Lisa Heyamoto, Ben DeJarnette join LION and more staffing updates

LION is growing!

We are pleased to announce our senior program manager for the GNI Startups Lab, a community manager for our entrepreneurial journalism community and some role changes for our existing staff. Please help us welcome… 

LISA HEYAMOTO, GNI STARTUPS LAB SENIOR PROGRAM MANAGER
Lisa Heyamoto will be overseeing our new GNI Startups Lab program. For the past nine years, Lisa has been a senior instructor at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, where she focused on community building through storytelling, and before that, worked as a columnist and reporter for The Sacramento Bee and The Seattle Times. She also co founded The 32 Percent Project, which explores what drives and disrupts public trust in the news media. Lisa brings an incredible wealth of experience in developing new ways of teaching and training, an invaluable skill set in developing our Startups Lab program. Lisa is based in Eugene, Oregon.

BEN DEJARNETTE, ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNALISM COMMUNITY MANAGER
Ben DeJarnette will be the community manager for our soon-to-be-launched entrepreneurial journalism community, part of the GNI Startups Lab program. Ben founded Bridgeliner, a WhereBy.Us news site and newsletter covering Portland, Oregon, and most recently served as its editor. He’s also the co-author of the book Reimagining Journalism in a Post-Truth World, and has worked with GroundSource, the Agora Journalism Center and MediaShift. We look forward to drawing on Ben’s experience from helping launch the Gather community for engagement journalism professionals. Ben is based in Portland, Oregon.

We’re also making some internal changes:

ANIKA ANAND, DEPUTY DIRECTOR
In recognition of her expanding responsibilities, Anika Anand will be Deputy Director of LION Publishers, effective immediately. In this new role for LION, Anika will oversee programming, membership, communications and all other internal day-to-day work of our growing team. She’s also tasked with managing the GNI Startups Lab, including Lisa and Ben’s work building programs and resources and the entrepreneurial journalism community. Anika is based in Seattle, Washington.

PHAYVANH LUEKHAMHAN, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
We’ve simplified and reorganized responsibilities across LION, including moving nearly all bookkeeping and financial reporting functions to an outside firm. As a result, we’re consolidating operational responsibilities under Phayvanh Luekhamhan, whose title becomes Director of Operations. In this role, she’ll establish and oversee organizational processes so that staff, contractors, members, and other partners have a seamless and efficient experience with LION. Phayvanh will create and maintain LION’s budget, fiscal and organizational policies and procedures, and lead strategic fundraising and sales activities. Phayvanh is based in Barre, Vermont.

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