Curriculum vitae
CV
Professional experience
Senior Editor, Data Journalism
- Lead a team of data journalists and presentation specialists producing in-depth content for teams across the newsroom.
- Serve as the newsroom's leading voice on implementing generative AI tools into editorial workflows, working closely with standards and legal teams to ensure thoughtful deployment.
- Build and maintain an extensive data warehouse of local, state, and federal data on AWS RDS, including automated Lambda-based pipelines that deliver real-time data such as minute-by-minute TSA wait times at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
- Train newsroom staff on the latest tools for data and investigative reporting, including AI-assisted reporting techniques.
- Edit data stories regardless of the desk they originate from; consult reporters on public records requests for electronic data.
Digital Storytelling Editor
- Served as the bridge between the newsroom and product teams, ensuring newsroom development priorities were elevated on the product road map.
- Coordinated and executed special presentation work for investigative and other in-depth projects throughout the newsroom.
- Developed standards and guidelines for data reporting and data visualization.
- Determined stories with the best data and digital presentation opportunities for traditional Sunday A1 stories.
Director of Data Services
- Provided contract data services — analysis, bulletproofing, editing, and visualization — to IRE members and newsrooms around the world, working primarily in R, SQL, Tableau, Datawrapper, and QGIS.
- Contributed to two national conferences each year, coordinating over 150 hours of hands-on training spanning all skill levels.
- Developed and maintained training curriculum on data and investigative journalism, including new modules on RStudio, SQLite, Tableau, and Datawrapper.
- Conducted more than 100 hours of hands-on training in Excel, SQL, RStudio, Python, Access, and more — at conferences, bootcamps, workshops, and custom trainings at universities and newsrooms across the U.S. and Canada.
- Regularly cleaned, edited, and published local, state, and federal datasets for IRE members to use in their storytelling.
Multimedia Artist
- Led an effort to convert hundreds of paper documents into a one-of-a-kind database for a 10-month investigation of the Orlando Police Department — work that changed the department's use-of-force policies and was recognized by the Florida Bar and the Online News Association.
- Secured a $35,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to build Tabs On Tallahassee, a public feed of Florida legislative data.
- Coordinated and contributed data analysis to reporters across all teams for daily and enterprise coverage.
- Crafted data visualizations for print and digital, built custom webpages for special projects, and developed interactive graphics using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and GIS software.
Online Producer Intern
- Interned through the Dow Jones News Fund's digital editing program.
- Created interactive maps and graphics for stories on the Colorado wildfires, the 2012 presidential election, and the Aurora theater shooting.
- Managed multiple social media channels and weekly newsletters for targeted audiences.
Professional service
Board Member, Georgia First Amendment Foundation
- Serve on the board of a nonprofit dedicated to advancing freedom of speech, press, and access to public records in Georgia.
Instructor, AI Tools for Investigative Journalism — IRE / NICAR
- Designed and taught sessions on AI and generative AI tools for journalists at NICAR and IRE annual conferences since 2023, including AI coaching tools and web scraping with AI assistance at NICAR 2026 in Indianapolis.
Co-facilitator, AI Workshop — Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting
- Co-facilitated a full-day AI workshop with Tyler Dukes (McClatchy) covering prompt engineering, custom GPTs, and AI-assisted workflows for ten investigative journalism fellows.
Co-residency Director, Data Journalism — Dow Jones News Fund
- Reviewed applications for the data journalism internship program and led week-long training sessions for approximately 20 interns per year.
Awards
- Winner, University of Florida Award for Investigative Data Journalism, Large Newsroom (Online News Association), 2016
- Finalist (staff), Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News, 2017 — The Orlando Sentinel
- Winner (staff), Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News, 2013 — The Denver Post
- Finalist (staff), Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News, 2013 — The Denver Post
Full citations on the Awards page.
Digital skills
Data analysis: Excel (expert); SQL (expert); R (expert); Python (intermediate); Postgres (intermediate); command line (expert); Microsoft Access (intermediate)
Data visualization: QGIS (mapping, expert); Tableau Desktop (expert); Flourish (intermediate); Datawrapper (intermediate)
Publications
LaFleur, J., Herzog, D. & Minshew, C. Mapping for Stories: A Data Journalism Guide (2018); 2nd edition eBook.
See Work for selected journalism.