Thanks for heading over to our team page. We’re glad you’re interested in us enough to find out who we are. We know that every connection with our neighbors not only helps us do our jobs better, but also helps us learn new ways to better our community.

Here’s where you can find information about current job openings and opportunities to work with Charlottesville Tomorrow.

A little bit about the team: We are a group of journalists, community leaders, volunteers and subscribers who believe that local news ecosystems are broken and not serving everyone well. We can’t accept that, so together we are creating the kind of local news organization that our community deserves and needs. We are passionate about the profession of journalism and committed to understanding and building a local news ecosystem that works. 

We are committed to an equitable workplace, because we know we can’t uphold our values in our journalism and community if we can’t do it in our own office with our own team. Here’s more about who we are.

Staff

Angilee Shah

CEO and Editor-in-Chief

My goal as the leader of Charlottesville Tomorrow is to help my neighbors feel pride and ownership over our local news. I want to help build a local newsroom that follows the issues that matter to our diverse communities, and also includes more of our perspectives. Enough about me, I’d love to know more about you. Let’s find a time to talk.

Michaux Hood, CFRE

Development Director

I was born in Charlottesville (attended City elementary and Albemarle County high schools!). I’ve worked independently with local businesses and nonprofits since 2000 and with Charlottesville Tomorrow since 2018. I love to talk with our supporters about their local histories and why they feel local, independent news that is free to all residents is crucial to the health of our home. Interested in supporting the great work our reporters do? Get in touch with me by email here.

Jessie Higgins

Managing Editor, Health and Safety Reporter

As a reporter, I focus mainly on health. I want to know about the things that empower people in this community to live well — and I’m interested in the things that keep people from being healthy.  Did I mention, I’m also Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Managing Editor? If there’s something you think we should be investigating, please email me here.

Tamica Jean-Charles

Education and Families Reporter

As Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Education Reporter, I aim to break down education in a way that is accessible to everyone, from parents to bus drivers. Let me know how I can better keep the institutions that serve you and your family accountable. How do you do that? Just email me here.

Erin O’Hare

Neighborhoods Reporter

Hello! I’m Erin, a longtime Charlottesville city resident and Charlottesville Tomorrow’s neighborhoods reporter. I write about our homes, the roads we travel, the buses we take, the water we drink, the parks where we play and relax, the histories of buildings and blocks. I’ve never met a stranger and love to listen, so, get in touch with me by email here or flag me down when you see me out and about.

A woman with curly hair and a headband smiles for camera with a tree and building behind her

Aliyah Cotton

People and Culture Officer

I work to make Charlottesville Tomorrow be as inclusive, healthy and rewarding a workplace as we can be. As a University of Virginia alum, Charlottesville feels like home to me, and I love being able to support the community that has given so much to me.

Ashley Harper

Designer and Consultant

I work with Charlottesville Tomorrow as a designer to help ensure we are conveying our mission well on all platforms. I have been in the industry for over 15 years and I love being part of this fantastic team! I am a strong supporter of the community having access to local news. You can see my work here or reach out to me.

We’re a proud found partner of a collaboration that is helping rebuild our local news ecosystem. Click here to learn more about Charlottesville Inclusive Media.

Board of Directors

Jacqueline Salmon, Chair

Jacqueline Salmon is the principal media strategist at the American Bar Association, where she leads a team of writers in positioning the ABA as a thought leader on diversity and inclusion in the legal system, independence of the judiciary, and equal justice under the law. Previously, she was chief writer for the CEO of Pew Charitable Trusts and a Washington Post reporter. At the Post, she covered a wide range of topics, including business, politics, suburban life, national and world crises, and religion.

Ms. Salmon is also a New York Times bestselling author and book collaborator, writing and editing seven books on child psychology, politics, health, business, and military intelligence. She has served as a key partner in a startup management team in planning strategic growth aimed at creating one of the first online local-news networks of websites and blogs.

