Staff Bios
Sara Barz, Editorial Intern
206.876.2020 ext. 228
Before joining Grist, Sara Barz wrote for a medley of New England publications, produced radio segments for WBAI in New York, and co-wrote and edited a satirical television news show in college. Upon graduation, Barz co-managed a reelection campaign for a New York State Assemblywoman and then stayed on staff as a press secretary and legislative assistant where she worked on environmental legislation. A Western Mass. native, Barz came to Grist via a 737, which she realizes is not a particularly eco-friendly way to travel, but is a lot more direct than her cross-country trip of the previous summer.
Barz is a 2006 graduate of Smith College and a proud member of Red Sox nation.
Ashley Braun, Marketing Assistant
206.876.2020 ext. 211
After spending many moons obsessing over Grist, Ashley has finally succeeded in weaseling her way onto its staff through the Mennonite Voluntary Service program. Raised in Ohio and schooled in Indiana, she was more than ready to make the West Coast conversion following graduation from the University of Notre Dame. Now happily settling in Seattle, she still obsessively reads Grist, but this time it's her job (sort of).
While she remains a devoted environmental-science-major-for-life, her previous studies in Spanish came in handy during her five-month stint asprofessional European traveler a dedicated scholar in Toledo, Spain. When Ashley isn't traveling the world or working hard at marketing to keep Grist writers from literally having to eat their words, she enjoys a few non-Grist obsessions. These include running, looking up flora and fauna in Peterson Field Guides, accessorizing (all items being fair trade/eco-friendly or in the shape of neoprene chest waders), and explaining to her long-distance, engineer boyfriend "how to use his words."
Sarah K. Burkhalter, News Producer
206.876.2020 ext. 218
In fifth grade, Sarah was eliminated from the regional spelling bee on the word façade and determined never again to be bested by the French ... er, by words. After graduating with a B.A. in English from Seattle Pacific University, she proceeded to put her major to good use by implementing a sports program in an elementary school and working as a youth minister. Sarah was then excited to join Grist, an organization that would allow -- nay, encourage! -- her to write with wit about everything under the increasingly hazy sun. When not in her office seeking out ways to use Post-its, Sarah can generally be found running (either around a track or for the bus), telling bad jokes, eating cheesecake, or trying to convince her computer-geek husband that words are better than numbers.
Dean Ericksen, Director of Information Technology
206.876.2020 ext. 217
After 18 years, it no longer can be considered an accident that Dean is involved in technology. What started out as a ridiculous experiment at Microsoft in 1989 has evolved into something of a steady gig. From '95 - '05, Dean served as the technical director of ONE/Northwest, a nonprofit technology think tank, and before that he helped start a web development company. In the present tense, Dean is helping Grist remove any technical barriers to becoming the greatest online magazine ever. It's the best job in the world. When he's not squinting sideways at an LCD monitor, he can be found cooking, reading, playing soccer (slowly), playing guitar (clumsily), or playing with his kids (vigorously).
Chip Giller, President and Founder
206.876.2020 ext. 205
Chip founded Grist in 1999 to lighten up a movement known for taking itself too seriously. He was named a TIME Magazine "Hero of the Environment" in 2007, and was awarded the 2006 National Conservation Achievement Award by the National Wildlife Federation. Chip has been featured for his work in such outlets as Vanity Fair, Newsweek, and Outside, and has appeared on broadcast programs including the Today show and PBS's NOW. In 2004, he received the Jane Bagley Lehman Award for Excellence in Public Advocacy from the Tides Foundation, in recognition of the vital role Grist is playing in increasing environmental awareness.
Before launching Grist, Chip was editor of Greenwire, the first environmental news daily. He is a senior fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program and a three-time journalism fellow with the Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources.
A native of Massachusetts, Chip graduated from Brown University with an honors degree in environmental studies. (Yes, he is an obsessive Red Sox fan.) When Chip's not pondering the future of online environmental journalism, he likes to spend his time with his wonderful wife Jenny and their 2-year-old daughter Ellis at their home on Vashon Island, near Seattle.
Wentina Hurtado, Director of Finance
206.876.2020 ext. 240
Wentina is on a train that left Seattle at 3 p.m., traveling 50 miles per hour, heading toward San Francisco, 800 miles away. Your train leaves S.F. at 9:12 p.m., heading toward Seattle at 90 mph. A fly is hovering just above the nose of Wentina's train. It buzzes from her train to your train, turns around immediately, flies back to the first train, and turns around again. It goes on flying back and forth between the two trains until they meet. If the fly's speed is 187 mph, how far will it travel? And at what time will our trains meet? To find out more about Wentina, meet her at the Amtrak Station, Saturday at noon. Wear a blue rose in your lapel and walk with a slight limp.
