VTDigger announced Tuesday that it has expanded its news and business teams and filled other key roles.
The statewide, nonprofit news organization has established a new creative director position charged with overseeing design, marketing and user experience. It has also created a sixth regional reporter position focused on the Chittenden County cities and towns outside of Burlington.
Among the new hires is veteran journalist Fred Thys, who will cover business and the economy for VTDigger. Thys most recently spent more than two decades at WBUR in Boston, where he covered higher education and politics. Prior to that, he served as a Mexico City bureau chief for NBC News, a New York- and Atlanta-based producer for CNN and a Buenos Aires-based producer and reporter for CBS News. Thys plans to start at VTDigger on June 21.
Joining him on the news team will be Lana Cohen, who has been hired for the new Chittenden County regional reporter position. Cohen spent the past year as a Report for America corps member at the Mendocino Voice and KZYX Radio in northern California. Prior to that, she served as an environmental reporting fellow at WhoWhatWhy, an investigative reporting nonprofit.
Cohen, who expects to start at VTDigger on July 5, will join a growing group of regional reporters the news organization has deployed throughout the state — from Bennington and Windham counties to the Northeast Kingdom. Another new hire, Report for America corps member Shaun Robinson, started this week in the recently created position of Franklin and Grand Isle regional reporter.
The organization’s business office recently welcomed two new additions to its team. Taylor Haynes has been hired as VTDigger’s first-ever creative director. The White River Junction resident has over 10 years of experience in marketing and design, working with organizations ranging from the Montshire Museum to Global Rescue.
Haynes’ hiring was made possible by the American Journalism Project, which selected VTDigger as a model for local news in 2019 and pledged $900,000 to the organization over three years to support the expansion and development of its business operations.
Rounding out the business office hires is Sadie Goldfarb, who recently started as an account executive with a focus on VTDigger’s underwriting program. The Queen City resident previously worked as community coordinator at Burlington Code Academy and graduated from Champlain College.
Anne Galloway, founder and editor-in-chief of VTDigger, hailed the new hires for the energy, creativity and experience they bring to the organization.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Sadie, Taylor, Lana and Fred to the team,” Galloway said. “This is an exciting time for VTDigger as we expand our coverage of Vermont and ensure that we’re serving our existing readers and supporters.”
VTDigger is one of a handful of nonprofit news organizations in the nation that has developed a promising model of sustainable funding for journalism. The organization has grown from a one-person operation to a 28-member staff over the past 11 years, becoming the newspaper of record for the state of Vermont.
VTDigger is a project of the Vermont Journalism Trust, a 501(c)(3) educational charity dedicated to watchdog reporting that is funded by members, underwriting, grants, e-commerce, events and philanthropic gifts.
