Sunshine Fest 2026

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Ahmed Alrawi

Pennsylvania State University

Ahmed Alrawi is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia and a Lecturer at the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at The Pennsylvania State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the Bellisario College, where he also completed his master’s degree in Media Studies and his bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications. In addition, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Communication Engineering from the College of Communications at Al-Mansour University in Baghdad, Iraq. Alrawi’s research focuses on two interconnected areas: (1) AI, surveillance, privacy, and the implications of information and communication technologies (ICTs), and (2) broadband platform policy and deployment. His work examines the surveillance and privacy implications of AI and ICTs on individuals’ online communication activities. He also studies rural broadband policy issues in terms of accessibility, affordability, and network availability in double-desert areas in the United States and in global contexts, including the European Union and the Middle East. He is an associate editor of the open-access peer-reviewed Journal of Civic Information, published by the University of Florida Brechner Freedom of Information Project.

Lindita Camaj

University of Florida

Lindita Camaj is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. Her work focuses on comparative analyses of Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, open government data policies, and public transparency infrastructures, exploring how these legal frameworks impact journalists’ access to information and reporting practices across diverse political contexts. Her research brings a global perspective to understanding how access to information laws and open government efforts support or hinder transparency, civic engagement, and accountable governance. She is the author or co-author on forty scholarly publications, and her scholarly work has been recognized nationally and internationally through multiple awards, fellowships and keynote speaking engagements. Before entering academia, she worked as a journalist for national and international media organizations in Southeast Europe. She also served as an advocate and member of a civil society working group that helped draft the Law on Access to Public Documents in post-war Kosovo, bringing practitioner and policy experience to her research on transparency and open government.

Ann Searight Christiano

University of Florida Center for Public Interest Communications

Ann Searight Christiano is the founder and Director of the Center for Public Interest Communications. Before coming to the University of Florida in 2010, Searight was a senior communications officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, directing efforts for programs that address social actors like housing, education and mental health that drive health and wellbeing. As a faculty member, she was named University of Florida Teacher of the Year in 2019 and Junior Faculty International Educator of the Year in 2019. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Barron’s, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Scientific American and The Conversation. Her work through the Center includes partnerships with the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, the U.S. Department of State, and several agencies who work in this domain. She has worked with several federal and state agencies, the Gates Foundation, the International Labor Organization, and nonprofits and foundations throughout the world. She is co-author with Angela Bradbery on the first-ever textbook for the emerging discipline of public interest communications, “Strategy for Changemakers.”

David Cuillier

Brechner Freedom of Information Project

David Cuillier is director of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, a nonpartisan center that has provided research and education in FOI since 1977. He joined the FOI Project in 2023 after teaching and researching access to government information at the University of Arizona for 17 years. He was a newspaper reporter and editor in the Pacific Northwest before earning his doctorate in 2006 at Washington State University. He is former president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and Society of Professional Journalists. He has testified three times before Congress regarding FOIA and is serving his third term on the FOIA Advisory Committee under the National Archives and Records Administration. He is co-author with Charles N. Davis of “The Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records” and “Transparency 2.0: Digital Data and Privacy in a Wired World.” He is founding editor of the Journal of Civic Information, has published dozens of research studies in peer-reviewed journals, and in the past 20 years has trained more than 15,000 journalists and citizens in how to acquire public records. He lives in Gainesville, Florida.

Will Fries

The Watershed Observer

Will Fries is the founding editor of The Watershed Observer, where he focuses on the intersection of local and global issues, amplifying community voices, and securing information integrity. Fries was served with a “peace order” by the city of Salisbury, Maryland, to bar him from city hall because of his records and meeting reporting (a judge dismissed the order). He has extensive experience with public records, having worked on both sides of requests as a journalist seeking access and within public agencies managing responses. His career spans government, nonprofits, and technology, with work appearing in The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Blade, grounded in transparency, accountability, and helping people make sense of the world.

Samantha Hamilton

MuckRock

Samantha C. Hamilton is Legal Counsel with the Atlanta Community Press Collective, an independent outlet that covers local news and government in Atlanta, Georgia. She counsels the newsroom on media law matters, journalist safety, and navigating interactions with police. She is also a Senior Staff Attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta, where she investigates civil rights abuses inside immigration detention centers and brings immigrants’ rights litigation in federal court.