Lisa Hymas, Senior Editor
206.876.2020 ext. 207
Lisa cofounded Grist in 1999 and now serves as senior editor. She's also worked at Greenwire, an online environmental news service; Island Press, an environmental book publisher; Tomorrow, a sustainable business magazine; and ONE/Northwest, a nonprofit capacity builder for environmental groups in the Pacific Northwest. When not obsessing over news and politics, she's likely to be found running, hiking, reading edifying books or trashy magazines, whipping up vegetarian delights in the kitchen, or planning her next international escapade.
Tod(d) Hymas Samkara, Assistant Editor
206.876.2020 ext. 213
Tod(d) is one of Grist's editors and host of its podcast. Tod(d) graduated from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., where he changed his major 18 times, lived in a giant canvas tipi, and bicycled to school in the snow uphill both ways. An alumnus of Z Media Institute, he heads up Grist's Boulder, Colo., bureau. In his free time, he reads engaging books, hikes prodigiously, and dabbles in various other high-altitude adventures.
Linda Ingersoll, Director of Business Development
206.876.2020 ext. 224
For Linda, what started as a college summer job at camp Hug-A-Tree blossomed into a full-fledged environmental career. For more than a decade, Linda combined her irrational environmental exuberance with a penchant for corporate fundraising while overseeing National Wildlife Federation's cause marketing program. After a brief stint in a branding agency, Linda has come home to Grist to build partnerships that draw in the next generation of people who care about Mama Earth while generating revenue to keep the lights on and the computers humming.
Having never quite let go of her camp days, you may spot Linda in her native Washington D.C., mountain biking, kayaking, camping, and generally exploring the wilder climes outside the beltway with her two kids and devoted mutt Rosie in tow.
Amanda Griscom Little, Contributing Writer
Amanda began her career as a founding editor of Feed, the first online magazine, which was launched in 1996. She also created and wrote a column for The Village Voice called "Urban Upgrade," which examined the technological improvements in New York City's institutions and infrastructure. Following this, she became the technology editor for I.D. (Industrial Design) Magazine. Amanda has reported on the environment for such publications as The New York Times, The Nation, The Washington Post, Wired Magazine, and Rolling Stone. She earned her bachelor's degree in literature from Brown University.
Corey McKrill, Production Project Coordinator
206.876.2020 ext. 209
A Sourdough, born and raised in Juneau, Alaska, Corey attended Whitman College and decided he wanted to be "crunchier." He declared a combined major of geology and environmental studies, lived in the Environmental Interest House (the "Outhouse"), and was one of the original participants in the Whitman College Semester in the West program. After graduating in 2004, Corey spent a yeardrifting aimlessly seeking personal growth opportunities. Following a month studying environmental and geologic topics in Bulgaria and Italy, he spent two weeks in Seattle at bartending college, where his favorite drink to mix was the mojito. He then returned to Alaska for a brief stint at an environmental consulting firm, spending a great deal of time scrubbing diesel crud off of oil booms, collecting cans of old paint-thinner for disposal, and sniffing dirt in search of wafting hydrocarbons. Soon after the 2004 election, Corey escaped to South America to immerse himself in the particularly esoteric Chilean version of Spanish.
At some point during this hiatus, Corey realized that he didn't want to have to choose between making a living and making a difference. Soon after arriving home from his antipodean travels, he returned to Seattle and began his illustrious career in the Grist production department. When he's not chewing on the Daily Grist or deleting spam out of the Grist inbox, Corey is often playing with his digital camera, hucking a frisbee, dreaming about his next traveling adventure, or trying to find people with whom to practice his rapidly diminishing command of the Spanish language.
Tom Philpott, Food Editor
When Tom isn't obsessing about food and agriculture while hunting and pecking at his laptop's keyboard, you can usually find him in the kitchen or in the field at Maverick Farms in Valle Crucis, N.C. Before moving to the farm in 2004, he held a day job as a finance writer and editor in New York City, and generally split his off time between his community-garden plot in Brooklyn and his apartment kitchen. In past lives, he has worked as a grill cook in an old-school Texas steakhouse, a finance reporter in Mexico City, and a community-college instructor/restaurant critic in Austin, Texas. He counts among the few English speakers to have written a complete guidebook to the young nation of Slovakia.
Holly Richmond, Editorial Intern
Holly's time at Grist has been dilettantish, with a year as its marketing assistant before joining the editorial department. Making good on the unspoken requisite non-use of her undergraduate degree (psychology), she is ecstatic at the chance to add commas into the crannies of cyberspace and correct errant uses of "less" to "fewer." Close to her heart are used bookstores, the city of Portland, and looking for shiny threads of feminism (or lack thereof) in pop culture.
