Andrew Leckey, President

Andrew Leckey was named president of the Reynolds Center and became the Reynolds Endowed Chair in Business Journalism in 2009. He was the first director of the center at its launch in 2003. Andrew was previously a long-time syndicated investment columnist for the Chicago Tribune, a CNBC anchor and the author or editor of 10 financial books. He received the National Association of Investors Corporation’s “Distinguished Award in Investment Education” and was the first director of the Bloomberg Business Journalism Program at the University of California, Berkeley. He is frequently interviewed on business and business journalism topics, most recently by The New York Times, Newsweek, The Guardian in London and the PBS “NewsHour,” as well as China’s CCTV and Oriental Outlook magazine.
E-mail Andrew or 602-496-9186

Linda Austin, Executive director

A former business editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Linda Austin became executive director of the Reynolds Center in 2009. She spent the past decade as a top newsroom leader, serving as the editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky; executive editor of The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Ind.; and managing editor of the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C. Before that, she held a variety of positions in her 12 years at The Inquirer, including graphics editor, assistant managing editor/finance and editor/publisher of the monthly PhillyTech magazine. Her other newspaper credits include the Dallas Times Herald in Texas, The Straits Times of Singapore (as a Luce Scholar) and the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina. She graduated with highest honors from the University of North Carolina School of Journalism. She is a 2009 fellow in the Punch Sulzberger Executive News Media Leadership Program at Columbia University’s Journalism School.
E-mail Linda or 602-496-9187

Robin J. Phillips, Web managing editor

Robin J. Phillips became the Reynolds Center’s Web managing editor in August 2009, after working as online community manager for azcentral.com, the Web site of The Arizona Republic in Phoenix. She has also served as deputy business editor at The Republic and Newsday, as well as editor for BusinessWeek Online’s small business channel. Robin teaches a course on the Business & Future of Journalism at the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications, was an adjunct professor of new media at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York and has presented at various journalism organizations on the use of social media as a reporting tool. She is a co-founder of #wjchat, a weekly Twitter-based gathering of web journalists. She holds a degree in journalism and political science from the University of Hawaii and is a master’s candidate at ASU.

E-mail Robin or 602-496-9190

Mark Ng, Web developer
Mark Ng joined the Reynolds Center in January 2012. He has 14 years of experience, including working for several business-to-business and business-to-consumer media companies, running his own consultancy and acting as chief technology officer for a London-based Web agency. Recently, he worked in the Cronkite School New Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship Labs, building apps and teaching journalism students about programming and the product development process. He also works as co-founder of HuntersDB, an online hunting scouting resource. He served as the technical lead for the Media Standards Trust’s efforts in creating the hNews metadata format for news stories, now used by at least 500 US News sites, which was done jointly with the Associated Press and funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Mark is a grass-roots tech community organizer, who has run both the BarCamp Bournemouth and NewsInnovation London conferences.

E-mail Mark or 602-496-5127

Kelly Carr, Senior online producer
Kelly writes and edits stories for BusinessJournalism.org, manages daily content flow to the site and works with freelancers around the country. She joined the staff in 2007 as an assistant Web editor. She has worked as a reporter for several newspapers, including The Arizona Republic, and has been an adjunct journalism professor at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School. As a freelance investigative reporter for Reuters, she recently won the 2011 Foreign Press Association Media Award for Financial/Economic Reporting for a story detailing the use of U.S. shell and shelf companies. Kelly has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College and holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from West Virginia University. She also was a fellow at The Poynter Institute and a contributing writer for Cancer Stories: Lessons in Love, Loss & Hope.
E-mail Kelly or 602-496-5439

David Hill, Program manager

David is responsible for managing and reconciling daily financial accounts, making budget forecasts, assuring compliance with grant requirements, and serving as the primary contact for workshop hosts, trainers and attendees. Before joining the center in April 2008, he spent six years as the business manager for student government and the Rebel Yell at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. There, he managed a $1.5 million budget and the awards he received included Professional Staff Member of the Year. Before that, he was an instructional specialist for the Arizona State University Learning Resource Center. He holds a B.S. in economics from ASU.

E-mail Dave or 602-496-9188

Cassandra Nicholson, Administrative assistant

Cassandra Nicholson joined the Center as program coordinator in October 2009. She is responsible for registrations and workshop materials and coordinates entries for the Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Journalism. Before joining the Center, Cassandra worked at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. She participated in the NASA Space Grant Internship program at the School of Earth and Space Exploration, and later went on to work as a program aide for the Mars Space Flight Facility. Cassandra holds a B.A. in Journalism from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
E-mail Cassandra or 602-496-9189

The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is headquartered at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Communication at Arizona State University. The Center was launched in 2003 at the American Press Institute with a grant from the Las Vegas, Nev.-based Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. It sponsors daylong workshops, online seminars and a Web site devoted to covering business better. The Cronkite School, named for the long-time CBS news anchor, serves more than 1,200 undergraduate and master’s journalism students.