The Chicago Headline Club is thrilled to share the lineup of speakers for FOIA Fest 2026. This is a list of speakers who have shared their biographies ahead of time. Review ahead of the conference to prepare. Find the full program here and get your ticket here.
Jeff Arnold, National Digital Reporter, NewsNation
Jeff Arnold covers immigration and federal enforcement operations for NewsNation. He is also the current president of the Chicago Headline Club. Jeff previously contributed sports reporting to The New York Times and The Washington Post, and contributed to the Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning COVID-19 map in 2021.
Jim Daley, Investigations Editor, South Side Weekly
Jim Daley is the investigations editor at South Side Weekly.
Maya Dukmasova, Senior Reporter, Injustice Watch
Maya Dukmasova is a senior reporter at Injustice Watch, a non-profit newsroom in Chicago, where she focuses primarily on investigating the Cook County court system. She was previously a senior writer at the Chicago Reader. She has won numerous local and national journalism awards for her long-form investigative features and frequently writes about complex legal, scientific, and bureaucratic issues that have disparate impacts on individuals along race and class lines.
Monica Eng, Reporter, Axios Chicago
Monica Eng is a veteran Chicago reporter with four decades of experience at the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune and WBEZ. She currently reports for Axios Chicago, covering politics, immigration, the environment, entertainment and food.
Francia Garcia Hernandez, Pilsen, Little Village and Back of the Yards Reporter, Block Club Chicago
Francia covers Pilsen, Little Village and Back of the Yards and is one of Block Club Chicago’s lead immigration reporters. Her work has been published in Austin Weekly News, Yes! Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, Streetswise and AustinTalks. Originally from Mexico City, she has called Chicago home for about seven years and has extensively reported on the city’s South and West Sides.
Renee Griffin, Staff Attorney, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Renee Griffin is a staff attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, where she oversees the Legal Hotline and helps journalists navigate urgent legal issues. She also contributes to litigation, amicus briefs, pre-publication review and other legal work.
Alex V. Hernandez, Neighborhood Reporter, Block Club Chicago
Alex V. Hernandez is Block Club Chicago’s neighborhood reporter for Irving Park, Albany Park, North Center, Ravenswood and Lincoln Square. The Chicago native has previously written for the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, Chicago magazine, City Bureau, In These Times and is one of the founders of Borderless Magazine.
Nicole Jeanine Johnson, Investigative Reporter, Chicago Public Media
Nicole Jeanine Johnson is a storyteller from Chicago’s South Side, whose unique and well-rounded approach to her work is informed by her experience of running for Chicago’s city council, teaching on the South & West Side, and organizing for the passage of statewide voter rights protections. She is a Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism alum, and NABJ Chicago Chapter 2025 Emerging Journalist of the Year. She can be heard on WBEZ 91.5, and her bylines can be found in Reuters, the Chicago Defender, Capital B, the Chicago Sun-Times, South Side Weekly and City Bureau.
Sarah Karp, Education Reporter, WBEZ
Sarah has been an education reporter covering Chicago Public Schools for the past 20 years, currently working at WBEZ. Prior to that, she worked for Catalyst-Chicago, an education news magazine. She loves education reporting because it intersects with almost every other beat — social justice, housing, criminal justice, immigration, business and politics.
Matt Kiefer, Assistant Professor, Medill School of Journalism
Matt teaches data and interactive journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School. Previously, he was a data journalist at WBEZ, The Washington Post and the Chicago Reporter, among other newsrooms. He’s also the creator of FOIAmail, an open-source tool for automating public records requests.
Milka Koumpilova, Senior Reporter, Chalkbeat Chicago
Milka Koumpilova is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat Chicago. She previously wrote about education, immigration and other issues at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and The Forum in Fargo, N.D. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, ProPublica, the Associated Press, USA Today, Chicago Tribune and elsewhere.
Joe Mahr, Investigative Reporter, Chicago Tribune
Joe Mahr is an investigative reporter who has written about topics ranging from government corruption and court mismanagement to lax policing efforts and questionable lottery tactics. An Ohio University graduate, Mahr joined the Tribune in 2009. He was on a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2004 and on another that was a finalist in 2015.