David Roberts, Staff Writer
206.876.2020 ext. 220
David was born and raised in the South. A revelatory summer working in Yellowstone National Park convinced him that it was not the world but just the part where he lived that sucked, so he moved out West. After several wayward years spent snowboarding and getting an MA in philosophy (go griz), he woke up with nothing but a dissertation between him and an arid, cloistered life spent debating minutiae with the world's other 12 Dewey scholars. So he bailed. A period was spent trudging through the swamp of Seattle tech work, wading past Amazon.com, IMDb.com, and Microsoft, before the fine folks at Grist fell for his devastating good looks in December 2003.
He now spends his free time playing in his new house with his newish sons and his not-so-new but still-wonderful wife. He loves them, loves Seattle, loves Grist, and still, despite himself, loves the internet.
Lori Schmall, Chief Operating Officer
206.876.2020 ext. 202
Lori has 20 years of management experience in the high-tech, financial-services, and health sectors. She has extensive experience in successfully managing complex projects and organizational initiatives, leading organizations and teams through change and development, and managing ongoing operations, human resources, and financial duties. Lori has a master's degree in business administration in management from the University of Oregon and a bachelor's degree in business and psychology from Hofstra University in New York.
Kate Sheppard, Political Reporter
Kate was born and raised on a vegetable farm in southern New Jersey (yes, they do exist) and started out as an editorial intern at the Grist mothership in Seattle. After a move to Our Nation's Capital and a stint at The American Prospect, she rejoined Grist to serve as the D.C.-based political reporter. She has also covered politics, the environment, labor, and racial and socioeconomic justice for In These Times, The Guardian, Alternet, Bitch, WireTap, and MSN. Kate graduated from Ithaca College in 2006 with degrees in journalism and politics, where she also served as the editor of the college's award-winning indie rag, Buzzsaw Haircut. When she's not braving the wilds of the Hill, Kate enjoys inhaling the exhaust of oil industry lobbyists' SUVs while biking down K Street, traveling, and experimenting in the kitchen. She misses trees and having a congressional representative with voting power, but thinks D.C. is pretty great anyway.
Brendon Smyth, Marketing Manager
206.876.2020 ext. 214
Ignoring the advice of his mentors and family, Brendon has made his career in the entertainment industry. After graduating from the University of Washington, he toiled in event marketing for Seattle radio station KMTT (103.7 FM, "The Mountain"), made a name for himself in radio promotion for McKeon Music Marketing, did a stint in business development for Atom Films, and cofounded Freeform Entertainment, a production company that syndicates Fusion, a modern global music radio show that is broadcast to 18 cities in nine countries. Brendon has helped break talent, including Ben Harper, The Verve, Tool, and many others; licensed short films to television, websites, and airlines; and worked with clients such as HBO and the Sundance Channel. He moved to Seattle in 1985 where his lifestyle quickly came to revolve around the outdoor playground that is known as the Pacific Northwest. His never-ending pursuit of the epic outdoor experience has tinted his blood green, and ultimately steered him into the outstretched arms of Grist.
Trina Stout, Development Assistant
206.876.2020 ext. 221
Trina hails from Ashland, Ore., where her former-Peace-Corps-volunteer parents raised her along with three brothers. She spent her childhood camping, rafting, hiking, and helping her father tend his organic garden (read: eating all the strawberries). After four years in Southern California earning a B.A. in economics from Pomona College, she knew she had to get back to the Pacific Northwest. So she settled in Seattle, where she somehow landed a gig at Grist, charming contributions from Grist enthusiasts. In her free time, she rides her bike, plays Ultimate Frisbee, frequents farmers markets, cooks, watches bad TV, fantasizes about traveling, and volunteers at NARAL Pro-Choice Washington.
Tom Twigg, Web Production Designer
206.876.2020 ext. 208
Tom's modesty is surpassed only by his procrastination of writing this bio.
Sarah van Schagen, Assistant Editor
206.876.2020 ext. 212
Before joining the Grist editorial team, Sarah managed her college newspaper, wrote for several daily newspapers, and spent a summer at National Geographic. Sarah has a B.A. in English and a B.S. in marine biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. When she's not knee-deep in the world of fact-checking and comma-wrangling, Sarah is immersed in the beautiful marine environment of the Pacific Northwest, donning SCUBA gear in the 50-degree waters or teaching kids about conservation at the Seattle Aquarium.
Jon Volkman, Web Producer
206.876.2020 ext. 204
Jon's life before heading to the Emerald City ranged from America's Dairyland to the Old Dominion, with a little Land of Lincoln for good measure. It also involved asking if you wanted fries with that, doing visual merchandising, perfecting the foam on soy mochas, and breaking video games.