Blanca Lilia Ibarra

Former President, National Institute for Access to Public Information (Mexico)

Blanca Lilia Ibarra is a journalist who has specialized in issues related to transparency in public administration in Mexico. She served as president of Mexico’s National Institute for Access to Public Information, which was the focus of a Margaret Kwoka study on information commissions, and shuttered by the government in 2025. She also served as president of the International Conference of Information Commissioners, made up of more than 88 members worldwide, is the most important international cooperation network on access to information. Its strategic cooperation partner has been UNESCO, working together to advance the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda. She served as president of the Integrity Network, composed of 18 institutions across four continents, focused on strengthening its members’ activities in the areas of ethics, integrity, accountability, and transparency in public service. She also served as president of the RTA, comprising 45 members from Ibero-America, is a regional cooperation network distinguished by projects developed with partners such as the European Union, the OAS, UNESCO, the World Bank, and ParlAmericas. These projects include the Model Law on Access to Information, toolkits to strengthen transparency, indicators, environmental transparency initiatives, archives, among others She served as director of the Mexican Congress’s television channel. For thirty years, she worked in the media as a reporter, producer, and also as a host of news programs and analytical shows.

Ally Jarmanning

WBUR Boston

Ally Jarmanning is a senior reporter at WBUR in Boston, where she focuses on accountability stories using data and public records. She was the host and reporter of the Murrow Award-winning podcast “Last Seen: Postmortem,” which investigated the thefts of donated human remains from the Harvard Medical School morgue. She was a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan and has taught journalism at Boston University and Boston College. 

Nate Jones

The Washington Post

Nate Jones is the FOIA director for The Washington Post, where he works with reporters to target documents to request, appeal and sue for. He obtains local, state and federal records and thinks strategically about public records in all formats. He gives FOIA training sessions and advises reporters on how to write, refine and track requests, navigate delays and overredactions, and overcome other bureaucratic resistance. He is also author of the “Revealing Records” column which describes The Post’s battles for public records and has been part of two Washington Post reporting teams which have won Pulitzer Prizes. He has served two terms on the federal FOIA Advisory Committee and holds a JD from the University of the District of Columbia. He previously was the director of the FOIA Project for the National Security Archive, where he used FOIA to write a book on the 1983 Able Archer nuclear war scare.

Kelly Kauffman

MuckRock

Kelly Kauffman is MuckRock’s engagement journalist, focusing on newsletters, community callouts and reporting that is supported by public involvement. Previously, she worked at the campaign finance organization OpenSecrets as their outreach and digital media manager, where she helped shed light on the role of money in U.S. politics.

Shelley Kimball

Johns Hopkins University

Shelley Kimball, Ph.D., is the associate communication program director at Johns Hopkins University. She is a former journalist, and she has been an advocate for government transparency for more than 20 years. Her research focus is evaluating the effectiveness of open government through qualitative, law-in-action lenses. Her research has appeared in Communication Law and Policy, Government Information Quarterly, the Journal of Media Law and Ethics, and the Newspaper Research Journal. She is a member of the federal Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee for the 2024-2026 term.

Marisa Kwiatkowski

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Marisa Kwiatkowski is a director of journalism at Knight Foundation. She previously spent 20 years as a reporter, handling investigations at USA TODAY and local outlets in Michigan, South Carolina and Indiana. Her work has spurred multiagency investigations, criminal charges, resignations and changes to policy and state and federal law.

Margaret Kwoka

Ohio State University

Margaret Kwoka holds the Frank R. Strong Chair in Law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law where her research focuses on government transparency.  Her empirical research on FOIA has appeared in the Yale Law Journal and Duke Law Journal as well as in a monograph, “Saving the Freedom of Information Act,” published by Cambridge University Press. Her more recent work on FOIA administration and enforcement has appeared in the Georgetown Law Journal and George Washington International Law Review, scholarship that was supported, in part, by a year-long Fulbright-García Robles grant during which time she conducted primary research in Mexico.  She is also a co-editor of a forthcoming volume, “Populism and Transparency,” in which she is co-authoring a chapter on the Mexican case.   She has twice testified before Congress at FOIA oversight hearings, been a consultant on government transparency administration to the Administrative Conference of the United States, and currently serves (for the second time) on the Federal FOIA Advisory Committee at the National Archives and Records Administration. Prior to joining the academy, she practiced as an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group, where she focused on FOIA litigation. 

