Brazil Co-Lead

Angela Pimenta is the coordinator of Projeto Credibilidade, the Brazilian chapter of the Trust Project. She holds a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University (2001) and is a candidate at the Media and Technology PhD program of Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Her doctoral research investigates media literacy strategies for the out-of-school Brazilian population. As former president of Projor (2015-2019), she coordinated the News Atlas, a pioneering project aimed at mapping the local press in Brazil amidst the digital revolution.

Brazil Co-Lead 

Francisco Belda is a journalist, professor in the Journalism Department, and researcher in the Graduate Program in Media and Technology at São Paulo State University (Unesp). He is the former president and currently serves as Director of Operations at Projor – Institute for the Development of Journalism, and is a board member of the International Media Management Academic Association (IMMAA). From 2015 to 2019, he was a visiting scholar at Brandeis University (Massachusetts, U.S.). Previously, he worked as a reporter, editor, manager, and director at various news organizations. He holds a Ph.D. in production engineering and a master’s degree in communication sciences from the University of São Paulo (USP).

Operations Manager

Jessica Sterling manages administrative operations and sponsorship programs for the Trust Project, supporting organizational planning and day-to-day activities. She has more than a decade of experience working with educational institutions, nonprofits, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Her background includes work in regulatory compliance, outreach coordination, and human resources. Jessica holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Nova Southeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Florida International University.

Compliance Review Lead

Mark Payton is an editor and journalist with more than 30 years of news and magazine experience. Most recently, Mark was editorial director of Haymarket Consumer Media, managing strategy for a portfolio of online and print brands. Today, Mark is an editorial consultant, supporting the Trust Project through compliance reviews for newsrooms joining the Project. He’s also a member of the complaints committee for the UK’s press regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organisation and a mentor at SetSquared, Europe’s largest start-up accelerator.

Researcher

Alexandria Burris is an investigative reporter at the Indianapolis Star. She joined the newsroom in 2019 as a business reporter and now focuses on investigative work. Her recent reporting has examined issues such as child labor and abuse within religious institutions. Alex holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Louisiana State University and a master’s degree in journalism from Emerson College.

Translation and Interpretation 

InterPret Language Services offers simultaneous interpreting and translation services in English, Spanish, and Portuguese for the Trust Project. The interpreting team includes Sarita Gomez-Mola, Claudia Cereghino, Teresa Figueira, Tim Yuan, and Cristina Helmerichs and is led by Steven Mines. Collectively, InterPret represents decades of professional experience at the highest level for international academic, government, non-profit and corporate clients, and is inspired to help the Trust Project communicate in multiple languages and build bridges among news partners.

Treasurer
Lee Hill, a longtime veteran of NPR and its affiliate organizations, is executive editor of Boston’s NPR-affiliated GBH News, including its radio station GBH 89.7, WGBH television, and its news website. He oversees a newsroom of 100 people, 83 of whom are journalists. Lee most recently served as executive producer for The Takeaway at New York Public Radio after leading strategic content and public engagement strategies and before that, transformation initiatives there. He served three years leading digital initiatives at WYNC. Hill was a founding editor of Inside Energy, a Colorado-based journalism collaboration between NPR and PBS stations. He also worked as a public insight network (PIN) analyst and reporter at Colorado Public Radio and a multimedia journalist at NPR in Washington, D.C. In 2013, he was named Broadcast Journalist of the Year by the Colorado Association of Black Journalists and in 2016, he received the National Association of Black Journalists’ “Salute to Excellence Award” for Digital Innovation. Hill is a 2003 graduate of Howard University.

Director
Sally Lehrman, an internationally recognized expert and speaker on building a more trustworthy press, Sally was named one of MediaShift’s Top 20 Digital Innovators (2018) for her work founding and leading The Trust Project. Previously an award-winning reporter on medicine and science, her honors include a Peabody Award, duPont-Columbia and the John S. Knight Fellowship, with bylines in Scientific American, Nature, Health, and the public radio documentary series, The DNA Files, distributed by NPR, among others. She co-edited “Reporting Inequality: Tools and Methods for Covering Race and Ethnicity”; an earlier book, “News in a New America,” argues for an inclusive U.S. news media. She is affiliated with the UC-Santa Cruz Center for Science and Justice as Science and Justice Professor. 