Landing in Tacoma was a start to Jon's Seattle experience. Finding a job in Redmond introduced him to the wonders of commuting. Thankfully, common sense prevailed and Tacoma was left for life on the Plateau. After becoming lost in the rat race at a large Eastside corporation, Jon gnawed through the cubicle wall and escaped to Grist-colored pastures.
Jon enjoys reading a wide range of books, exploring Seattle and the surrounding area, finding new vegetarian delicacies, and hanging out with friends. Currently settled with two cats and a wonderful significant domestic life partner, all is right in his world.
Russ Walker, Executive Editor
206.876.2020 ext. 242
Russ Walker joined Grist as executive director in July 2008. Prior to Grist, he was assistant managing editor for nation and world at washingtonpost.com, where he managed a ten-person staff of editors, news producers, and reporters focused on building unique online components to complement the daily journalism of The Washington Post.
Walker joined washingtonpost.com in Jan. 2001 as senior producer of washtech.com, a site providing original coverage and serving as a portal for news produced by a variety of Washington Post Co. publications covering the Washington region's dynamic technology community. Washtech.com was relaunched in 2002 as TechNews.com, a website focusing on both the national and local technology scene. Walker was appointed business editor in 2003 and took on an assistant managing editor role in Sept. 2005, supervising the site's politics, nation, world, business, and technology sections.
Prior to joining washingtonpost.com, Walker was online director of FreedomChannel.com, a political video website that covered the 2000 elections, and he was an editor of health care policy and international affairs publications at the National Journal Group. Before entering the world of journalism, he worked as a congressional aide on Capitol Hill and as a public affairs staff person for a nonprofit health care policy association.
Walker is a 1990 graduate of Vanderbilt University and a native of Columbia, Kentucky.
Rebecca Warren, Contributing Writer
Rebecca Warren began writing for Grist in 2002, and her work has appeared regularly on the site since then. She is fluent in all manner of green issues, from the complexities of climate change to the perplexities of plastic choices, and has counseled many a reader through the eco-crises that arise on any given day.
Becka has lived in Seattle for years, working on food and farming issues in urban gardens, university kitchens, Extension experimental farms, and conference rooms. But the homeland of Vermont called, so now she is on a sojourn in the Green Mountains with her family, testing out the question, "Does the West spoil you for anyplace else?" When not doggedly researching her fingers to the bone for Grist, she works as a communications editor at a local nonprofit, bakes bread with her toddler, hangs soap in the garden to ward off deer, yogas, volunteers at a local farm, and muses about food security.
Sonja Waters, Office Manager
206.876.2020 ext. 215
Sonja joined Grist after a lengthy entrepreneurial stint in commercial contracting. While creating a fun workplace for lots of different types of folks, she managed to finish her degree at Evergreen State College and raise two politically active daughters (teenagers who stayed up all through election night 2004 creating their own version of the blue-and-red USA). Considering this her greatest accomplishment to date, Sonja also revels in sailing, remodeling projects, and singing. A first soprano since birth, she proudly belts it out with the Seattle Women's Chorus. She hits notes only heard by her brood of pups (three with one more on the way) and an overly competitive canary. Her second-alto partner shares benches and sunsets, and tolerates the mystery novels.
Hanna Welch, Executive Assistant
206.876.2020 ext. 226
Hanna grew up smack-dab in the center of Seattle and was lucky enough to spend her formative years stomping around the city while also spending summers at her family's cabin on a small island in the San Juans. To date, she still thinks it's the most beautiful place in the world. Like any respectable daughter of hippie parents, Hanna learned how to use native plants to dye wool for weaving and dreamed of being a naturalist. Instead she ran away to study law in Washington, D.C., and eventually followed her bleeding heart to New Orleans to help create an interactive science workshop for low-income kids. Unable to stay away from her hometown, she moved back to the Emerald City and dabbled in corporate life, then found her rightful place in the land of nonprofits. Lured by Grist's mission to green the world one pun at a time, she now does her best to help it keep on growing -- and keep Chip on time.
If you're lucky, you'll run into Hanna while she's sailing around Lake Washington, volunteering for SIFF, supporting local hip-hop, cooking lavish meals with friends, or eating out at restaurants she probably can't afford, all with camera in hand. Question is, do you feel lucky? Well ... do ya?
Jerome Woody, Web Developer
206.876.2020 ext. 223
Jerome is usually working behind the scenes, adding new functionality to Grist's website or retooling current ones. He hails from Syracuse, N.Y., where he grew up and went to college (Orangemen, baby). He moved to Seattle to pursue a masters degree and kinda just stuck around. He's worked for many places with the words "Seattle" or "Washington" in the title (The Seattle Weekly, Seattle University, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, University of Washington, etc.), but is trying to break that habit by working at Grist, a combination of letters totally unrelated to his old places of employ. He did a stint of journaling in his youth, and is now more akin to serving journalists as their code jockey. But he is trying to blog more these days.
