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<!DOCTYPE HTML> <html class="no-js"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> <title>Who We Are | OpenNews</title> <meta name="description" content="OpenNews connects a network of developers, designers, journalists, and editors to collaborate on open technologies and processes within journalism. 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Learn more about <a href="/what/community">our programs</a> and how you can <a href="/getinvolved">get involved</a>.</p> <h2 id="our-staff">Our Staff</h2> <h3 id="jessica-morrison-co-director">Jessica Morrison, Co-Director</h3> <p><img src="/media/img/staff/Morrison.jpg" class="headshot" /> Jessica Morrison is Co-Director of OpenNews, where she works on fundraising, community partnerships, and supporting journalists who are changing the way their newsrooms operate for the better. Previously, she was a science policy reporter and then led product strategy and development at <a href="https://cen.acs.org/">Chemical & Engineering News</a>. With a background in chemistry and journalism, her career has followed her curiosity and enthusiasm to connect with ideas and people. Jessica is based in Nashville, Tenn., where she founded the <a href="https://www.thebakingnotificationproject.com/">Baking Notification Project</a>, a network of home bakers building community with their neighbors through baked goods. (<a href="mailto:jessica@opennews.org">jessica@opennews.org</a>)</p> <h3 id="john-hernandez-co-director">John Hernandez, Co-Director</h3> <p><img src="/media/img/staff/Hernandez.jpg" class="headshot" /> John Hernandez is Co-Director of OpenNews, where he focuses on connecting journalists to one another to support the cross-pollination of ideas and advancing discourse in the field to inspire more action. Previously, he worked as assistant director of audience at <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/">The Texas Tribune</a> where he supported the development of community engagement practices and Latino/a/e/x outreach strategies. John is based in Austin, Texas and enjoys photographing live music, finding secret swimming spots and exploring Texas’ state parks. (<a href="mailto:john@opennews.org">john@opennews.org</a>)</p> <h3 id="ryan-pitts-co-director-on-leave-september-2024-june-2025">Ryan Pitts, Co-Director (on leave September 2024-June 2025)</h3> <p><img src="/media/img/staff/pitts-2020.jpg" class="headshot" /> Ryan Pitts is Co-Director of OpenNews, where he helps community members develop collaborative, inclusive programs for journalism events, and connects people with resources (and each other!) in ways that help make their newsrooms better places to work. (Sometimes he also writes little scrapers and bots that make it easier for us to publish our work.) Previously, he worked in many roles in local newsrooms before managing news apps and product development at <a href="http://www.spokesman.com/">The Spokesman-Review</a>. He is also a board member, developer, and trainer for <a href="http://censusreporter.org/">Census Reporter</a>, a project that makes census data easier for journalists to use. Ryan is usually based in Spokane, Wash., where he volunteers with a small-but-growing community-driven newsroom, but will temporarily be in the Bay Area for the <a href="https://jsk.stanford.edu/fellows/">JSK Fellowship</a>. (<a href="mailto:ryan@opennews.org">ryan@opennews.org</a>)</p> <h2 id="our-advisory-board">Our Advisory Board</h2> <ul> <li>Trei Brundrett of Vox Media</li> <li>Tiff Fehr of The New York Times</li> <li>Candice Fortman of Outlier Media</li> <li>Dawn Garcia of the John S. Knight Fellowship</li> <li>Aron Pilhofer of Temple University</li> <li>Dan Sinker, former director of OpenNews</li> <li>Aaron Williams of The Washington Post</li> </ul> <h2 id="our-former-staff">Our Former Staff</h2> <p>Team members who shaped OpenNews and have since moved on to other pursuits.</p> <h3 id="erika-owens-co-director">Erika Owens, Co-Director</h3> <p><img src="/media/img/staff/owens.jpg" class="headshot" /> Erika Owens was Co-Director of OpenNews, where she convened people and projects across journalism and technology to move the industry forward. Erika and the OpenNews team seek ways to build enduring connections by supporting a thriving network of creating inclusive, caring spaces for the journalism-tech community. Her adroit community work has been instrumental in establishing OpenNews as a leader in how to foster and sustain networks. Erika also serves on the board of the <a href="https://mediamobilizing.org/category/media/">Movement Alliance Project</a> (formerly Media Mobilizing Project) and has trained as a donor organizer through the Giving Project at Bread and Roses Community Fund. Previously, Erika was web editor at the <a href="http://thenotebook.org/">Philadelphia