Lee and Thompson join Center for Public Integrity board

Introduction

Jennifer 8. Lee and Matt Thompson have joined the board of directors of the Center for Public Integrity, one of the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit investigative journalism organizations.

Jennifer 8. Lee is a journalist and author who spent nine years at The New York Times. There she covered technology, Washington, crime, poverty and culture. Lee has played a lead role in the Knight News Challenge, a $25 million initiative to support news innovation, and worked on bringing journalism content to the 2011 SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. She is also one of the lead organizers of Hacks/Hackers, a rapidly expanding global grassroots group that brings technologists and journal-ists together.

“Jennifer thinks and works at the cutting edge of our digital 21st century journalism,” said Executive Director William E. Buzenberg. “She has the knowledge, energy, and creativity to make a significant contribution to the Center for Public Integrity and I’m excited to have her on the board.”

Lee is also the author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. She also serves on the Nieman Foundation advisory board, chairs the Asian American Writers Workshop board, and is a past member of the Poynter Institute national advisory board. Lee graduated with a degree in applied math and economics from Harvard.

“The Center first shaped me when I read Toxic Legacy as a young Washington environmental reporter,” said Lee, “and it has continued to impress me with the formation of the Investigative News Network. Now I am honored to play a role in the Center’s vision of how technological tools can set the agenda for accountability journalism in today’s evolving media landscape.”

Matt Thompson is an editorial product manager at NPR, where he works with NPR member stations on the development of multiple local websites. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the Poynter Institute, having completed a four-year term on the organization’s National Advisory Board in 2010. Before coming to NPR, Thompson served as an interim online community manager for the Knight Foundation. Earlier in his career, Thompson was deputy web editor for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the first online reporter/producer for the Fresno Bee. He holds an English degree from Harvard.

“Matt has been creating all-important community journalism for some time and I will very much value his insights and advice,” said Buzenberg. “Fully engaging our audience, as Matt has done, and creating an accountability journalism community, is an important element of the Center’s ongoing mission to make institutional power more transparent at all levels of government and society.”

Said Thompson: “We are so lucky to have the Center, not only because of the tremendous impact of its investigative work, but also because of its commitment to bringing citizens into the process in new and innovative ways. I am very excited to play a part in this mission.”