Katharine Wroth, Senior Editor
206.876.2020 ext. 216
Before coming to Grist, Katharine spent eight years at environmental publications in the Northeast, sneaking humor into their pages whenever possible. Katharine grew up in Maine, where she thrived on long and aimless rambles through the woods. When she decided her love of punctuation matched her love of perambulation, an editing career was born. In her spare time, Katharine defends the merits of bowling to anyone who will listen. Which isn't really anyone at all.
206.876.2020 ext. 228
Before joining Grist, Sara Barz wrote for a medley of New England publications, produced radio segments for WBAI in New York, and co-wrote and edited a satirical television news show in college. Upon graduation, Barz co-managed a reelection campaign for a New York State Assemblywoman and then stayed on staff as a press secretary and legislative assistant where she worked on environmental legislation. A Western Mass. native, Barz came to Grist via a 737, which she realizes is not a particularly eco-friendly way to travel, but is a lot more direct than her cross-country trip of the previous summer.
Barz is a 2006 graduate of Smith College and a proud member of Red Sox nation.
Ashley Braun, Marketing Assistant
206.876.2020 ext. 211
After spending many moons obsessing over Grist, Ashley has finally succeeded in weaseling her way onto its staff through the Mennonite Voluntary Service program. Raised in Ohio and schooled in Indiana, she was more than ready to make the West Coast conversion following graduation from the University of Notre Dame. Now happily settling in Seattle, she still obsessively reads Grist, but this time it's her job (sort of).
While she remains a devoted environmental-science-major-for-life, her previous studies in Spanish came in handy during her five-month stint as
Sarah K. Burkhalter, News Producer
206.876.2020 ext. 218
In fifth grade, Sarah was eliminated from the regional spelling bee on the word façade and determined never again to be bested by the French ... er, by words. After graduating with a B.A. in English from Seattle Pacific University, she proceeded to put her major to good use by implementing a sports program in an elementary school and working as a youth minister. Sarah was then excited to join Grist, an organization that would allow -- nay, encourage! -- her to write with wit about everything under the increasingly hazy sun. When not in her office seeking out ways to use Post-its, Sarah can generally be found running (either around a track or for the bus), telling bad jokes, eating cheesecake, or trying to convince her computer-geek husband that words are better than numbers.
Dean Ericksen, Director of Information Technology
206.876.2020 ext. 217
After 18 years, it no longer can be considered an accident that Dean is involved in technology. What started out as a ridiculous experiment at Microsoft in 1989 has evolved into something of a steady gig. From '95 - '05, Dean served as the technical director of ONE/Northwest, a nonprofit technology think tank, and before that he helped start a web development company. In the present tense, Dean is helping Grist remove any technical barriers to becoming the greatest online magazine ever. It's the best job in the world. When he's not squinting sideways at an LCD monitor, he can be found cooking, reading, playing soccer (slowly), playing guitar (clumsily), or playing with his kids (vigorously).
Chip Giller, President and Founder
206.876.2020 ext. 205
Chip founded Grist in 1999 to lighten up a movement known for taking itself too seriously. He was named a TIME Magazine "Hero of the Environment" in 2007, and was awarded the 2006 National Conservation Achievement Award by the National Wildlife Federation. Chip has been featured for his work in such outlets as Vanity Fair, Newsweek, and Outside, and has appeared on broadcast programs including the Today show and PBS's NOW. In 2004, he received the Jane Bagley Lehman Award for Excellence in Public Advocacy from the Tides Foundation, in recognition of the vital role Grist is playing in increasing environmental awareness.
Before launching Grist, Chip was editor of Greenwire, the first environmental news daily. He is a senior fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program and a three-time journalism fellow with the Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources.
A native of Massachusetts, Chip graduated from Brown University with an honors degree in environmental studies. (Yes, he is an obsessive Red Sox fan.) When Chip's not pondering the future of online environmental journalism, he likes to spend his time with his wonderful wife Jenny and their 2-year-old daughter Ellis at their home on Vashon Island, near Seattle.
Wentina Hurtado, Director of Finance
206.876.2020 ext. 240
Wentina is on a train that left Seattle at 3 p.m., traveling 50 miles per hour, heading toward San Francisco, 800 miles away. Your train leaves S.F. at 9:12 p.m., heading toward Seattle at 90 mph. A fly is hovering just above the nose of Wentina's train. It buzzes from her train to your train, turns around immediately, flies back to the first train, and turns around again. It goes on flying back and forth between the two trains until they meet. If the fly's speed is 187 mph, how far will it travel? And at what time will our trains meet? To find out more about Wentina, meet her at the Amtrak Station, Saturday at noon. Wear a blue rose in your lapel and walk with a slight limp.
