Brant Houston

Brant Houston is the Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois.

For more than a decade, he was executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors – where he built its membership to more than 4,000 – and before that worked as an award-winning investigative reporter and database editor at U.S. newspapers. He was part of the staff at the Kansas City Star that won the Pulitzer Prize for its work on a hotel building collapse that killed 114 people and wrote the first overview story of the survivors.

He is a co-founder of the Global Investigative Journalism Network and the Investigative News Network and advises nonprofits newsrooms in the U.S. and internationally. He is co-author of the Investigative Reporter’s Handbook and author of Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Practical Guide. He has served as a judge for editorial awards for the Society of Publishers in Asia contest, the Selden Ring Award, the Philip Meyer Award Journalism Award, and the Forum for African Investigative Reporting.

As a candidate for the new board in GIJN, he says:

I am running for the board again because I want to continue to help build GIJN’s training, resources, and networking. Over the past year, as chair of the board I have worked many hours on the transition of GIJN into a more formal organization. Specifically I  have worked closely with the staff to incorporate GIJN and obtain its nonprofit tax status, meaning that GIJN will have more opportunities for grants and donations. I believe my long experience in investigative journalism and in running nonprofit organizations will continue to benefit GIJN as it grows, particularly in helping with strategic planning and with setting up governance and management systems that will keep GIJN running smoothly..

Over the last decade, I have worked many hours on global conferences, GIJN projects, and fundraising and watched as we have grown into an effective and inspiring organization. As board chair I have pushed to achieve consensus among board members before moving forward on any decision, while always keeping in mind the needs of all GIJN member organizations..

Because part of my job as Knight chair is to support investigative reporting globally, I can continue to devote significant time to ensuring GJIN will be there for many future generations of journalists and journalism students.

I hope you will give me the opportunity to continue in a leadership role.