Board of Directors

Brant Houston
PRESIDENT AND BOARD CHAIR
Brant Houston holds the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting at the University of Illinois. Houston teaches investigative and advanced reporting in the Department of Journalism in the College of Media at Illinois. He also oversees the online newsroom at Illinois, CU-CitizenAccess.org, which serves as a lab for digital innovation and data journalism. Houston became the chair in 2007 after serving for more than a decade as the executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), a 5,000-member organization, and as a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Before joining IRE, he was an award-winning investigative reporter at daily newspapers for 17 years. Houston is the author of four editions of the textbook, “Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Practical Guide,” and co-author of the fourth edition and fifth edition of “The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook.” He co-founded the Global Investigative Journalism Network in 2003 and serves as chair of its board of directors. He has taught and spoken about investigative and computer-assisted reporting at newsrooms and universities in 25 countries. Currently he is working on projects involving nonprofit journalism newsrooms, digital tools for news-gathering, and new business models for journalism.

Paul Joseph Brown
VICE PRESIDENT
Paul Joseph Brown is a retired photojournalist. He worked on staff at newspapers in Maine, Oregon, Alaska, Texas, and retired after 20 years on staff at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2009. Subsequently, he founded Global Health Photo (globalhealthphoto.com) and Ecosystem Photo (ecosystemphoto.com), completing documentary photography projects for a variety of national and international clients in more than 30 countries. Since his retirement Paul has dedicated himself to progressive political and social change as a philanthropist.

Celia Wu
TREASURER
Celia is a Lecturer at the Edward R. Murrow School of Communications at Washington State University. She works in the intersection of artificial intelligence and media, providing expertise in journalism and communications to improve models for a top AI lab. She is a contributing writer for Elseborn.ai, documenting the discoveries of digital minds in culture, science, and the human condition. As a Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow, she created the first Chrome extension of a newsroom style guide, focusing on the equitable use of language to describe people and places. Her professional experience includes senior roles at Global Press, Vice Media, MSNBC, Microsoft (MSN), Turner Broadcasting, and STAR TV, as well as serving as a public information officer in local government during the COVID-19 pandemic. A passionate advocate for ethical communication and language equity, Celia serves as National Co-Chair of the Asian American Journalists Association Style Guide Committee. She also serves on the boards of the nonprofit newsroom InvestigateWest and the film and documentary distributor Women Make Movies and is the elected Alumni Trustee for Hampshire College. She was a Co-Lead of AAJA's 2025 National Convention in Seattle. Her teaching philosophy centers on preparing students for the evolving media landscape by combining real-world industry insights with hands-on skill development, ensuring they can thrive as content creators, communicators, and critical thinkers in their post-graduate careers. She holds a Master of Arts from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where her thesis focused on local news sustainability and product innovation in reader revenue. Her reporting on Substack focuses on local government transparency and accountability. With roots across three continents, Celia volunteers as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) and has traveled the world as a choir singer.

Jeremy Gilbert
SECRETARY
Jeremy Gilbert is the Knight Chair of Digital Media Strategy at Northwestern University’s Medill School and he oversees the Knight Lab. Both his work and teaching focus on the content and revenue strategies of existing and emerging media companies. He explores the intersection of technology and media, examining how new tools and techniques will affect the creation, consumption and distribution of media. Prior to assuming the Knight Chair, Gilbert was The Washington Post’s Director of Strategic Initiatives where he created and led the Lede Lab, an award-winning team that helped in transforming The Post into an international, digital-first news organization. His other past roles include National Geographic, The Poynter Institute, The Tampa Bay Times and The News-Press.

Terri Hiroshima
DIRECTOR
Terri Hiroshima joined the University of Washington in 2015 and currently serves as Assistant Vice President, Marketing and Communications for the Alumni Association. She leads multiple teams and a body of work that supports meaningful engagement and stewardship of diverse audiences. Terri has held executive marketing and leadership positions throughout her career, most recently as Vice President of Communications at Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce; Executive Director at Crosscut Public Media; and Marketing Director at Seattle Theatre Group. Terri began her career in the performing arts field where she helped produce, promote, and introduce national and international artists and arts organizations to wide-ranging audiences throughout the Puget Sound and the Pacific Northwest. She has volunteered and served in leadership roles on several boards of non-profit organizations over the past twenty years, and in the last decade has chaired the Seattle Arts Commission and served as board president for Pratt Fine Arts Center.

Tina McCorkindale
DIRECTOR
Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D., APR, is the President and CEO of the Institute for Public Relations, a global industry nonprofit association and think tank devoted to research public relations and communications. She has 25 years of experience in the communications and public relations industry, and she focuses on critical industry topics, such as disinformation, generative AI, and behavioral science. McCorkindale serves on various industry boards and has received numerous awards for her contributions to the profession. In 2019, she was one of 40 national leaders selected to participate in the U.S. Department of Defense's 91st Joint Civilian Orientation Conference. She lives in Seattle.

Beverly Wyse
DIRECTOR
Beverly Wyse has over 30 years of leadership experience primarily in the Aerospace industry. Now retired from Boeing, where she held a variety of roles including President of Shared Services, Vice President and General Manager of the 767, 737 and 787 programs. Wyse currently serves on various Boards and is a consultant to numerous international companies. In addition to her role on the Investigate West Board, she is also on the Olin Board of Trustees, a top ranked engineering school focused on innovative education. Wyse is also on the Board of Trustees at Heroux-Devtek Inc, a company specializing in the aerospace market in the design, manufacture and integration, of landing gear and actuation systems and components. Wyse is also a strategic advisor in the aerospace sector to Arcadis, a multi-billion dollar infrastructure company. Wyse has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in business administration, both from the University of Washington in Seattle. She is a born and raised Puget Sound native with a love of hiking, watersports, and winter sports such as skiing and snow shoeing.