Wisconsin Watch Board of Directors

Houston is the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting and teaches investigative and advanced reporting in the Department of Journalism at the University of Illinois. He formerly served as president of the Wisconsin Watch’s board of directors. He is a founder and former chair of the board of directors  for the Institute for Nonprofit News, a consortium of nonprofit investigative news organizations. Houston formerly worked as executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors, a 4,000-member organization, and as a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Before joining IRE, he was an award-winning investigative reporter at daily newspapers for 17 years. Houston was part of the newsroom staff of The Kansas City Star that won a Pulitzer Prize for its work on the 1981 walkway collapse at the city’s Hyatt Regency Hotel, and he was one of four investigative team members who won a Headliners Award for coverage of misconduct by Kansas City area building inspectors. At The Hartford Courant, he won awards for investigations into state and federal government programs and was the paper’s database editor. During 14 years at IRE, Houston oversaw the creation of numerous training programs nationally and internationally and also helped it strengthen and increase its membership. Houston is the author of three editions of the textbook, “Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Practical Guide,” and co-author of the fourth edition of “The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook.” Houston co-founded the Global Investigative Journalism Network in 2000. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Bennington College in Vermont.

Originally from Minneapolis, Minn., Louisa Lincoln is a PhD student at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research examines sustainable funding models for journalism, with a focus on nonprofit news and public media organizations in the United States. Lincoln got involved in the nonprofit news industry as a public engagement and marketing intern at the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism in 2016. She went on to work in the sponsorship department at NPR in Washington, D.C., and in the development department at PRX (formerly Public Radio International) before starting her doctoral studies. More recently, Lincoln was a 2022 COMPASS Fellow at the American Journalism Project and was a 2021-2022 Lipman Family Prize Fellow. She is affiliated with the Media, Inequality & Change (MIC) Center and serves on the Steering Committee for the Center for Media at Risk. Lincoln graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in Journalism and Political Science, and a certificate in Gender and Women’s Studies. In 2017, she was awarded the James L. Baughman Senior Achievement Award from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Lincoln also holds a Master of Arts in communication from the University of Pennsylvania.

At Quarles & Brady in Milwaukee, where he is a partner, Conley serves as a trusted adviser to clients on business disputes and transactions, legal ethics, class actions, legal malpractice, and matters attracting high levels of media scrutiny. He has over 30 years of experience in roles ranging from trial advocate, to mediator, business adviser, crisis response consultant, expert witness and trustee. Conley grew up in Rice Lake, Wisconsin and received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin. Conley worked his way through school with various jobs, ranging from being a reporter for Rice Lakes’ weekly newspaper and DJ for one of its radio stations, to three summers cutting fish open in Homer, Alaska. While in school, he interned for the Wisconsin Legislature and Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Bill Bablitch, and spent the first two years after law school clerking for the Hon. John W. Reynolds in the Eastern District of Wisconsin Federal Court.

Lewis is a professor of journalism and the founding executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop at the American University School of Communication in Washington, D.C. A former ABC News and CBS News 60 Minutes producer, he founded the award-winning Center for Public Integrity and its International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the first global network of premier investigative reporters to develop and publish online multimedia exposés across borders. He is the author of 935 Lies: The Future of Truth and the Decline of America’s Moral Integrity (2014), and the co-author of five Center books: The Buying of the President (1996), The Buying of the Congress (1998), The Buying of the President 2000, The Cheating of America (2001), and The Buying of the President 2004, a New York Times bestseller. He was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 1998, and in 2004, he was given the PEN USA First Amendment award “for expanding the reach of investigative journalism, for his courage in going after a story regardless of whose toes he steps on, and for boldly exercising his freedom of speech and freedom of the press.” In 2009, the Encyclopedia of Journalism called him “one of the 30 most notable investigative reporters in the U.S. since World War I.”

Brett is the Emeritus Director of Wisconsin Public Media. He oversaw the University of Wisconsin’s public radio and public television stations which are part of PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio. He also oversaw UW-Extension’s distance learning facilities unit, Instructional Communications Systems. Brett previously served as the Director of Television for Wisconsin Public Television. In that role he oversaw the network’s University and State licensed stations. During his 34 years at Wisconsin Public Media, Brett led WPT’s digital conversion, and has helped guide, design or implement various of WPT’s national public television models including Portal Wisconsin and the National Center for Community Engagement.. Brett also served on and chaired the Board of American Public Television, the Affinity Group coalition, the Board of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and the University Licensee Association for which he served as Chair. He served on the PBS Board including two years as professional vice-chair. Brett has been recognized by America’s Public Television Stations with its inaugural “Pillar of Public Service” Award and by PBS with the Daniel K. Miller Leadership Award. He retired from the Center’s board in June 2021.