A 1979 graduate of Syracuse University, she earned a B.S. in newswriting. She is a resident of Charlottesville and volunteers for OneVirginia2021, a nonpartisan anti-gerrymandering nonprofit.

Christopher Ali

Dr. Christopher Ali is an Associate Professor in the University of Virginia Department of Media Studies. He joined the Department in the fall of 2013 after completing his PhD at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests include communication policy and regulation, critical political economy, critical geography, comparative media systems, localism, and local news.

Christopher’s first book, Media Localism: The Policies of Place (University of Illinois Press, 2017) addresses the difficulties of defining and regulating local media in the 21st century in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada and the implications these difficulties have for the long-term viability of local news.”

Currently, Christopher is the Faculty Fellow at the Benton Foundation. In 2016-2017, Christopher was a Fellow with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, where he completed an intensive research project on the state of small market newspapers in the United States titled, “Local News in a Digital World: Small Market Newspapers in an era of Digital Disruption.

George Beller

Dr. George Beller is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He undertook his cardiology training at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). In 1977, after serving 3 years on the staff of the MGH, he returned to UVA as Chief of the Cardiovascular Division, a position he held for 28 years.

His research focus is the development of noninvasive imaging techniques for the detection of heart disease. He is a Past President of the American College of Cardiology and the Association of University Cardiologists. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College of Cardiology. On a local level, he served on the boards of Live Arts and Piedmont Council for the Arts.

George, and his wife, Kakie Brooks, reside in Charlottesville.

Aleen Cary

Aleen Cary is a former high school Spanish teacher and currently works at food justice nonprofit Cultivate Charlottesville as outreach and resource program director. After earning her undergraduate degree from James Madison University, Aleen taught for a decade in Prince William and Albemarle Counties.

When she left the classroom, Aleen remained involved in the field of education professionally—working for Teachstone—and on a volunteer basis—joining the board of City Schoolyard Garden (CSG).

Aleen honed her nonprofit skills at the Center for Nonprofit Excellence (CNE) and uses them to focus on issues of equity in the Charlottesville area. She also serves on the board of the Building Goodness Foundation.

Miguel Coradine

Miguel Coradine is originally from Colombia but was raised in Venezuela. In 1998, Miguel moved to the United States to learn English and start his career. He attended the University of Tampa, Florida, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He settled in Charlottesville in 2004.

Miguel is the founder and CEO of Sirius Insurance. He is a bilingual insurance advisor and helps families make better decisions when it comes to Auto, Home, Life, business insurance, and more.

Prior to founding Sirius Insurance, Miguel worked for several years as an independent contractor in the insurance industry. He has also worked at the Daily Progress as Regional Circulation Manager, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the circulation department, including sales, retention, service, and distribution. In addition, he worked as the circulation manager for nine years at the C-VILLE Weekly in which he was responsible for the main paper as well as over ten magazines. Miguel also worked as the circulation director for the first Latino newspaper in Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, Nuevas Raices/New Roots.

Tim Gould

Tim Gould is the Chief Investment Officer at InCite Capital Management and the Owner and Managing Director of Gould Capital. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from UVA in English Language and Literature, and an MBA from the UVA Darden School of Business, where he served as the Editor of Darden News. Tim has been on the boards of the Virginia Discovery Museum and Live Arts, Charlottesville’s performing arts theater.

Maggie Guggenheimer

Maggie Guggenheimer is the Administrative and Business Development Executive at UVA’s Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS). She has lived and worked in Charlottesville since 2007, having previously served as Director of Advancement at the Mind & Life Institute, Chief Advancement Officer of Virginia Humanities, Managing Director of the Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative, and Executive Director of the Piedmont Council for the Arts (PCA). While at PCA, Maggie organized the first comprehensive study of the economic impact of the local nonprofit arts sector and the subsequent community cultural planning process. She also taught arts marketing for UMass Amherst and the University of Virginia, where she earned her art history BA before receiving an arts administration MA from Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Maggie enjoys supporting the local arts community, practicing meditation, being outdoors with her husband and daughter, learning to weave on a loom, training at the Fried Center for the Advancement of Potential (FCAP), and cheering on Charlottesville’s Prolyfyck Run Crew.

