelor’s degree in both journalism and the Spanish language. She is interested in covering the relationship between public policy and the affects that it has on marginalized communities. Read More
Molly Taft
Intern
@mollytaft
mtaft@publicintegrity.org
Molly Taft’s work has appeared in Vice, The Intercept, Buzzfeed, Teen Vogue and elsewhere. She was most recently a writer at Nexus Media News, a nonprofit newswire, where she contributed pieces on science and climate change and wrote a daily morning newsletter of climate change news. She earned a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School and a bachelor’s from Bowdoin College. Read More
Rita Wang
Intern
rwang@publicintegrity.org
Rita Wang is the 2020 Summer Stanback Fellow with the Center for Public Integrity. Rita is a rising senior at Duke University studying the intersection of public policy and social psychology. On campus, Rita is involved with researching racial identities with the Duke Identity and Diversity Lab, developing marketing strategies for Duke’s largest student programming body, and volunteering with Camp Kesem and university pre-orientation programs. Read More