Our Staff

Elisa Tinsley, Director: Responsible for supervising and implementing this world-wide media assistance program. Elisa Tinsley has three decades of professional journalism experience. From 2000 to 2007, she was World Editor at USA Today, where she directed a team of staff reporters and freelance journalists who provided international coverage for America’s largest-circulation newspaper. During her nearly 19 years at the newspaper, she oversaw the expansion of USA Today’s international bureaus and coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. From 1984 to 1988, she was a Moscow-based reporter. She started her journalism career as a business reporter and editor in Chicago and New York. etinsley@icfj.org

Lanaea Featherstone, Deputy Director: Assists in the general implementation of the program with special emphasis on partner development and promotion of the program with international visitors. Previously studied at Colegio de España in Salamanca, Spain, to complete her minor in Spanish. Recipient of the 2001 RTNDA Carole Simpson Scholarship and is currently a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. M.A., Spanish and Latin American Studies, The American University, Washington, D.C. B.A., Broadcast Journalism, Louisiana State University. lfeatherstone@icfj.org

Emily Schult, Program Officer/Web Editor: Responsible for assisting in the implementation of ICFJ's largest fellowship program, as well as maintaining its Web site. She received her M.A. and B.A. in Mass Communication from the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University.  Before coming to ICFJ she served as a teaching assistant at LSU and an operations team member for the Junior National Young Leaders Conference.  She previously interned at Shaw Center for the Arts, an arts complex in Baton Rouge, La., and the Louisiana Book Festival. eschult@icfj.org

Advisory Committees: The Knight International Journalism Fellowships has named prestigious journalists and experts in journalism training and media management to serve on six advisory boards: one “at-large” committee that looks at broad global trends, and regional committees that provide insight into developments in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East/North Africa, Eurasia and Asia/Pacific. Board members help decide which countries provide the best opportunities for change, identify projects that have the greatest potential for impact and recruit outstanding Fellows.