Isabelle Leofanti

Kent State University

Isabelle Leofanti is a freshman at Kent State University majoring in business and journalism and a member of the Kent State Women’s Soccer team. She is from Naperville, Illinois, and a graduate of Metea Valley High School, where she served as the Lead Investigative Reporter and Copy Editor for The Stampede. During her time at Metea Valley, Isabelle reported at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, was a finalist for the National Scholastic Press Association Sports Story of the Year, and received the 2025 Student Freedom of Information Award given by the Student Press Law Center and Brechner FOI Project.

Frank LoMonte

CNN

Frank LoMonte is newsroom legal counsel to CNN, where he advises the network’s 3,000 worldwide journalists on the full range of legal issues that arise in gathering and distributing news. He is an adjunct instructor at the University of Georgia School of Law and previously taught at the University of Florida, where he directed the Joseph L. Brechner Center for Freedom of Information. After graduating from the University of Georgia School of Law, he clerked for federal judges on the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and the Northern District of Georgia. He is co-chair of the Free Speech and Free Press Committee of the American Bar Association and a national board member with the Society of Professional Journalists Foundation, which recently awarded him the organization’s highest honor for career achievement, the Wells Key. He is a 2024-26 member of the National Archives and Records Administration’s FOIA Advisory Committee, and has published more than 30 academic research papers on media-law topics including FOI law.

Jason Leopold

Bloomberg News

Jason Leopold is a senior investigative reporter on the Bloomberg News investigations team. He is a recipient of the 2023 Gerald Loeb award for investigative reporting, a 2022 George Polk award for health reporting and he has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. In 2016, Leopold was awarded the FOI award from IRE and was inducted into the National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame by the Freedom Forum Institute and the Newseum. Leopold’s Freedom of Information Act work has been profiled by dozens of radio, television, and print outlets, including a 2015 front-page story in the New York Times. He has testified before a congressional oversight committee about the shortcomings of FOIA and steps the government needed to take to improve the law. In 2020, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse identified Leopold as “the most active individual FOIA litigator in the United States today.” He publishes the weekly newsletter, FOIA Files, for Bloomberg News.

Adam Marshall

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Adam A. Marshall is the director of national litigation at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. His work includes litigation in federal and state courts and training journalists on government transparency. Adam is the co-author of chapters in Troubling Transparency (Columbia University Press, 2018), and COVID-19: The Legal Challenges (Carolina University Press, 2021). His other writings include Access to Public Records and the Role of the News Media in Providing Information About COVID-19 (Journal of National Security Law & Policy, 2020) and Prioritizing the Public’s Right to Know in a Pandemic (Wake Forest Journal of Law & Policy, 2021). In 2017, he was named to the Forbes “30 Under 30: Media” list for his work promoting government transparency, including the development of the FOIA Wiki. Adam is an alum of The George Washington University Law School,  Kalamazoo College, and the London School of Economics.

Kirstin McCudden

Freedom of the Press Foundation

Kirstin McCudden is the chief of editorial for Freedom of the Press Foundation, overseeing the organization’s editorial strategy and standards. She manages the editing, audience, and U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reporting teams. Kirstin holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from the University of Missouri and has more than 25 years of experience in print and digital journalism. She lives in New York City.

Elouise McDaniel

Retired elementary school teacher

Eloise McDaniel gained national media attention when she was labeled a “vexatious” requester and sued by the town of Irvington, New Jersey. She filed about 75 public records requests over a span of three years, mostly about how tax dollars were being spent. In 2022, the town sued her, but following extensive media coverage and pushback by the American Civil Liberties Union, the town dropped the claim. McDaniel, now 86, taught elementary school for 31 years and earned her master’s degree and completed her doctoral coursework before retiring to Virginia.