Chair
Anya Schiffrin is the director of the Technology, Media, and Communications specialization at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a senior lecturer who teaches on global media, innovation and human rights. She writes on journalism and development, investigative reporting in the global south and has published extensively over the last decade on the media in Africa. More recently, she has become focused on solutions to the problem of online disinformation, earning her PhD (with honors) on the topic from the University of Navarra. She is the editor of Women in the Digital World, Global Muckraking: 100 Years of Investigative Reporting from Around the World and African Muckraking: 75 years of Investigative Journalism from Africa. She is the editor of Media Capture: How Money, Digital Platforms and Governments Control the News. Dr. Schiffrin’s work with economist Haaris Mateen on the valuation of news has been cited in the Atlantic, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post and many other publications. She is a leading thinker and commentator on AI and publishing, media sustainability as well as mis/disinformation and media impact.

Secretary
Claes H. de Vreese is a researcher, professor, and thought leader exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence, media, and democracy. As a University Professor at the University of Amsterdam, he studies how automation, algorithms, and AI shape public opinion, news, and political communication. In addition, he is also the Scientific Director of the Digital Democracy Center in Denmark and the founding Director of the Center for Politics and Communication. His work has earned him prestigious awards, including the Swanson Career Achievement Award (ICA), Fellowship of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science, and the NeFCA Career Award. He published over 300+ articles on topics like disinformation, social media, and the future of journalism. Claes is a frequent speaker and media contributor passionate about understanding how technology influences democracy.

Rosental Calmon Alves
Rosental holds the Knight Chair in International Journalism and the UNESCO Chair in Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, where, in 2002, he founded the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, which he still leads today. He serves as a consultant for media organizations in Europe and the Americas and frequently speaks in academic and industry conferences around the world. Alves became professor at UT’s Moody College of Communication’s School of Journalism and Media in 1996, when he moved from Rio de Janeiro to Austin, after a 27-year journalism career in Brazil. He was a director and managing editor of the then leading newspaper Jornal do Brasil. His main areas of teaching and research are: international news, especially the work of foreign correspondents; journalism and press freedom in Latin America; digital journalism; and media innovation and entrepreneurship.

Maureen Costello is an educator and nonprofit leader with over 40 years of experience.  A former high school history and civics teacher, she has led educational projects in both the private and nonprofit sectors, including at Advance Publications, Newsweek Magazine, Scholastic Inc, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Stand for Children Leadership Center, where she currently serves as the executive director of the Center for Antiracist Education.

Duchesne Drew
President of Minnesota Public Radio, Duchesne leads strategy, programming and daily operations, serving MPR’s growing regional audiences through MPR News, Classical MPR, The Current and MPR’s rapidly expanding digital, social and mobile services. Drew comes to MPR from the Bush Foundation, where he led the foundation’s leadership programs, community innovation and communication teams and built networks across the region as its Community Network vice president. Prior to his role at Bush Foundation, Drew was managing editor of operations at the Star Tribune, where he began as a summer intern and rose to one of the most senior roles in the newsroom. Last year, he was honored with the Widening the Circle Award by ThreeSixty Journalism, recognizing individuals who have contributed to the next generation of journalists, particularly while promoting inclusion and diversity.

Larry Kramer 
Retired as president and publisher of USA Today in 2015. He was founder, chairman and chief executive of MarketWatch Inc., which he created in 1995, took public and sold to Dow Jones. In 2005 he became the first president of CBS Digital Media.  Later, he was an adjunct professor of media management at the Newhouse School and a senior advisor at Polaris Venture Partners. Besides the Trust Project, he is a director of Advance Local and chairman of WinVest (WINVU), a fintech special-purpose acquisition company. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Harvard Business Publishing and the Board of Trustees of Syracuse University and as an advisor to Advance Publications Inc. Previously, Larry served on the boards of Gannett,  TheStreet, Inc., MDC Partners and Discovery Communications. Earlier in his career, he spent 20 years in journalism as a reporter and editor at the Washington Post (Asst.  Managing Editor), the San Francisco Examiner (Executive Editor) and the Trenton (NJ) Times (Editor).  

Craig Newmark
Craig is a web pioneer, philanthropist, and leading advocate. Most commonly known for founding the online classified ads service craigslist, Newmark works to support and connect people and drive broad civic engagement. In 2016, he founded Craig Newmark Philanthropies to advance people and grassroots organizations that are “getting stuff done” in areas that include trustworthy journalism & the information ecosystem, voter protection, women in technology and veterans & military families. At its core, all of Newmark’s philanthropic work helps to strengthen American democracy by supporting the values that the country aspires to – fairness, opportunity and respect.