Lisa Hymas, Senior Editor
206.876.2020 ext. 207
Lisa cofounded Grist in 1999 and now serves as senior editor. She's also worked at Greenwire, an online environmental news service; Island Press, an environmental book publisher; Tomorrow, a sustainable business magazine; and ONE/Northwest, a nonprofit capacity builder for environmental groups in the Pacific Northwest. When not obsessing over news and politics, she's likely to be found running, hiking, reading edifying books or trashy magazines, whipping up vegetarian delights in the kitchen, or planning her next international escapade.
Tod(d) Hymas Samkara, Assistant Editor
206.876.2020 ext. 213
Tod(d) is one of Grist's editors and host of its podcast. Tod(d) graduated from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., where he changed his major 18 times, lived in a giant canvas tipi, and bicycled to school in the snow uphill both ways. An alumnus of Z Media Institute, he heads up Grist's Boulder, Colo., bureau. In his free time, he reads engaging books, hikes prodigiously, and dabbles in various other high-altitude adventures.
Linda Ingersoll, Director of Business Development
206.876.2020 ext. 224
For Linda, what started as a college summer job at camp Hug-A-Tree blossomed into a full-fledged environmental career. For more than a decade, Linda combined her irrational environmental exuberance with a penchant for corporate fundraising while overseeing National Wildlife Federation's cause marketing program. After a brief stint in a branding agency, Linda has come home to Grist to build partnerships that draw in the next generation of people who care about Mama Earth while generating revenue to keep the lights on and the computers humming.
Having never quite let go of her camp days, you may spot Linda in her native Washington D.C., mountain biking, kayaking, camping, and generally exploring the wilder climes outside the beltway with her two kids and devoted mutt Rosie in tow.
Amanda Griscom Little, Contributing Writer
Amanda began her career as a founding editor of Feed, the first online magazine, which was launched in 1996. She also created and wrote a column for The Village Voice called "Urban Upgrade," which examined the technological improvements in New York City's institutions and infrastructure. Following this, she became the technology editor for I.D. (Industrial Design) Magazine. Amanda has reported on the environment for such publications as The New York Times, The Nation, The Washington Post, Wired Magazine, and Rolling Stone. She earned her bachelor's degree in literature from Brown University.
Corey McKrill, Production Project Coordinator
206.876.2020 ext. 209
A Sourdough, born and raised in Juneau, Alaska, Corey attended Whitman College and decided he wanted to be "crunchier." He declared a combined major of geology and environmental studies, lived in the Environmental Interest House (the "Outhouse"), and was one of the original participants in the Whitman College Semester in the West program. After graduating in 2004, Corey spent a year
At some point during this hiatus, Corey realized that he didn't want to have to choose between making a living and making a difference. Soon after arriving home from his antipodean travels, he returned to Seattle and began his illustrious career in the Grist production department. When he's not chewing on the Daily Grist or deleting spam out of the Grist inbox, Corey is often playing with his digital camera, hucking a frisbee, dreaming about his next traveling adventure, or trying to find people with whom to practice his rapidly diminishing command of the Spanish language.
Tom Philpott, Food Editor
When Tom isn't obsessing about food and agriculture while hunting and pecking at his laptop's keyboard, you can usually find him in the kitchen or in the field at Maverick Farms in Valle Crucis, N.C. Before moving to the farm in 2004, he held a day job as a finance writer and editor in New York City, and generally split his off time between his community-garden plot in Brooklyn and his apartment kitchen. In past lives, he has worked as a grill cook in an old-school Texas steakhouse, a finance reporter in Mexico City, and a community-college instructor/restaurant critic in Austin, Texas. He counts among the few English speakers to have written a complete guidebook to the young nation of Slovakia.
Holly Richmond, Editorial Intern
Holly's time at Grist has been dilettantish, with a year as its marketing assistant before joining the editorial department. Making good on the unspoken requisite non-use of her undergraduate degree (psychology), she is ecstatic at the chance to add commas into the crannies of cyberspace and correct errant uses of "less" to "fewer." Close to her heart are used bookstores, the city of Portland, and looking for shiny threads of feminism (or lack thereof) in pop culture.
David Roberts, Staff Writer
206.876.2020 ext. 220
David was born and raised in the South. A revelatory summer working in Yellowstone National Park convinced him that it was not the world but just the part where he lived that sucked, so he moved out West. After several wayward years spent snowboarding and getting an MA in philosophy (go griz), he woke up with nothing but a dissertation between him and an arid, cloistered life spent debating minutiae with the world's other 12 Dewey scholars. So he bailed. A period was spent trudging through the swamp of Seattle tech work, wading past Amazon.com, IMDb.com, and Microsoft, before the fine folks at Grist fell for his devastating good looks in December 2003.
