Moving On

I took over as the Director of Technology at the Texas Tribune a year ago this month, but if you’re reading this you probably already knew that. What you probably don’t know is that year ago June I had one foot out the door. So what kept me at the Tribune? A beer with Emily Ramshaw.

She reminded me why I left the start-up world in the first place: to make a difference in the world with my work. I do that at the Texas Tribune, but my role has always been a supporting one. It needed to be given my straddling the business side, the editorial side, and everything in between. I used to describe my job as not being on the front lines of changing the world, but I was the one supplying the ammo.

I’ve realized over the last few months that I wanted that to dynamic to change. It became crystal clear in the early morning hours of June 26 as I watched tools I had help put in place shed a light on the inner workings of Texas politics. Without our work, everyone would have read about the filibuster and questionable voting times the morning after instead of watching it happen live.

I’m happy to announce that as of today, I’m moving on from Director of Technology at the Texas Tribune to the editorial staff as the Tribune’s first News Apps and Data Editor. I’ll be continuing the amazing work that’s already been done and working full time with Ryan Murphy on our newly formed News Apps team.

I gotta say, I’m super stoked.