Salvador Rizzo

Salvador Rizzo

Board of Director

Salvador Rizzo covers crime and justice in Virginia for The Washington Post, reporting on complex racketeering trials, financial fraud and espionage, international terrorism cases and major crimes in the Washington metro area. He previously was a reporter and deputy editor for The Washington Post Fact Checker from 2018 to 2021 and is co-author of “Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth” (Scribner, 2020).

His journalism career began at The Post, as a summer intern on the copy desk in 2008. In New Jersey from 2011 to 2017, Sal covered Chris Christie’s governorship and presidential campaign for the state’s major news organizations: the Star-Ledger and then the Bergen Record. He went on to be editor of New Jersey’s top politics blog for a year before rejoining The Post in 2018.

Sal was a member of The Fact Checker team that documented Trump’s false and misleading statements while he was president, 30,573 of which were collected in a Washington Post database. With Glenn Kessler and Meg Kelly, he received an honorable mention for this work from the organizers of the Robin Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting in 2019.

Since 2019, Sal has been a regular contributor to InquireFirst’s programs, speaking to journalists about fact-checking and other issues in journalism.

He grew up on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border and is a native Spanish speaker with a degree in English from Emory University. He lives in Alexandria, Va., a couple of blocks away from the federal courthouse.

Robert Hernández

Robert Hernández

Board of Director

Robert Hernandez, one of the few true veterans of Web journalism, has made a name for himself as a journalist of the Web, not just on the Web. His primary focus is exploring and developing the intersection of technology and journalism – to empower people, inform reporting and storytelling, engage community, improve distribution and, whenever possible, enhance revenue. He describes himself as a mad scientist of journalism.

Hernandez is an associate professor of professional practice at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He believes in “open source,” sharing knowledge and experiences among journalists. To that end, he has taken the leading role in uniting and building a community of digital journalists and technologists. H has served as a national board member of the Online News Association, the leading organization focused on developing digital journalism. He’s also a co-organizer of the Los Angeles chapter of Hacks/Hackers, an international network of journalists and technologists that is rethinking the future of news and information.

Many journalists know him as the co-founder of #wjchat, a weekly forum on Twitter that engages participants from around the world. This virtual gathering is perhaps the best example of his commitment to collaboration and crowdsourcing.

Hernandez is also passionate about diversity in journalism. He is a lifetime member and former board member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

As director of development for The Seattle Times, where he worked from 2002 until 2009, Hernandez helped shape and execute the vision for the website, leading a team of engineers and designers in creating innovative tools and applications for readers as well as staff. He also worked as a web designer and consultant for El Salvador’s largest daily newspaper site, La Prensa Gráfica, web producer for The San Francisco Chronicle and online editor of The San Francisco Examiner.

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife of more than 10 years, young son and Boston Terrier. He hopes to restore his 1960 Volvo 122 that the freeways of Los Angeles killed one extremely hot summer day.

Rosalind Reid

Rosalind Reid

Board of Director

Rosalind Reid is executive and program director for the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, the culmination of a love affair with science writing that began when she walked into the North Carolina State University news bureau in 1984, discovered physics, and gave up political reporting. Six years later she joined the staff of American Scientist magazine, serving as editor-in-chief from 1992 to 2008 and taking a leave to become the first journalist in residence at the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara.

Over her years as a magazine editor, Ros also traveled widely to present workshops on the visual communication of science. That work led to a fellowship at Harvard, where she stayed on to launch an institute devoted to computational science while serving on the board of CASW.

Under her leadership since 2013, CASW has launched the CASW Showcase website for award-winning writing and co-organized the World Conference of Science Journalists with the National Association of Science Writers, while continuing its fellowships and awards programs and the New Horizons in Science briefings, which Reid organizes for each ScienceWriters meeting.

In addition to magazine and newspaper awards, Ros’s recognitions include honorary memberships in Sigma Xi and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology and election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. An NASW member since 1986, she holds a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a master’s from Duke and lives in Amherst, MA.

Rick Shaughnessy

Rick Shaughnessy

Board of Director

Rick Shaughnessy is founder and principal of Coronado Pacific Group, Inc. a strategic marketing and communications agency serving the investment management industry. Rick began his career in print journalism where he worked as a reporter and editor covering political, financial and economic topics.

Previous positions have included:

  • American Express Asset Management, Product Specialist and Director of Marketing
  • Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management, Head of Communications
  • Stolper & Co., Investment Consultant
  • Charnley & Rostvold, Inc., Senior Consultant
  • San Diego Union-Tribune, Albuquerque Journal, Twin Falls (Idaho) Times-News and other publications, Financial and Political Journalist

Professional and volunteer positions have included:

  • Professional Association for Investment Communications Resources (PAICR), Board Member and Advisory Board Member
  • Association of Investment Management Sales Executives (AIMSE), Member
  • Coronado Schools Foundation, Past President and Board Member
  • Idaho Press Club, Board Member
  • Monarch School of San Diego (educating homeless youth), Classroom Volunteer
  • Big Brothers of San Diego, Volunteer Big Brother