Marty Kaiser led the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to three Pulitzer Prizes before becoming a nationally prominent journalism consultant in 2015. He specializes in leadership, digital innovation, ethics, investigative reporting and editing. Before arriving in Milwaukee, Kaiser was Associate Managing Editor of the Baltimore Sun. He previously served in editing and reporting positions at the Chicago Sun-Times, and at Florida newspapers in Sarasota and Clearwater. Kaiser joined the Milwaukee Journal as Managing Editor/Vice President in 1994. He was Editor/Senior Vice President of the Journal Sentinel for 18 years. During his tenure in Milwaukee, the Journal Sentinel won three Pulitzers, was a finalist six other times, and built a national reputation for its investigative reporting, writing and digital innovation. Named Editor & Publisher magazine’s Editor of the Year in 2009, Kaiser served as president of the American Society of News Editors 2009-2010. He is a member of the board of the American Society of News Editors Foundation, the advisory board of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Journalism Advisory Board of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting, the Colby College (Me.) Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award board and has been a Pulitzer Prize judge three times. He earned his bachelor’s degree at The George Washington University and completed the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management Executive Program. He retired from the Center’s board in June 2021.

Michel, a veteran editor, writer and newsroom leader, is president of Indian Country Today. She formerly was publisher and editor of Madison Magazine. A former president of Wisconsin Watch’s board, she currently chairs its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force.  She is a former executive editor of The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, La., and assistant managing editor of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Michel is a nationally noted leader in Native American journalism and newsroom diversity and a member of the Ho-Chunk tribe in Wisconsin. As assistant managing editor in Green Bay, Michel oversaw the Opinion page team, conducted community outreach to attract new audiences, and focused on public service journalism through data-driven analyses. Previously she covered state government and politics in her role as the Press-Gazette’s Madison bureau chief. Michel began her daily newspaper career in Wisconsin as a reporter at the La Crosse Tribune and went on to The Dallas Morning News in Texas, where she covered a variety of beats. From 1987 to 2005, Michel was part-owner of the twice-monthly newspaper News From Indian Country, published in northern Wisconsin. She has written extensively about Native American issues as a freelancer and was a columnist for The New York Times Syndicate’s former New America News Service. In 2008, Michel completed a two-year term as president of UNITY: Journalists of Color, the largest journalism organization in the nation, representing thousands of news reporters and editors of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. A past president of the Native American Journalists Association, Michel has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and a master’s degree from Marquette University. She retired from the Center’s board in June 2021.

Brenner retired as publisher of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2016 after more than three decades in the newspaper industry. She oversaw Wisconsin’s largest newspaper, its websites and a wide range of related businesses through what was perhaps the most challenging period in the news organization’s history. Under Brenner’s leadership, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel won three Pulitzer Prizes and was widely recognized as one of the nation’s best regional news organizations. She retired from the Center’s board on Dec. 31, 2020.

Professor Emeritus Mitchell joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication faculty in January 1998 after a 30-year career in public radio. As Director of Wisconsin Public Radio for 21 years, Mitchell led the most extensive and successful state or university public radio system in the country. On a national level, Mitchell was the first employee of National Public Radio and was instrumental in developing the groundbreaking newsmagazine “All Things Considered.” A founding member of the Center’s board, Mitchell served as secretary from 2008 to 2020.

Krause, principal at Krause Communications, formerly spent 27 years at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and its predecessor, The Milwaukee Journal. She served on the Center’s board from 2019 to 2020.

Haumersen, a certified public accountant, joined Wegner LLP, CPAs and Consultants in Madison in 1981 and was appointed partner in 1990. In 2002, he was appointed managing partner. He served as the Center’s board treasurer from 2008 to 2013.

Denise Callaway joined the Milwaukee Public Schools as business and community partnerships coordinator in 2010. Prior to joining MPS, Callaway worked for more than seven years at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation as director of communications. She served on the Center’s board from 2009 to 2010.