He now spends his free time playing in his new house with his newish sons and his not-so-new but still-wonderful wife. He loves them, loves Seattle, loves Grist, and still, despite himself, loves the internet.
Lori Schmall, Chief Operating Officer
206.876.2020 ext. 202
Lori has 20 years of management experience in the high-tech, financial-services, and health sectors. She has extensive experience in successfully managing complex projects and organizational initiatives, leading organizations and teams through change and development, and managing ongoing operations, human resources, and financial duties. Lori has a master's degree in business administration in management from the University of Oregon and a bachelor's degree in business and psychology from Hofstra University in New York.
Kate Sheppard, Political Reporter
Kate was born and raised on a vegetable farm in southern New Jersey (yes, they do exist) and started out as an editorial intern at the Grist mothership in Seattle. After a move to Our Nation's Capital and a stint at The American Prospect, she rejoined Grist to serve as the D.C.-based political reporter. She has also covered politics, the environment, labor, and racial and socioeconomic justice for In These Times, The Guardian, Alternet, Bitch, WireTap, and MSN. Kate graduated from Ithaca College in 2006 with degrees in journalism and politics, where she also served as the editor of the college's award-winning indie rag, Buzzsaw Haircut. When she's not braving the wilds of the Hill, Kate enjoys inhaling the exhaust of oil industry lobbyists' SUVs while biking down K Street, traveling, and experimenting in the kitchen. She misses trees and having a congressional representative with voting power, but thinks D.C. is pretty great anyway.
Brendon Smyth, Marketing Manager
206.876.2020 ext. 214
Ignoring the advice of his mentors and family, Brendon has made his career in the entertainment industry. After graduating from the University of Washington, he toiled in event marketing for Seattle radio station KMTT (103.7 FM, "The Mountain"), made a name for himself in radio promotion for McKeon Music Marketing, did a stint in business development for Atom Films, and cofounded Freeform Entertainment, a production company that syndicates Fusion, a modern global music radio show that is broadcast to 18 cities in nine countries. Brendon has helped break talent, including Ben Harper, The Verve, Tool, and many others; licensed short films to television, websites, and airlines; and worked with clients such as HBO and the Sundance Channel. He moved to Seattle in 1985 where his lifestyle quickly came to revolve around the outdoor playground that is known as the Pacific Northwest. His never-ending pursuit of the epic outdoor experience has tinted his blood green, and ultimately steered him into the outstretched arms of Grist.
Trina Stout, Development Assistant
206.876.2020 ext. 221
Trina hails from Ashland, Ore., where her former-Peace-Corps-volunteer parents raised her along with three brothers. She spent her childhood camping, rafting, hiking, and helping her father tend his organic garden (read: eating all the strawberries). After four years in Southern California earning a B.A. in economics from Pomona College, she knew she had to get back to the Pacific Northwest. So she settled in Seattle, where she somehow landed a gig at Grist, charming contributions from Grist enthusiasts. In her free time, she rides her bike, plays Ultimate Frisbee, frequents farmers markets, cooks, watches bad TV, fantasizes about traveling, and volunteers at NARAL Pro-Choice Washington.
Tom Twigg, Web Production Designer
206.876.2020 ext. 208
Tom's modesty is surpassed only by his procrastination of writing this bio.
Sarah van Schagen, Assistant Editor
206.876.2020 ext. 212
Before joining the Grist editorial team, Sarah managed her college newspaper, wrote for several daily newspapers, and spent a summer at National Geographic. Sarah has a B.A. in English and a B.S. in marine biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. When she's not knee-deep in the world of fact-checking and comma-wrangling, Sarah is immersed in the beautiful marine environment of the Pacific Northwest, donning SCUBA gear in the 50-degree waters or teaching kids about conservation at the Seattle Aquarium.
Jon Volkman, Web Producer
206.876.2020 ext. 204
Jon's life before heading to the Emerald City ranged from America's Dairyland to the Old Dominion, with a little Land of Lincoln for good measure. It also involved asking if you wanted fries with that, doing visual merchandising, perfecting the foam on soy mochas, and breaking video games.
Landing in Tacoma was a start to Jon's Seattle experience. Finding a job in Redmond introduced him to the wonders of commuting. Thankfully, common sense prevailed and Tacoma was left for life on the Plateau. After becoming lost in the rat race at a large Eastside corporation, Jon gnawed through the cubicle wall and escaped to Grist-colored pastures.
Jon enjoys reading a wide range of books, exploring Seattle and the surrounding area, finding new vegetarian delicacies, and hanging out with friends. Currently settled with two cats and a wonderful significant domestic life partner, all is right in his world.
