I recently met with alums Monika Bauerlein (‘15), Sara Lomax (‘19), Natalia Antelava (‘20), and Neil Chase (‘20), who shared their MTC journeys with one of our funders.

Monika began with her (and Mother Jones’) commitment to meeting this moment in our democratic society. Sara discussed her personal and professional renewal through the MTC experience, particularly her relationships within the class of 2019 that led to the creation of URL Media. Natalia shared her thoughts about how to tell and share stories amidst the huge “noise” in the media ecosystem. And Neil told us about opportunities provided by the CalMatters/Markup merger.

Awe. That was the word we all used. Awe.

Which takes me back to the MTC Alumni Reunion. It will be many things, but at heart, we hope it brings us back to MTC’s core and serves as an inspiration to continue your transformation journeys.

Meantime, we’ve begun the admissions process for the MTC Class of 2025.

As always, we appreciate your thoughts on potential Fellows. We are looking for a diverse class of senior leaders with important performance challenges to realize.

We do have financial assistance available through the Knight Foundation grant. That said, we intend to spread that assistance across 10-12 Fellows, so it’s helpful if applicants can also contribute to tuition.

Please find more information here, and email me with questions, comments, and suggestions.

Alumni Wins

• Rupa Jha (‘21) was promoted to CEO and Co-founder of Collective Newsroom, an independent media company that will be the sole producer and publisher for BBC’s six Indian language services.
• Longtime CNN Washington bureau chief Sam Feist (‘17) is taking the helm of C-SPAN as its new CEO.
• Lisa Gibbs (‘18) joined the Pulitzer Center as President and CEO following her ten-year tenure at AP, most recently as Vice President of Philanthropic Development. She replaces outgoing President and CEO Jon Sawyer (‘15).
• Rachel Smolkin (‘17) has been chosen as the next President and CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) following a decade at CNN.
• After eight years as Co-Founder of News Revenue Hub, Tristan Loper (‘20) recently began a new role as the Head of National Programs at the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
• Ground Truth Founder and Editor-In-Chief Charles Sennot (‘15) was honored with the Foley Foundation’s World Press Freedom Award recognizing “moral courage” in journalism and advocacy for wrongfully detained Americans around the world.
• Under the leadership of Neil Chase (‘20) and Kristin Go (‘24), CalMatters announced its acquisition of The Markup.
• ‘24 alumnus Danielle Bergstrom’s Fresnoland nabbed 4 Gruno Awards for investigative journalism.
• Lisa Heyamoto (‘24) recently started a new role as Vice President of Portfolio Learning at the American Journalism Project following her nearly four-year run at LION.
• And MTC Coaches Lauren Gustus and Danyelle White (‘22) were promoted to Chief Executive Officer and Chief of Content, respectively, of The Salt Lake Tribune.

Have an update for the MTC Newsletter? Please email MTC Director of Community Development Benjamin Wagner for future inclusion.