WASHINGTON — States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, announced today it has hired Fernando Wright as chief financial officer. 

In the CFO role, Wright will oversee the news organization’s financial strategy, planning and operations to ensure long-term sustainability and alignment with its mission. He will support the work of more than 220 journalists in newsrooms across the country, as well as new initiatives in audio reporting and the fall launch of a national podcast.

Wright has more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit finance, operations and compliance, with a focus on developing systems that promote growth, equity and impact. Before joining States Newsroom, Wright was the CFO at Polaris Project, where he also temporarily led the organization’s technology team. During his tenure, he managed finance, IT and risk management and oversaw the modernization of infrastructure to support rapid growth. 

“States Newsroom is growing fast, but it’s a challenging time for the media industry,” said States Newsroom Publisher and CEO Chris Fitzsimon. “Fernando’s depth of finance experience and breadth of knowledge in other areas of leadership is exactly what we need to ensure we’re expanding in a sustainable way.”

Wright steps into a role recently held by Breanne Porter, who was promoted to chief operating officer in March. He joins a States Newsroom leadership team that includes Fitzsimon, Porter, Andrea Shaw (editorial director), Mika’il Petin (equity, inclusion and strategic initiatives director), Nelle Dunlap (digital director) and Lara Weber (communications director). 

Outside of work, Wright serves as treasurer for Girls on the Run Northern Virginia and has taught photography for more than a decade. 

Wright is based in Washington, D.C., and begins July 28. 

MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Contact Lara Weber, communications director, about leadership media availability or with any questions about States Newsroom: 312-952-0788 or [email protected]

ABOUT STATES NEWSROOM

States Newsroom is the nation’s largest nonprofit state-focused news organization. We shine a light on policy and politics in state capitals around the nation and we provide that coverage for free, no pop-ups, paywalls or ads. In an era of rampant disinformation and news deserts, we provide nonpartisan coverage of the state issues that most affect people’s daily lives.

Leading studies cite States Newsroom as key to filling the void in coverage left by staffing cuts at legacy media outlets. According to one study, the overall percentage of reporters working for nonprofit newsrooms in the statehouse press corps has more than tripled since 2014 and now makes up the largest portion of statehouse reporters in 10 states and the second largest in 17 states.

States Newsroom runs — or partners with — news outlets in all 50 state capitals.

We fully fund newsrooms in 39 states, each with its own website. They are:

Alabama Reflector – alabamareflector.com

Alaska Beacon – alaskabeacon.com

Arizona Mirror – azmirror.com

Arkansas Advocate – arkansasadvocate.com

Colorado Newsline – coloradonewsline.com

Florida Phoenix – floridaphoenix.com

Georgia Recorder – georgiarecorder.com

Idaho Capital Sun – idahocapitalsun.com

Indiana Capital Chronicle – indianacapitalchronicle.com

Iowa Capital Dispatch – iowacapitaldispatch.com

Kansas Reflector – kansasreflector.com

Kentucky Lantern – kentuckylantern.com

Louisiana Illuminator – lailluminator.com

Maine Morning Star – mainemorningstar.com

Maryland Matters – marylandmatters.org

Michigan Advance – michiganadvance.com

Minnesota Reformer – minnesotareformer.com

Missouri Independent – missouriindependent.com

Daily Montanan – dailymontanan.com

Nebraska Examiner – nebraskaexaminer.com

Nevada Current – nevadacurrent.com

New Hampshire Bulletin – newhampshirebulletin.com

New Jersey Monitor – newjerseymonitor.com

Source New Mexico – sourcenm.com

NC Newsline – ncnewsline.com

North Dakota Monitor – northdakotamonitor.com

Ohio Capital Journal – ohiocapitaljournal.com

Oklahoma Voice – oklahomavoice.com

Oregon Capital Chronicle – oregoncapitalchronicle.com

Pennsylvania Capital-Star – penncapital-star.com

Rhode Island Current – rhodeislandcurrent.com

South Carolina Daily Gazette – scdailygazette.com

South Dakota Searchlight – southdakotasearchlight.com

Stateline – stateline.org

Tennessee Lookout – tennesseelookout.com

Utah News Dispatch – utahnewsdispatch.com

Virginia Mercury – virginiamercury.com

Washington State Standard – washingtonstatestandard.com

West Virginia Watch – westvirginiawatch.com

Wisconsin Examiner – wisconsinexaminer.com

States Newsroom also has content-sharing agreements with 11 leading nonprofit newsrooms: CalMatters (California), Connecticut Mirror, Spotlight Delaware, Honolulu Civil Beat, Capitol News Illinois, CommonWealth Beacon (Massachusetts), Mississippi Today, New York Focus, The Texas Tribune, VTDigger (Vermont), and WyoFile (Wyoming).