Irene McKisson (GNI Fellow)

Irene McKisson is the co-founder and co-director of Arizona Luminaria, a nonprofit news organization that connects Arizonans to information and each other to make change in their communities. Before leaving to launch a startup, she spent 18 years in local news at the Arizona Daily Star where she started as a designer and copy editor and was most recently the co-founder and editor of #ThisIsTucson — a digital vertical experimenting with audience development and digital revenue. As part of that role she was also the general manager of niche audience development for the Star. She is a past ONA speaker; a participant and speaker in Google News Initiative programs including the Google Audience Lab, GNI Innovation Challenge and GNI Startup Boot Camp with LION; and among the recipients of a 2019 Tow Center for Digital Journalism research grant. She has been an adjunct instructor at the University of Arizona for six years teaching editing.