Meredith Strohm Gunter

Meredith Strohm Gunter’s career experience includes senior administrative posts at three institutions of higher education in Virginia; policy and special initiative development for the Governor’s Office; international services and support for a major Virginia law firm; and a number of freelance writing, editing, and planning projects. Before retiring in 2021, Meredith was Director of Strategy and Public Engagement for the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia where she had worked as the center’s Interim Director and Outreach Director for the Center’s Demographics Research Group.

Dr. Gunter earned her B.A. from Miami University (Ohio), her M.S. from Indiana University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. She served as Rector of the Board of Visitors for James Madison University; Co-chair and founder of the Patients and Friends Research Fund for the University of Virginia Cancer Center; a member of the Board of the Cancer Center for the University of Virginia Health System; and President of the Contemporary Club of Albemarle. She currently chairs the Board for the Emily Couric Leadership Forum and supports local food and food equity initiatives.

Barbara Kessler

Barbara Kessler has lived in the Charlottesville/Albemarle community for more than half her life (no age disclosed here!). She gets her energy from learning and connecting people to resources that may help in their success. Barbara is currently managing talent development and engagement projects. She has worked in education and the private sector focusing on workforce development, community outreach, and human resources management and volunteers(ed) with many area nonprofits. Always wondering about her purpose, she is working on incorporating exercise, family, friends, and fun (work and volunteering) into how she spends her time. Barbara and her husband, Jay, currently live with two four-legged furry children, Emma and Bennett.

Bill Lewis

Bill Lewis is a retired partner in the DC office of the Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP law firm. Previously, he was Director of the congressionally-established National Commission on Air Quality, and prior to that, Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board. In the 1990s, he taught a seminar on the federal Clean Air Act at the University of Virginia Law School. Bill is a co-founder and chair emeritus of The Montpelier Foundation and was a chair or a member of its governance committee for 19 years. He served as board president of the D.C. nonprofit FLOC (For Love of Children) and was a founding director of the organization that restored the nation’s first full-service African-American YMCA, now known as the Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage.

Bill served on EPA’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee and was listed in Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers of Washington, D.C. He received a B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina and a J.D. with honors from its School of Law. He resides in Albemarle County with his wife Peyton.

Oliver Platts-Mills

Oliver Platts-Mills is the owner & operator of 6th & Dice, LLC a small real estate development and management firm. He holds a B.A. degree in Environmental Science from Wesleyan University and an M.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia. Oliver grew up in our area and attended school in the Western Albemarle school district before leaving for college and exploration until he returned to town for graduate school. After school, he spent five years working at Investure in the financial services industry before taking a year to explore South America with his wife prior to starting a family.

Oliver serves on the board of the Piedmont Housing Alliance and is passionate about exploring avenues for preserving and expanding access to affordable housing in Charlottesville.

Joshua René

Joshua René is a Founder, Design Strategist, Adjunct Instructor, Speaker, and Thought-Leader. After 18+ years in leadership roles ranging from supervisory to a tenured directorship, Human Services taught him that serving people begins with serving how we think. Eager to do something about the gaps that industries found so easy to ignore, he dove in headfirst, packaged up decades of service, product, and behavior strategy, and introduced a model provoked by the question, “Whenever we sit down to solve a problem, we should always ask ourselves, what’s the human need behind it?” Say hello to Human-Centered Design!

Around 2016, he created the proprietary design consultancy, The Spill Teem® – a creative team of facilitators, workshoppers, speakers, and Human-Centered Strategists that partner with organizations to reignite their natural ability to see things in new ways. Founded in the United States and with teams in the United Kingdom, The Spill Teem® covers a lot of innovative ground, helping organizations thrive in the spaces of their services, products, and behaviors.