Public School Notebook</a>. She is usually based in Philadelphia, but will temporarily be in the Bay Area for the 2023-24 <a href="https://jsk.stanford.edu/fellows/">JSK Fellowship</a>. She loves nonprofit journalism, people watching, and laughing heartily. (<a href="mailto:erika@opennews.org">erika@opennews.org</a>)</p> <h3 id="sisi-wei-co-executive-director">Sisi Wei, Co-Executive Director</h3> <p><img src="/media/img/staff/wei.jpg" class="headshot" /> Sisi Wei was Co-Executive Director of OpenNews, creating and leading initiatives to make the journalism industry more inclusive and equitable, especially for journalists of color and local journalists. Sisi <a href="https://opennews.org/blog/gwen-ifill-sisi-wei/">won the Gwen Ifill Award</a> in 2021, and has won numerous journalism awards for her watchdog, design, and data work. Previously, she was the Assistant Managing Editor at ProPublica, has served as an adjunct professor at several colleges and universities, and is the co-founder of <a href="http://codewithme.us/"><em>Code with me</em></a>, a nonprofit workshop that teaches journalists how to code. Sisi is the editor in chief at <a href="https://themarkup.org/">The Markup</a>.</p> <h3 id="dan-sinker-director">Dan Sinker, Director</h3> <p><img src="/media/img/staff/sinker.jpg" class="headshot" /> Dan was the director of OpenNews as well as a journalist, entrepreneur, and maker based out of Chicago. He was involved in the OpenNews project since its founding year in 2011, evolving the project into what it is today. Prior to OpenNews, Dan taught digital journalism at Columbia College Chicago, was a Knight Fellow at Stanford University, and founded and ran the magazine Punk Planet. He is the author of two books, the maintainer of countless side projects, and for a while ran a regular role-playing-game night for 9-year-olds.</p> <h3 id="erin-kissane-editorial-lead">Erin Kissane, Editorial Lead</h3> <p><img src="/media/img/staff/kissane.jpg" class="headshot" /> Erin is a writer, editor, and longtime open-web nerd. She joined OpenNews in early 2012 to build <a href="http://source.opennews.org">Source, a community-driven publication for code in journalism</a>, and oversaw the organization’s content and editorial work. Previously, she was editorial director at award-winning web agency <a href="http://happycog.com/">Happy Cog Studios</a>, editor of <a href="http://alistapart.com/"><em>A List Apart</em> magazine</a>, and a consultant to agencies, publishers, and nonprofits large and small. She is the author of <em>The Elements of Content Strategy</em> and speaks about online community, web publishing, and the open internet at conferences worldwide.</p> <h3 id="b-cordelia-yu-program-and-communications-coordinator">B Cordelia Yu, Program and Communications Coordinator</h3> <p><img src="/media/img/staff/cordelia.jpg" class="headshot" /> B Cordelia Yu is a content & editorial strategist and independent researcher at the intersection of social justice, civic tech, public policy, and digital design. They help organizations build inclusive editorial teams and products to foster democratic communities and expanding access to communities of knowledge. Their <a href="http://tinyletter.com/thebestsophist">research</a> is in creating models for open governance and technology-mediated deliberative democratic practices. They joined OpenNews for the second half of 2017.</p> <h3 id="lindsay-muscato-editor-for-source">Lindsay Muscato, Editor for Source</h3> <p><img src="/media/img/staff/muscato.jpg" class="headshot" /> Lindsay is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn who joined OpenNews and Source in 2015. Before that, she spent a decade in Chicago on innovative projects in the arts, youth media, design, and civic tech—producing work on issues such as gun violence, health disparities, and user testing for civic apps. She also spent a year in Cambodia as a leadership resident with the Harpswell Foundation, where she lived and worked alongside Cambodian university students. She’s been a believer in the open web since 1996, when she made her first website after school one day. She’s originally from Buffalo, New York.</p> <h2 id="our-history"><a href="/who/history/">Our History</a></h2> <p>OpenNews began as a partnership between the Knight Foundation and the Mozilla Foundation in 2011. <a href="/who/history/">Learn more about our program’s history.</a></p> <h2 id="support-for-opennews"><a href="/who/supporters/">Support for OpenNews</a></h2> <p>OpenNews is a nonprofit organization that receives funding from <a href="/donate/">community members who donate</a>, foundations, and sponsors. Learn more about <a href="/who/supporters/">how donations work and who our supporters are</a>. Incubated at the <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/">Mozilla Foundation</a> from 2011-2016, OpenNews is now a project of <a href="http://www.communitypartners.org/">Community Partners</a>.