Denice Ross

Federation of American Scientists

Denice Ross is a Senior Fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, focused on building a more resilient national data infrastructure. Most recently, Denice served as the Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer and as the U.S. Chief Data Scientist, where she led the charge to use disaggregated data to drive better outcomes for all Americans. Denice’s 25-year career in using data to serve the public interest has spanned federal and local government, academia, and the nonprofit sector, plus domains ranging from climate to policing. She served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow for the U.S. Department of Energy and as Director of Enterprise Information for the City of New Orleans. Prior to government, Denice co-directed the non-profit data intermediary Data Center, where she collaborated with Brookings to track New Orleans’ recovery from Hurricane Katrina. She brought a data-driven approach to numerous post-Katrina community planning initiatives and co-founded the first new childcare center after the storm.

Gabe Roth

Fix the Court

Gabe Roth is executive director of Fix the Court, a 501(c)(3) organization he founded in 2014 that advocates for non-ideological fixes to make the federal courts, and primarily the U.S. Supreme Court, more open and more accountable to the American people. Before that, Gabe worked in political consulting in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., and as a TV news producer in Florida. Originally from Nashville, Gabe has an undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Haruna Mohammed Salisu

WikkiTimes

Haruna Mohammed Salisu is a Nigerian journalist and the founder of WikkiTimes, a local newsroom amplifying voices in northern Nigeria. Currently pursuing graduate studies in Journalism at Indiana University Bloomington, USA, Haruna’s research explores media law, press freedom, and the sustainability of local journalism, with a focus on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). Haruna received several threats, including death threats, and endured nine SLAPP-style lawsuits in Nigeria. Under Haruna’s leadership, WikkiTimes became the first Nigerian outlet to join Reporters Shield, a global protection mechanism designed to defend journalists from vexatious legal attacks and safeguard press freedom. In recognition of his courageous journalism, he received the Torch Bearer of Press Freedom Award from the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). His experiences inform both his academic inquiry and advocacy, bridging media law, policy, and journalism to strengthen press freedom and democratic accountability in emerging societies. 

Amy Kristin Sanders

Pennsylvania State University

Amy Kristin Sanders is the John and Ann Curley Chair in First Amendment Studies at Penn State. A licensed attorney and award-winning former journalist, Sanders’ expertise includes media freedom, access to information and government transparency, freedom of speech and the regulation of social media and emerging technologies. She regularly serves as an expert witness and consultant to Fortune 500 companies on media law and ethics issues, and she counsels international governments and law firms regarding regulatory proceedings, policy development and pending litigation. She holds a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Florida and a JD from the University of Iowa. 

Warren Seddon

United Kingdom Information Commissioner’s Office

Warren Seddon joined the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office in May 2021 where he leads on work related to the Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations. This includes oversight of the casework teams that make decisions on complaints about the handling of information requests by public bodies, as well as all related policy, enforcement and upstream regulation work. He joined the ICO from his role as Director of Strategy, Insight and Communications at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, where he had been since 2017. Before that he was at the Electoral Commission and held a number of roles in the UK Civil Service. He is also the Chair of the UK Waterways Ombudsman.

Kimberly Spencer

Colorado Media Project

Kimberly Spencer is a fundraising strategist and media sustainability leader dedicated to building strong, community-rooted journalism. With over 20 years of experience across the nonprofit and media sectors, she directs the Colorado Media Project, where she supports news organizations through collaborative initiatives, coaching, and revenue strategy. Kimberly holds a Master’s in Organizational Leadership and is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). Beyond her work at CMP, she serves as Advisory Chair of the HBCU Digital Media Collaborative and on the boards of Open Vallejo and the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation, working alongside partners to ensure access to trusted, independent news and civic information.

Sam Stecklow

Invisible Institute

Sam Stecklow is an investigative journalist and FOIA fellow with Invisible Institute, a nonprofit public accountability journalism organization based in Chicago. He works both on the organization’s investigatory projects as well as its public data tools, including the Civic Police Data Project and the National Police Index, the latter of which he is a co-lead of. His work has been recognized with the Sunshine Award from the Utah SPJ, among others. He is currently based in Orlando.

