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Katie Wilcox

Katie Wilcox
Statement

Katie Wilcox is an investigative reporter, editor, data journalist and educator with more than a decade of experience exposing waste, fraud and abuse. She leads teams in holding the powerful accountable and empowering communities to enact change. Her newsroom leadership and collaborative reporting has prompted legislation, criminal and civil investigations, terminations and helped put money back in the hands of those who were victimized.

Katie recently joined a new reporting initiative from the Howard Center for Investigative Reporting at ASU called The Beam. At The Beam, Katie is an investigative reporter and editor, focusing on accountability in education and guiding student apprentices in producing data-driven investigations.

Katie is also a professor of practice at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She joined the Cronkite faculty in August 2025, and teaches in-depth reporting methods across platforms, including writing, editing and video production. Katie mentors students, advises Honors theses and develops curriculum in advanced reporting methods and multi-platform writing. The Cronkite school’s commitment to innovation has allowed Katie to use new technology, including AI-assisted tools, in both the reporting and audience engagement while thoughtfully evaluating the tools’ impacts on our industry.

Previously, Katie was the executive producer of investigations at 12News in Phoenix. She was a player-coach, reporting her own stories while managing a team of investigative and general assignment reporters in breaking news and special projects covering education, the justice system, water policy, healthcare, energy and politics. She produced award-winning multimedia projects, including podcasts, documentary series, and collaborations with NBC and TEGNA-affiliate stations.

Katie also worked as an investigative data journalist at 9NEWS in Denver and was an investigative reporter at Rocky Mountain PBS. Her work has been recognized with 16 regional Emmy Awards, a National Headliner, the Sigma Delta Chi Award, the 2018 Investigative Reporter & Editor’s Award and 2018 National Edward R. Murrow Award, among other regional and national awards.

Katie became an IRE member in 2017 and has attended every IRE conference since then, plus four NICAR conferences. She has served on the broadcast/video sub-committee, and regularly moderates panels and coaches hands-on courses.

Katie is a fierce First Amendment advocate. She's a mentor, editor and collaborator. If elected to the IRE board, Katie would focus on supporting the next generation of investigative journalists as we all confront the changing demands of newsrooms, audiences, technology and politics that pose both threats and opportunities for our industry.

She was born in Houston and raised in southwest Iowa. Katie earned her bachelor’s degree with high distinction in Economics and recognition as the Kappa Tau Alpha Top Scholar in Journalism, with a minor in Philosophy, from the University of Iowa.

  • Current position:
    • Investigative Reporter & Editor, Professor of Practice | The Beam, The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University
  • Prior experience:
    • Investigative Executive Producer, Reporter | 12News
    • Investigative Data Journalist | 9NEWS
    • Investigative Reporter | Rocky Mountain PBS
  • IRE experience, including conferences and workshops attended and committee service
    • Attended IRE every year since 2017
    • Attended NICAR in Denver, Baltimore, Nashville and New Orleans
  • Expertise
    • Local news, broadcast reporting, data journalism, accountability, newsroom collaborations, education, mentorship, FOIA
  • Related links:
  • Key issues to address as a board member:
    • Press freedom, access
    • Educating students in investigative methods
    • Career development, broadening the access for reporters at any stage of their career to investigate and work on accountability stories
    • Fostering collaboration and strengthening investigative units
    • Threats and opportunities of new technology including AI and social media platforms and algorithms

Nominated by Mark Greenblatt, Executive Editor and Professor of Practice

Katie Wilcox is exactly the kind of leader IRE needs right now. She bridges investigative journalism, data reporting, nonprofit work, and education in a way that's genuinely rare — an award-winning former i-team executive producer turned professor who brings the energy and drive to match.

I've had the privilege of serving IRE for six years on the board, including three as its treasurer. That experience has given me a clear sense of what this organization needs at a pivotal moment in its history. Katie has it.

I enthusiastically support her candidacy and hope you'll join me.

 

Second nomination by Nicole Vap

I am honored to nominate Katie Wilcox for the IRE Board of Directors.

Katie began as an employee of mine and quickly became both a peer and mentor—someone deeply committed to teaching the next generation of investigative reporters through her professional work and involvement with IRE.
I first met Katie at her first journalism job, where her curiosity and creativity immediately stood out. I soon recruited her to my investigative team, where her contributions were vital to our 2018 IRE Award-winning investigation into surprise medical billing, which led to a change in state law.

Now at Arizona State University’s The Beam, Katie guides students through real-world investigations that hold the powerful accountable. She has also volunteered as an IRE awards screener, a conference speaker, and she mentors emerging reporters.

With experience spanning commercial television and academia, Katie embodies IRE’s mission to strengthen and sustain investigative journalism. I strongly urge you to vote for her.

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