I’m a nonprofit executive, founder and former investigative journalist whose career has centered on building strong institutions in service of the public good.
Today, I serve as Executive Director of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, where I lead a 1,500+ member national professional association and its affiliated nonprofit. Since joining AHCJ in 2022, I’ve led the organization through a significant period of transformation — moving from university housing to independent operations, strengthening its financial and administrative infrastructure, deepening philanthropic partnerships and leading its first strategic planning process in 15 years. I oversee a roughly $2.5 million annual operating budget, approximately $4 million in organizational reserves, a national staff and a portfolio of conferences, fellowships, training and international programs.
Before AHCJ, I founded The Beacon, a nonprofit news organization serving Kansas and Missouri. I took the organization from an idea and business plan through fundraising, launch and growth, securing $5.5 million in grants, major gifts, membership and multiyear commitments. I recruited the founding board and team and built the operational, editorial and audience systems behind newsrooms in Kansas City and Wichita.
My career began in local journalism. I worked as a data and investigative reporter at The Kansas City Star, where I was part of the team named a 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Public Service for Why So Secret, Kansas?, an investigation into government secrecy. Before that, I spent five years at The Wichita Eagle, covering health care, local government and accountability before moving into data and investigative reporting. I began my professional reporting career at The Joplin Globe shortly after the 2011 tornado.
Along the way, I’ve also worked with national organizations supporting journalism and government transparency, including LION Publishers and the National Freedom of Information Coalition, and served on the board of the Institute for Nonprofit News. My leadership development has included the Poynter Institute’s Media Transformation Challenge and the Online News Association’s Women’s Leadership Accelerator.
Across those roles, the through line has been the same: building organizations that can do ambitious, mission-driven work and sustain it. I’m especially interested in organizational strategy, philanthropy, governance, financial sustainability, team development and the systems that help good ideas become durable institutions.