</p> <h2 id="get-involved"><a href="/getinvolved/">Get Involved</a></h2> <p>Everything we do is built around the needs of the sprawling community of people who code (and crunch data, and design interactive tools) in and around newsrooms. Whether you’re an old hand or just curious about the field, <a href="/getinvolved/">there’s a way for you to get involved</a>.</p> </div> </div> <div class="sidebox"> <div id="colleft"> <a class="sidebar-button" href="https://opennews.networkforgood.com/">Become a Sustainer</a> <div id="sidenav">  <div id="navlist"> <h3 class="nav"><a href="/what/community">What we do</a></h3> <ul> <li id=""><a href="/what/conferences">SRCCON Events</a> <li id="source"><a href="https://source.opennews.org/">Source</a> <li id="calls"><a href="/what/community/calls">Community Calls</a> <li id="scholarships"><a href="/what/community/scholarships">Scholarships+</a> <li id="survey"><a href="/what/community/survey">News Nerd Survey</a> <li id="dei-coalition"><a href="/what/community/dei-coalition">DEI Coalition for Anti-Racist, Equitable, and Just Newsrooms</a> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="colright"> <div id="newsbox"> <h3>The latest from the OpenNews team</h3> <li><p class="blogtitle"><a href="/blog/erika-farewell/">Update on leadership of OpenNews</a></p></li> <li><p class="blogtitle"><a href="/blog/looking-back-2023/">Looking back at 2023&colon; We spent this year creating opportunity</a></p></li> <li><p class="blogtitle"><a href="/blog/srccon-2023-looking-ahead/">How we connected at SRCCON 2023, and what we're carrying into next year</a></p></li> <li><p class="blogtitle"><a href="/blog/giving-at-srccon-2023/">How we can give to each other as a community at SRCCON 2023</a></p></li> <li><p class="blogtitle"><a href="/blog/open-letter-press-forward/">Open letter urging Press Forward to ensure equitable distribution of resources to underrepresented voices in local news</a></p></li> <p>Read all our news in our <a class="feed_url" href="/blog">OpenNews blog</a></p> </div> </div> </div> </article> <footer> <section class="external"> <div class="busta"> <h2 class="logo-holder"><a href="/"><img class="logo" alt="OpenNews" src="/media/img/open-news-2017.png" /></a></h2> <div class="col col-left box"> <p>We help people strengthen relationships across organizations and build a more equitable future for journalism. Through interactive events and programs, we help peers share knowledge and care for a community grappling with complex problems.</p> <p>Incubated at <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/">Mozilla</a> from 2011-2016, OpenNews is now a project of <a href="http://www.communitypartners.org">Community Partners</a>.</p> <p><a href="/what/community">our programs</a></p> <p><a href="/who">about us</a></p> <p><a href="/getinvolved">get involved</a></p> <p><a href="https://opennews.networkforgood.com/">donate</a></p> <p><strong>contact us:</strong> <a href="mailto:info@opennews.org">info@opennews.org</a></p> <p><strong>follow our tweets:</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/opennews">@opennews</a></p> <p><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/3.0/88x31.png" /></a></p> </div> <div class="col col-right box"> <h3>Become a founding sustainer.</h3> <p>You'll support our ability to do our work, and help us work toward our dream of becoming majority community-funded.</p> <p><a class="sidebar-button" href="https://opennews.networkforgood.com/">Donate</a></p> <h3>Get our community updates.</h3> <p>You'll get updates on the events, programs, and resources we've built for the community, and get special updates from the team.</p>  <div id="mc_embed_signup"> <form action="https://opennews.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=71c95e9a43708843d2fdc1f09&id=996e9290cc" method="post" id="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" name="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" class="validate" target="_blank" novalidate> <div id="mc_embed_signup_scroll"> <input type="email" value="" name="EMAIL" class="email" id="mce-EMAIL" placeholder="email address" required>  <div style="position: absolute; left: -5000px;" aria-hidden="true"><input type="text" name="b_71c95e9a43708843d2fdc1f09_996e9290cc" tabindex="-1" value=""></div> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe" name="subscribe" id="mc-embedded-subscribe" class="button"> <div style="clear:both;"></div> </div> </form> </div>  </div> </div> </section> </footer> <script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/app.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(document).ready(function() { jQuery("abbr.timeago").timeago(); }); </script> </body> </html>