Jennifer M. Preston

Knight Foundation

Jennifer Preston is an advisor to the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona on a new Local Journalism Initiative and Fund that was created by local civic and business leaders deeply concerned about the demise of their local newspaper and the impact on the news and information needs for the community. A  former Vice President/Journalism at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Jennifer led a $300 million, five-year Journalism and Democracy Initiative and a national strategy to support local journalism and the information needs of communities across America. She is also a consultant at Media Impact Funders, a philanthropy-serving organization that supports a national network of local and national funders interested in funding journalism, press freedom, documentary film and local media and battling misinformation and disinformation.  Before joining Knight in 2014, Jennifer spent almost two decades at The New York Times as a senior newsroom executive, metro desk editor,  state house bureau chief and the newsroom’s first social media editor. She is a proud parent of twins.