Emeline Posner, Reporter, Investigative Project on Race and Equity
Emeline Posner is a reporter focusing on housing and government accountability. Previously, they were an investigative intern with the Illinois Answers Project and have reported for South Side Weekly, Austin Weekly News, Hyde Park Herald and Chicago Magazine.
Kiel Porter, Reporter, Bloomberg
Kiel Porter joined Bloomberg in 2013 as a European private equity reporter in London and later moved to the U.S., where he has covered North American private equity, industrials, transportation and the space sector.
Gregory Royal Pratt, Investigative Reporter, Chicago Tribune
Raised in Little Village, Gregory Royal Pratt is an investigative reporter. He covered Operation Midway Blitz. Pratt is also a former City Hall reporter and author of The City is Up for Grabs: How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis.
Amy Qin, Data Reporter, WBEZ
Amy Qin is currently a data reporter at WBEZ where she covers a wide range of topics, ranging from housing to immigration to investigations. She uses data, documents and human storytelling to spotlight new narratives for radio, web and print audiences.
Darcel Rockett, Senior Journalist, Chicago Tribune
Darcel Rockett is a senior journalist at the Chicago Tribune, where she has spent more than a decade covering Chicago’s most urgent stories and shaping digital coverage. Previously a Digital News Editor, she helped lead major breaking news and long-form projects. In 2024, she was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, exploring narratives, history and justice with a focus on equity and sustainable freedom.
Cam Rodriguez, Data Reporter
Cam Rodriguez is a data and investigative reporter based in Chicago, and most recently was a Local Investigations Fellow at The New York Times. She’s previously worked with teams at MuckRock, Chalkbeat, USA TODAY, South Side Weekly, Freep, WTTW and the Better Government Association. When she’s not digging in archives or making another pot of coffee, she’s usually playing with maps, watching rom-coms, or exploring the Midwest with her dog.
Nell Salzman, Local Investigations Fellow, The New York Times
Nell Salzman is a fellow at The New York Times, reporting on taxes and development. She previously covered immigration and education for the Chicago Tribune. Before that, she worked at KTNA Radio in Talkeetna, Alaska, and Westword, a local news outlet in Denver.
Lena Shapiro, Director, First Amendment Clinic at the University of Illinois College of Law
Lena Shapiro is the inaugural director of the First Amendment Clinic at the University of Illinois College of Law. The First Amendment Clinic defends and advances the freedoms of speech, press and assembly for both groups and individuals through direct client representation. The 1AC represents clients across the political spectrum as part of its mission to protect the free speech rights of all.
Jennifer Smith Richards, Reporter, ProPublica
Jennifer Smith Richards reports on abuses of power across the Midwest for ProPublica, often focusing on education. She is currently reporting on how the Trump administration is reshaping the federal government’s role in education and its impact on students’ civil rights.
Matt Topic, Partner, Loevy + Loevy
Matt Topic leads the FOIA practice at Loevy + Loevy and is the co-host of the Disclosure podcast. He has litigated hundreds of state and federal open records cases.
Sophia Van Pelt, Senior Policy Analyst, BGA Policy
Sophia Van Pelt is a senior policy analyst focused on access to public documents, the criminal justice system and good government. Before joining BGA Policy in 2022 she graduated with a master’s in applied economics from Illinois State University. When not writing about policy she can be found reading fantasy books or playing chess.
Tatiana Walk-Morris, Independent Journalist
Tatiana Walk-Morris is a Detroit-born, Chicago-based independent journalist covering business, technology, health and social justice. Her work has appeared in Block Club Chicago, Planet Detroit, Vanity Fair, the BBC and the Financial Times.
Steve Warmbir, Senior Investigations Editor, Illinois Answers Project / Better Government Association
Steve Warmbir oversees a team of award-winning investigative reporters at the Illinois Answers Project. Previously, he spent more than two decades at the Chicago Sun-Times, serving as investigative reporter, city editor, managing editor and editor-in-chief. His reporting on Chicago’s Hired Truck scandal won a George Polk Award.