In addition to The Spill Teem®, he serves as an Adjunct at Piedmont, Virginia Community College, and is a relentless vinyl record collector.

Troy Robinson

Troy Robinson is an entrepreneur, businessman, media professional, and civil rights leader with deep roots in Central Virginia. He owns and operates the Inspirational Cuts Barbershop and Inspirational Limo and Bus Company in Ruckersville, the Order Up Mobile Food Cart in Charlottesville, and is co-host and manager of the In My Humble Opinion Talk Radio Show and The Body Radio Show, highly-rated FM radio talk programs. A graduate of Orange County H.S., Troy is a certified IBEW union electrician and a graduate of the Community Investment Collaborative’s business training programs. He comes from a long line of African American civil rights and community leaders– his maternal great-grandfather built the first school bus for black children in Culpeper County out of farm parts and his paternal great-grandfather was a close advisor to the Washington D.C. civil rights leader Dorothy Height.

Troy works to leverage his experience as a businessman, media professional, and man of faith to create a more equitable society. He lives in Ruckersville with his wife Maxicelia Robinson and their children.

Richard Schragger

Richard Schragger is the Perre Bowen Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, where he has taught since 2001. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of constitutional law and local government law, federalism, urban policy, and the constitutional and economic status of cities. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School and an M.A. in legal theory from University College London. He is a faculty fellow at the Miller Center, a faculty adviser to the Local Solutions Support Center, and a member of the American Law Institute. He is the author of City Power: Urban Governance in a Global Age (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Rich served for many years on the board of ReadyKids. He and his wife, Risa Goluboff, reside in Charlottesville, with their two children, Solomon and Eliana, both of whom attend Charlottesville city schools.

Kristen Suokko

Kristen Suokko is a consultant assisting nonprofit organizations with organizational development, planning, grant writing, and more. Most recently she was Executive Director of Local Food Hub in Charlottesville.

Kristen spent the first part of her career in Washington, DC with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the US Department of Energy. In 1998 she moved to Charlottesville to work in environmental philanthropy for the W. Alton Jones Foundation and the Blue Moon Fund and joined the staff of Local Food Hub in 2013.

Kristen holds a degree in Russian from Middlebury College and has been involved with a number of boards and civic organizations in and around Charlottesville.

Past Board Members

  • Michael D. Bills (2005-2013)
  • Rick Middleton (2005-2012)
  • Cathy Smith Train (2005-2019)
  • Tony Vanderwarker (2005-2015)
  • Mac Thompson (2005-2012)
  • Terence Sieg (2005-2010)
  • Paula Newcomb (2005-2009)
  • Stephen McLean (2005-2011)
  • A.D. Hart (2005)
  • Renee Grisham (2005-2008)
  • Brian Wheeler (2005-2017)
  • Leigh Middleditch, Jr. (2008-2021)
  • Joseph Barnes (2008-2011)
  • Wistar Morris (2009-2021)
  • Carol Hurt (2009-2019)
  • Meghan Welsch (2011-2018)
  • Kim Tanzer (2011-2014)
  • Carrington King (2012-2016)
  • Richard Strubel (2012-2017)
  • McGregor McCance (2012-2016)
  • Sasha Farmer (2012-2016)
  • Bruce Miller (2014-2017)
  • Heather Hill (2016-2017)
  • Martin Klingel (2016-2018)
  • Martin Silverman (2016-2018)
  • Giles Morris (2018-2023)
  • Paul Henderson (2017-2021)
  • Michael Stoneking (2018-2019)
  • Richard Aguilar (2018-2020)
  • Cat Strumlauf (2018-2021)
  • Angilee Shah (2020-2022)
  • Shantell Bingham (2020-2022)
  • Xochitl Diaz (2021-2022)