Robin Sparkman became president of the nonprofit investigative newsroom ProPublica in 2021. ProPublica, the winner of eight Pulitzer Prizes, has 225 employees across the U.S. and a $60 million budget. Sparkman has responsibility for all of ProPublica’s non-journalism operations, including fundraising, communications, legal, finance and budgeting, and human resources.

Prior to ProPublica, she was the founding CEO of nonprofit media organization StoryCorps (2014-2021). Previously, she spent more than two decades as a reporter and editor. She served as editor-in-chief of the American Lawyer from 2010-2014, and earlier as executive editor, as well as deputy editorial director of parent company American Lawyer Media. Previous work included stints at MSNBC.com and Newsweek.

She is a graduate of Wellesley College, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and Harvard Business School’s SPNM (Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management) program. Robin serves on the boards of the Columbia Journalism Review, the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism CUNY Foundation (as vice chair of the board), Union Settlement of East Harlem and F.Y. Eye.

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