Columbia Journalism School Announces the 2027 Fellows for the Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program

Over 20 weeks, from January to May 2027, each fellow will bring a project that is central to their organization’s strategy into the program and refine it alongside peers facing the same pressures. The cohort begins with two weeks in residence at Columbia in January, meets weekly online through the spring, and returns to New York in May for commencement week.

This year’s fellows lead newsrooms, products, and teams at organizations including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, Nikkei, Tamedia, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, FUNKE Media Group, Ukrainska Pravda, La Nación, 60 Minutes Australia, Oregon Public Broadcasting, KQED, and other public media stations across the United States, along with founders building new newsrooms from scratch.

Meet the 2027 Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program cohort:

• Andrey Boborykin - Executive Director, Ukrainska Pravda

• MacGregor Campbell - Director of Content Innovation, Oregon Public Broadcasting

• Jason Chen - Editorial Director, Wirecutter

• Josua Diggelmann - Director, Insights & Data Intelligence, Tamedia

• Spencer Dukoff - Director, Off-Platform Content & Strategy, Forbes

• Nancy Farghalli - Executive Producer of Shows, Marketplace

• Gillian Flaccus - News Director, Oregon Public Broadcasting

• Bryan Flaherty - Managing Editor, Content & Off-Platform Strategy, The Washington Post

• Simon Frantz - Managing Editor, Quanta Magazine

• Kosei Fukao - Editor, Automotive News, Nikkei

• Côme Gallet - Editorial Manager, 20 Minutes (French-speaking Switzerland)

• Carsten Gross - Managing Director, Digital Publishing, FUNKE Media Group

• Jemma Hovance - Director of Technology, KUOW

• Erika Howard - Director, Impact Strategy and External Relations, FRONTLINE (PBS)

• Erika Kelly - Acting Managing Editor, News and Enterprise, KQED

• Isaac Kestenbaum - Director, Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Maine College of Art & Design

• Fabrice Le Lous - Editor-in-Chief, La Nación (Costa Rica)

• Gabe Lerner - Founder and CEO, Democracy Notes

• Jan Ludwig - Chapter Lead, OSINT, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

• Adélaïde Mangin - Director, Digital Desk, Tamedia

• Álvaro Mazariegos - Director of Audience Development and GEO, El Español

• Maya Neria - Product Director, News Product, The New York Times

• Efe Obaigbena - Operations & Commercial Director, ARISE Global Media

• Akiko Ono - Director of Marketing and Promotion, Nikkei

• Erin Perry - Editor-in-Chief, Outlier Media

• Erika Pulley-Hayes - General Manager, WAMU

• Sara Roth - Executive Editor, Digital Programming, Oregon Public Broadcasting

• Zach Seward - Editorial Director of A.I. Initiatives, The New York Times

• Kirsty Thomson - Head of Longform Current Affairs and Investigations and Executive Producer, 60 Minutes Australia, Nine

• Ingo von Gossler - Release Train Engineer and Innovation Team Lead, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

• Kaila White - Founding Editor, Reverb, MPR News

• Ariel Zirulnick - Founder, The Bell
   

“Leading journalism through this much change means learning the leadership skills to design two things at once: the strategy, which shows where the organization should go and why, and the culture, which gets it there,” said Corey Ford, Director of the Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program. “That’s why this program teaches both together. Over twenty weeks, these 32 fellows will help each other develop the strategy their organization needs to sustain impactful journalism and build a culture of innovation that can continually refine it as the world changes.”

The next Sulzberger cohort will run from January to May 2028. Sign up for the mailing list to be the first to know when applications open.