Redefining Postindustrial Regions

Carmen Gentile

Founder and Editor-at-Large

Postindustrial founder Carmen Gentile has worked for some of the world’s leading publications and news outlets including The New York Times, USA Today, CBS News and others. His book, “Blindsided by the Taliban”, documents his life as a war reporter and the aftermath of his brush with death after being shot with a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan. He also is a board member of Industry’s Humanitarian Support Alliance. Reach him at [email protected].

Zubair Babakarkhail

Journalist

Zubair Babakarkhail is a journalist and interpreter. He has written stories for Stars and Stripes since 2012 and covered the war in Afghanistan for 17 years. He also reported for The Daily Telegraph, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, Al Jazeera English, and AsiaCalling. He arrived in the U.S. in September after fleeing his native Afghanistan when the Taliban returned to power. He has a degree in journalism from Pakistan, where his family sought refuge during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. He is based in Pittsburgh.

Martha Rial

Member

Martha Rial is an independent photojournalist and the winner of a 1998 Pulitzer Prize for her photographs of Rwandan and Burundian refugees. Among her many projects, she currently leads a citizen journalism initiative for the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University, where she received an honorary doctorate in 2017. She is based in Pittsburgh.

J.R. Ambrose

Member

J.R. Ambrose is an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Shadyside Academy, he is a lifelong Pittsburgher.

Letrell Deshan Crittenden

Member

Letrell Crittenden is Director of Inclusion and Audience Growth at the American Press Institute. In this role, as the first director of inclusion and audience growth, he will build upon API’s work in the area of organizational and cultural change and deepen the organization’s focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

He had served as program director and assistant professor of communication at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. A former police and government reporter, Letrell is an emerging scholar who specializes in issues related to diversity and inclusion in news, and community journalism.

Over the past decade, he provided citizen journalism training to high school students and community members in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and central Pennsylvania. He serves as an editor and co-researcher for the Germantown Info Hub, a collaboration with Temple University designed to provide better news coverage of the city’s Germantown neighborhood.

His scholarship on the field of journalism has appeared in Columbia Journalism Review, Neiman Reports and Journalism Practice. One article he co-authored was named as one of seven studies to know on race and the newsroom by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University.

Letrell’s work has earned him fellowships with both the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, and the Media and Inequality Center at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the National Association of Black
Journalists, and served as a board member Pittsburgh Black Media Federation.

David Perozzi

Member

David Perozzi is an award-winning journalist who currently is an executive producer at Lincoln Square Productions/ABC News 20/20 on “ID Presents: Homicide.” David has reported breaking news, social issues, celebrities, health care stories, and politics. He built his distinguished career primarily at Disney/ABC News. David has extensively produced for Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, John Quinones and a host of other correspondents. He is based in New York.

Tony Norman

Member

Tony Norman is a columnist and associate editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He specializes in writing about race, culture, and politics in his widely-read and award-winning columns. He began his career at the Post-Gazette in 1988. He is based in Pittsburgh.

Krishnadev Calamur

Member

Krishnadev Calamur is NPR’s deputy Washington editor. He previously worked at the Atlantic where he wrote about foreign policy and national security. He is based in the Washington, D.C., area.

Paul Compton

Member

With over 35 years of experience, Paul Compton is an award-winning creative director, designer, and illustrator, with his agency, Paul Compton Design. He started with the Washington Times print newspaper, then joined the Washington Post to help launch its first website in 1996. Paul contributed to washingtonpost.com in many ways, including site design, user experience, information graphics, illustration, and senior leadership, while hiring and mentoring rising industry stars. In 2011, Paul left washingtonpost.com to start his design business that serves and expands beyond news media to a wide range of clients and projects. He is a graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and based in Greenville, S.C.

Lindsay Fleuriet

Member

Lindsay Fleuriet is the Creative Director for Postindustrial Media. She is a certified project management professional, PMP, and has worked on the creative teams in NYC for Estee Lauder/MAC Cosmetics and Tommy Hilfiger. Lindsay has made several feature films as an art director and production designer, filmed in Youngstown, Ohio – her Postindustrial hometown.