Vermont’s nonprofit digital news organization has made key hires in recent months and promoted talented staff into new roles.
The newly filled positions stretch across VTDigger’s newsroom and its revenue and operations department, including key roles such as chief revenue officer, audience and product director, night editor and southern Vermont reporter.
“These hires and promotions are an investment in VTDigger’s mission to provide in-depth, trustworthy journalism for Vermonters,” said Sky Barsch, VTDigger’s CEO. “We’re excited to welcome new talent to the team while also recognizing and promoting the hard work and dedication of our longtime staff.”
The recent hires and promotions include:
Yardain Amron, night editor — Amron spent eight years as a freelance reporter, audio producer, magazine editor and editorial strategist before joining VTDigger in September as night editor. He earned a master’s degree in geography at the University of British Columbia and most recently served as an instructor at the School of the New York Times.
Lesli Blount, interim chief revenue officer — A nonprofit leadership adviser and philanthropy consultant, Blount is consulting with VTDigger to strengthen its relationships with donors, members and business underwriters. Blount previously spent a dozen years as director of business sponsorships at Vermont Public, and has also held positions at KeyBank and the Greater Burlington YMCA.
Greg Bonica, staff accountant — Bonica, who most recently worked for BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont, joined VTDigger in January as a staff accountant. He has close to a decade’s worth of experience in accounting, finance and operations.
Peter D’Auria, health care and government accountability reporter — Since joining VTDigger in October 2021, D’Auria has served as a key member of the news organization’s policy team, first covering education and then health care and human services. In January, he became VTDigger’s health care and government accountability reporter, a role that will allow him to put his investigative reporting skills to work across state government.
Taylor Haynes, audience and product director — Haynes joined VTDigger as its first creative director in April 2021 and has since led the charge on major rebranding and website redesign projects. In December, she was named audience and product director, a role focused on expanding and diversifying VTDigger’s readership, growing newsletter subscriptions and increasing revenue to fund its journalism.
Greta Solsaa, southern Vermont reporter — Solsaa, who grew up in Rutland, returned to her hometown in November to cover southern Vermont for VTDigger, focusing on Rutland County and Bennington County. She previously worked as an outreach coordinator and research writer for the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News and as a freelance reporter.
Ethan Weinstein, state government and politics reporter — Weinstein first joined VTDigger as an intern in January 2022 and became a staff reporter that May, covering southern Vermont and, later, the state correctional system. Weinstein spent the last year covering education and corrections. He now joins Shaun Robinson as one of VTDigger’s two state government and politics reporters, keeping close tabs on Vermont’s legislative and executive branches.
VTDigger is currently hiring a business and general assignment reporter.
Read the story on VTDigger here: VTDigger makes key hires, promotes existing staff.