Russ Walker, Executive Editor
206.876.2020 ext. 242
Russ Walker joined Grist as executive director in July 2008. Prior to Grist, he was assistant managing editor for nation and world at washingtonpost.com, where he managed a ten-person staff of editors, news producers, and reporters focused on building unique online components to complement the daily journalism of The Washington Post.
Walker joined washingtonpost.com in Jan. 2001 as senior producer of washtech.com, a site providing original coverage and serving as a portal for news produced by a variety of Washington Post Co. publications covering the Washington region's dynamic technology community. Washtech.com was relaunched in 2002 as TechNews.com, a website focusing on both the national and local technology scene. Walker was appointed business editor in 2003 and took on an assistant managing editor role in Sept. 2005, supervising the site's politics, nation, world, business, and technology sections.
Prior to joining washingtonpost.com, Walker was online director of FreedomChannel.com, a political video website that covered the 2000 elections, and he was an editor of health care policy and international affairs publications at the National Journal Group. Before entering the world of journalism, he worked as a congressional aide on Capitol Hill and as a public affairs staff person for a nonprofit health care policy association.
Walker is a 1990 graduate of Vanderbilt University and a native of Columbia, Kentucky.
Rebecca Warren, Contributing Writer
Rebecca Warren began writing for Grist in 2002, and her work has appeared regularly on the site since then. She is fluent in all manner of green issues, from the complexities of climate change to the perplexities of plastic choices, and has counseled many a reader through the eco-crises that arise on any given day.
Becka has lived in Seattle for years, working on food and farming issues in urban gardens, university kitchens, Extension experimental farms, and conference rooms. But the homeland of Vermont called, so now she is on a sojourn in the Green Mountains with her family, testing out the question, "Does the West spoil you for anyplace else?" When not doggedly researching her fingers to the bone for Grist, she works as a communications editor at a local nonprofit, bakes bread with her toddler, hangs soap in the garden to ward off deer, yogas, volunteers at a local farm, and muses about food security.
Sonja Waters, Office Manager
206.876.2020 ext. 215
Sonja joined Grist after a lengthy entrepreneurial stint in commercial contracting. While creating a fun workplace for lots of different types of folks, she managed to finish her degree at Evergreen State College and raise two politically active daughters (teenagers who stayed up all through election night 2004 creating their own version of the blue-and-red USA). Considering this her greatest accomplishment to date, Sonja also revels in sailing, remodeling projects, and singing. A first soprano since birth, she proudly belts it out with the Seattle Women's Chorus. She hits notes only heard by her brood of pups (three with one more on the way) and an overly competitive canary. Her second-alto partner shares benches and sunsets, and tolerates the mystery novels.
Hanna Welch, Executive Assistant
206.876.2020 ext. 226
Hanna grew up smack-dab in the center of Seattle and was lucky enough to spend her formative years stomping around the city while also spending summers at her family's cabin on a small island in the San Juans. To date, she still thinks it's the most beautiful place in the world. Like any respectable daughter of hippie parents, Hanna learned how to use native plants to dye wool for weaving and dreamed of being a naturalist. Instead she ran away to study law in Washington, D.C., and eventually followed her bleeding heart to New Orleans to help create an interactive science workshop for low-income kids. Unable to stay away from her hometown, she moved back to the Emerald City and dabbled in corporate life, then found her rightful place in the land of nonprofits. Lured by Grist's mission to green the world one pun at a time, she now does her best to help it keep on growing -- and keep Chip on time.
If you're lucky, you'll run into Hanna while she's sailing around Lake Washington, volunteering for SIFF, supporting local hip-hop, cooking lavish meals with friends, or eating out at restaurants she probably can't afford, all with camera in hand. Question is, do you feel lucky? Well ... do ya?
Jerome Woody, Web Developer
206.876.2020 ext. 223
Jerome is usually working behind the scenes, adding new functionality to Grist's website or retooling current ones. He hails from Syracuse, N.Y., where he grew up and went to college (Orangemen, baby). He moved to Seattle to pursue a masters degree and kinda just stuck around. He's worked for many places with the words "Seattle" or "Washington" in the title (The Seattle Weekly, Seattle University, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, University of Washington, etc.), but is trying to break that habit by working at Grist, a combination of letters totally unrelated to his old places of employ. He did a stint of journaling in his youth, and is now more akin to serving journalists as their code jockey. But he is trying to blog more these days.
Katharine Wroth, Senior Editor
206.876.2020 ext. 216
Before coming to Grist, Katharine spent eight years at environmental publications in the Northeast, sneaking humor into their pages whenever possible. Katharine grew up in Maine, where she thrived on long and aimless rambles through the woods. When she decided her love of punctuation matched her love of perambulation, an editing career was born. In her spare time, Katharine defends the merits of bowling to anyone who will listen. Which isn't really anyone at all.
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