Category: Speakers

Marisa Kwiatkowski

MARISA KWIATOWSKI

Investigative Reporter, USA TODAY

Marisa Kwiatkowski is an investigative reporter for USA TODAY. She has handled investigations relating to social services and welfare issues, including child abuse and neglect, poverty, elder abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence and access to mental health services. Marisa has earned more than 50 journalism awards, including the Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism, IRE’s Tom Renner Award, a Sigma Delta Chi Award in public service, the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism, the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award and Indiana Journalist of the Year. Prior to USA TODAY, Marisa worked for media outlets in Indiana, South Carolina and Michigan.

In 2016, Marisa and her colleagues launched an investigation into USA Gymnastics that revealed top officials at the sport’s national governing body failed to report many allegations of sexual abuse by coaches. It also showed how predators exploited a lax culture to prey on children. As a result of the series, more than 500 women came forward with allegations of sexual abuse against Larry Nassar, a longtime team physician who worked in four Olympic games. Nassar pleaded guilty and is serving time in prison. The CEO board of directors of USA Gymnastics resigned. Multiple people have faced criminal charges. The series also spurred the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017.

In 2013, Marisa received two national awards, as well as state and regional awards, for her coverage of the difficulties of children with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities to receive appropriate mental health services. She found parents falsely admitting to neglect in order to secure services for their children. After Marisa’s series published, state officials pledged up to $25 million per year to close the funding gap.

Ann Peters

ANN PETERS

Campus Consortium Program, Pulitzer Center

Ann Peters oversees the Pulitzer Center’s Campus Consortium program, which creates opportunities for journalists, students and faculty to examine global issues across disciplines at a growing network of university and college partners and offers international reporting fellowships. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Georgetown University Law Center, Ann began her career as a correspondent for United Press International. She reported from North Carolina, Washington, D.C., Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Egypt and South Africa between 1983 and 1991. Her domestic reporting ranged from covering the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster to North Carolina politics. Her assignments abroad gave her ample opportunities to cover international affairs, whether interviewing Palestinians and Israelis during what would become known as the first Palestinian intifada or South Africans on the days and weeks following Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. After her days at UPI and then at law school, Ann worked in London as a research associate and consultant for Human Rights Watch, focusing on blinding laser weapons, laws of war and arms embargoes, and then in Washington, D.C. for the Open Society Institute as program director of its Landmines Project. She also practiced law at Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP, a firm specializing in providing legal advice to nonprofit organizations and individuals in the areas of nonprofit organization tax law, election law, employment law and environmental law.

Patrick Davis

PATRICK DAVIS

Manager of Field Operations, CNN Washington

Patrick Davis serves as the Manager of Field Operations at CNN’s Washington Bureau, where he oversees technical & logistical planning for daily newsgathering, breaking news, and major events including Inauguration, State Funerals, State of the Union, Oval Office Addresses, Papal visits, and hurricanes. Over the course of his career, Patrick has worked at a variety of jobs throughout the television & radio industries: production assistant, guest booker, writer, shooter, editor, advertising sales, show producer, field producer, DJ, reporter, and anchor. During his time at CNN, he has covered numerous election cycles, and every major story since 9/11, earning several distinguished awards, including multiple Emmys and a Peabody. Patrick is a long time member of the Capitol Hill Radio & Television Correspondents Association, and serves on the Board of the Technical Advisory Subcommittee. He began his career in local television & radio, while earning his journalism degree at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Kasi Bumgarner

KASI BUMGARNER

Assistant Digital Producer, National Endowment for Democracy

Kasi Bumgarner is an Assistant Digital Producer at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). At NED, she creates a variety of digital content to highlight events and capture stories of the organization’s grantees and fellows who are advocating for democracy and human rights around the world. Before joining NED, she worked as a receptionist, a freelance video editor, and a production intern for an independent documentary, Imitating Life: The Audacity of Suzanne Heintz.

Kasi’s love for storytelling and digital media began at a young age, but it wasn’t until she attended WJMC as a National Youth Correspondent in 2011 that she realized she could turn her passion into a career. She has loved being a part of the WJMC family ever since, returning as a Junior Faculty Advisor in 2014 and a Videographer in 2016.

Kasi graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Film and Video Studies from George Mason University. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, exploring new spots in the DC area, and producing videos for her lifestyle YouTube channel, Curlyhairlove.

Shermichael Singleton

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON

Contributing Host, Vox Media

Shermichael Singleton is a political consultant, writer, commentator, and Contributing Host of Vox Media’s Consider It, a current affairs digital show that airs weekly on Facebook Watch. He is also a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree for Law and Policy for his contributions to politics and media.

As a political operative, he has worked on the presidential campaigns of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich where he focused on youth outreach and engagement. From there he went on to work on former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in campaign operations and coalitions where he traveled the country during the 2012 election. During the 2015 and 2016 cycle, he worked on the presidential campaign of renowned Neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson where he was the faith coalitions advisor tasked with targeting and building coalitions within the faith community, which would become Dr. Carson’s strongest base of support. As a result, Dr. Carson became the only candidate to surpass President Trump in polls for several straight weeks during the 2016 campaign cycle.