Samantha Sunne

Brechner Freedom of Information Project

Samantha Sunne is coordinator of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project’s Secrecy Tracker, which monitors legislation across the U.S. regarding access to public records and meetings. She is author of the textbook “Data + Journalism: A Story-Driven Approach to Learning Data Reporting,” now being published in its second edition. She is a freelance journalist based in New Orleans, specializing in data and investigative techniques. Sunne teaches at conferences, universities and newsrooms around the world. As a freelance reporter, she is the recipient of several national grants and awards for investigative reporting, and has worked with publications including ProPublica, the Poynter Institute and the Washington Post. As an instructor, she has designed tutorials and curricula for organizations like including Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE), the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the Nieman Foundation for at Harvard. Sunne also publishes the popular Tools for Reporters newsletter, which recommends a new tool for journalism every other week. The newsletter recently reached its 10th anniversary and was named one of the most popular newsletters in the news industry by Revue.

Chuck Tobin

Ballard Spahr

Chuck Tobin, a partner with Ballard Spahr LLP based in Washington, D.C., has spent more than 35 years defending the news media in courts around the country.  He and his colleagues litigated to unseal thousands of hours of sealed January 6 riot videos and to secure seats for journalists in the courtrooms during the J6 prosecutions in Florida and D.C.  He also represented pro bono an injured police officer who testified before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack.  More recently, Chuck has represented the Associated Press in suing the White House for ejecting its journalists from the press pool after the AP adhered to the geographic reference “Gulf of Mexico” following President Trump’s pressure to adopt the name “Gulf of America”.  A former journalist in Florida, Chuck has chaired the media law committees of the D.C. and Florida bars, the ABA’s Forum on Communications law, and the Defense Counsel Section of the Media Law Resource Center.    

Matt Topic

Loevy & Loevy

Matt Topic is a partner at Loevy + Loevy, where he leads the firm’s media, intellectual property, and government transparency practices. Matt has litigated hundreds of state and federal open records cases, including the case that exposed the murder of Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, records that helped to exonerate an innocent man, and video exposing war crimes as highlighted in the Pulitzer-winning In the Dark podcast.  Matt is also the co-host, with Jason Leopold, of the Disclosure podcast.

Richard Varn

Coalition for Sensible Public Records Access

Richard Varn is executive director of the Coalition for Sensible Public Records Access. As CEO of RJV Consulting, Varn has provided IT, policy, and association management services to a variety of customers for 39 years.  His company serves public and private sector clients in the areas of AI, venture investing, business development, privacy, security, business strategy, innovation, education, assessment, and public policy.  He has served as a CIO/CTO at the city, state, federal, and university levels.  He was a Technology Policy Advisor to the National Retail Federation for 13 years and has been the executive director of the CSPRA for the last 20 years.  From 2003-2007 he was a Senior Fellow with the Center for Digital Government and Education.  Mr. Varn has been a longtime advisor to the LearnLaunch Institute acting as a Venture Partner on two LL funds since 2018.  In 2020 he completed 19 years of work at Educational Testing Service (ETS) serving 10 years as a member of the ETS Board of Trustees and then worked 9 years as a Distinguished Presidential Appointee.  At ETS he directed the Center for Advanced Technology and Neuroscience and led efforts in AI, data, workforce, disaster management, corporate development, venture investing, innovation, and many other areas. Varn’s first career was in Iowa public service.  He won elected office in 1982 at the age of 24 and served as a State Representative for four years and as a State Senator for eight years.  He was twice elected Majority Whip and chaired numerous committees including the Education Appropriations, Communications and Information Policy, Human Services Appropriations, and Judiciary Committees.  He also served as CIO for the nation’s 7^th largest city—San Antonio, Texas—where he currently resides. 

Alex Walters

The State News, Michigan State University

Alex Walters is a senior majoring in journalism at Michigan State University, using public records extensively in his four years for the campus paper, The State News. He and his colleagues, Theo Scheer and Owen McCarthy, were honored last year with the college Student Freedom of Information Award by the Student Press Law Center and Brechner FOI Project for their records-based reporting, suing their own university for records (and winning), and creating an online tool to help their fellow students request records from the university. They filed hundreds of public records requests to explore issues ranging from campus surveillance practices, sexual assault by campus physician Larry Nassar and faculty, hate crimes and internal communications between administrators and board members. They also were honored by the Society of Professional Journalists with the annual Pulliam First Amendment Award, which comes with a $10,000 prize. They were the first college journalists to receive the award – typical winners include the Boston Globe, Associated Press, Miami Herald and other major news organizations. Walters plans on launching his career post-May graduation as an investigative reporter.