Civic News Company, the nonprofit publisher of Chalkbeat, Votebeat, and Healthbeat, announced today that its Board of Directors has elected Jamie Fly as a new director.
Fly is the CEO of Freedom House, a global nonprofit that advocates for democracy around the world. He previously led Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, served as senior counselor at Palantir Technologies, and was counselor for foreign and national security affairs to Secretary of State Marco Rubio when Rubio was a senator. He has also held various roles at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Fly is the recipient of awards such as the Czech Foreign Ministry’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to Diplomacy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service. He received a master’s degree in German and European studies from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in international studies and political science from American University.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Jamie Fly to Civic News Company’s Board of Directors,” said Civic News Company CEO Elizabeth Green. “His track record of fighting for democracy and his experience building free, independent journalism make him a perfect fit to steward our organization through its next chapter.”
“A free and independent press is essential to a functioning democracy,” said Fly. “Civic News Company is a powerful new model for providing that factual reporting at a local level in the United States, and I’m proud to join the Board of Directors as the organization prepares for ambitious growth.”
“Our newsrooms serve readers across the political spectrum, and our board should reflect that,” said Civic News Company Board Chair Gideon Stein. “Jamie brings a deep commitment to democracy, hard-won experience running a newsroom at Radio Free Europe, and a perspective that will make us stronger. I couldn’t be more excited to have him on board.”
About Civic News Company
Civic News Company is the publisher of nonprofit newsrooms Chalkbeat, Votebeat, and Healthbeat.
In 2014, Chalkbeat was founded by Elizabeth Green as a multilocal newsroom covering education in New York City, Colorado, Indiana, and Tennessee. By 2020, it had expanded to four more communities and helped to inspire a new wave of local nonprofit news organizations. In 2023, seeing the need for trusted local information beyond education, Green established Civic News Company as a nonprofit umbrella publisher of multiple topic-based newsrooms. Today the organization has a staff of 80, including a newsroom of 50, with local Chalkbeat bureaus covering education in New York City, Colorado, Tennessee, Indiana, Chicago, Detroit, Newark, and Philadelphia; local Votebeat bureaus covering election administration and voting in Arizona, Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; and Healthbeat bureaus covering public health in New York City and nationally.
Civic News Company also has a longstanding commitment to field-building. Green co-founded the American Journalism Project in 2019, the country’s first venture philanthropy firm dedicated to local journalism. The organization also led the collaborative drafting of The Roadmap for Local News, which helped to kickstart the creation of Press Forward.
Other members of Civic News Company’s Board of Directors include Gideon Stein, President of the Moriah Fund; Jill Barkin, Director at The Beacon Fund; Amanda Bennett, former CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media and Director of Voice of America; Rebecca Van Dyck, Chief Marketing Officer at Airbnb; Kang-Xing Jin, former VP & Head of Health at Meta; Ann Sardini, President & Founder of In Progress Advisors; and Roberto Yanez, Jr., President & Regional General Manager at TelevisaUnivision.