In addition to his work on political campaigns, he was an opposition researcher for America Rising, LLC where he did opposition research for several Republican candidates running for Congress and the United States Senate. Beyond politics, he also worked with Florida based non-profit Lauren’s Kids, which focuses on raising awareness about child sexual abuse. During his time with Lauren’s Kids, he was a part of a team of former political operatives who worked on a statewide bus tour across Florida to raise awareness for this very important issue.

When Dr. Carson ended his bid for the presidency, he appointed Shermichael as his director of communications, where he would manage all communications for the former presidential candidate. As Dr. Carson’s top aide during the presidential transition process, Shermichael played a pivotal role in successfully guiding Dr. Carson through the Senate confirmation process. Subsequently, he was appointed to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where he was sworn in as the Deputy Chief of Staff, the youngest ever appointed to the role in the history of the agency. Getting acclimated in his role at HUD, Shermichael was later fired by the Trump Administration after an articled surfaced where Shermichael criticized then-candidate Trump. After his dismissal, Shermichael went on to become a CNN Political Commentator.

In addition to co-hosting his weekly show on Vox Media, he appears weekly on MSNBC where he offers political analysis.

A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, he studied Political Science at Morehouse College and Government and Politics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Pat Money

Student Support

Patrick Money is the Associate Director of Admissions for George Mason University. After starting as a student employee at the Admissions office, he has spent the last decade as a member of the Mason Admissions family helping students and families find the right college destination.

Patrick has lived in Northern Virginia his entire life and attended high school at Lake Braddock Secondary. He had an amazing experience as an undergrad while earning his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology here at Mason. This area is an incredible place for young people to explore options both professionally and socially – an opportunity he took in full, which ultimately led to a college career he thoroughly enjoyed and would not trade for anything.

One of his favorite memories was when he made his initial decision to come to Mason back in 2006 after he saw the Men’s basketball team reach the final four live at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.! (He still talks about it like it happened yesterday!!)

Patrick has a passion for higher education and even more so for George Mason University, and he hopes to share it with all those who are interested.

Kayla Sharpe

KAYLA SHARPE

Associate Editor at Bloomberg

Kayla N. Sharpe is a digital journalist based in the Washington D.C. area. She is the Associate Editor at Bloomberg Industry Group overseeing a team of editors producing more than 40 daily newsletters covering Congress, federal and state policy and legislation, law, tax, and accounting. Kayla previously worked as an Associate Editor at Axios — where she oversaw reporting teams in D.C., Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Twin Cities — at POLITICO as Engagement Editor for Subscriber Strategy and as a Digital Producer, and at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting supporting student and freelance journalists covering under-reported global issues.
Kayla graduated from the College of William & Mary in 2017 with degrees in Film & Media and American Studies and served as the Digital Media Editor for the campus newspaper, The Flat Hat. In addition to completing communications internships at the Brookings Institution, the Democratic National Committee, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Kayla has seen her reporting recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists, receiving their 2017 Regional Mark of Excellence Award for In-Depth Reporting, and William & Mary, receiving their 2016 Rex Smith Journalism Award.
Kayla is proud to be an engaged William & Mary alumna and currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Young Guarde Alumni Council and as Vice Chair of the William & Mary Washington Center Advisory Board as Board Development Chair. She is also a member of the Lambda Kappa Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.

Daniela Pierre-Bravo

DANIELA PIERRE-BRAVO

TV Producer, MSNBC's "Morning Joe"

Daniela Pierre-Bravo is a best-selling author, public speaker and MSNBC reporter for Morning Joe. She is a contributor and producer for NBC’s “Know Your Value” platform and co-author of Earn It!. A former Cosmopolitan magazine columnist, Pierre-Bravo has written on career advice, mental health, and financial wellness with an emphasis on women of color. Her work has been featured on the Today Show, Telemundo, Forbes, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29, New York Magazine, and more. Her new book “The Other: how women of color can own their power at work” will be published August 23, 2022.

Laura Barrón-López

Laura Barron-Lopez, photographed for PBS NewsHour, 16 August 2022, in Arlington VA. Photo by Mike Morgan.

LAURA BARRÓN-LÓPEZ

White House Correspondent, PBS Newshour

Laura Barrón-López is the White House Correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, where she covers the Biden administration for the nightly news broadcast. She is also a CNN political analyst.

Previously, Barrón-López was a White House reporter for POLITICO. In her time covering the Biden administration for POLITICO, she focused on the power dynamics between the White House and Capitol Hill, covering the president’s agenda on gun violence, immigration, voting rights, infrastructure and more. Barrón-López previously covered the 2020 presidential election for POLITICO as a national political reporter, focusing on voter demographics, and policy shifts within the Democratic Party.

Barrón-López previously led 2018 coverage of the Democratic Party for the Washington Examiner. Before that, Barrón-López covered Congress for HuffPost, focusing on climate change, criminal justice reform, and coal miner pensions, among other policy debates in the Senate and House.

Early in her career, she covered energy and environment policy for The Hill. Her work has been published in The Oregonian, OC Register, E&E Publishing, and Roll Call. Barrón-López earned a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fullerton.