Creative Commons License

Incoming CT Mirror board members (clockwise from top left) Khalilah Brown-Dean, Jason Chang, John McKinney and William Ginsberg.

The Connecticut Mirror is welcoming four new members to its board of directors.

New members Khalilah Brown-Dean, Jason Chang, Will Ginsberg and John McKinney were voted in at the organization’s Dec. 4 board meeting.

“The entering class of 2025 joins the CT Mirror board at an exciting and challenging time,” said CT Mirror Board Chair Bilal Sekou. “Over the next few years the CT Mirror board will monitor implementation of CT Mirror’s new strategic plan, tackle questions related to rapid technological change and continued challenges to local journalism, and try to achieve the right balance between growth and revenue generation.”

CT Mirror Publisher Bruce Putterman added that the new board members contribute to “the CT Mirror board’s commitment to racial, ethnic, gender, geographic, professional, and political diversity.”

The addition of Brown-Dean, Chang, Ginsberg and McKinney turns the 17-member board into 19-member board, as members Stewart Hudson and Don Kendall are departing after 10 and three years of service, respectively.

CT Mirror board members share a commitment to public service and a belief that vigorous coverage of government and public policy is essential to the common good.

The board of directors sets overall organizational direction and has the fiduciary responsibility to sustain the organization financially, legally, and ethically. The board has no role in shaping news coverage.

CT Mirror’s full board of directors can be found here. Learn more about the newest board members by reading about their biographies and backgrounds below.

Credit: Michelline Hall

Khalilah Brown-Dean

Brown-Dean is executive director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life at Wesleyan University and host of the CT Public Radio show “Disrupted.” As her title suggests, Brown-Dean is also committed to building and engaging community, particularly through media and storytelling. She is an exceptionally thoughtful leader and inspiring messenger.

Credit: Jason Chang

Jason Chang

Chang is associate professor of History and Asian American Studies at the University of Connecticut where he also served as the director of the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute for six years. He is now head of the new Department of Social and Critical Inquiry. As a public servant he was secretary of the Board of Education for West Hartford Public Schools and sits on the Governor’s Hate Crimes Advisory Council. Chang is the co-founder of a grassroots organization advocating for Asian American and Pacific Islander studies education reform in K-12 public schools.

Credit: Courtesy of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven

Will Ginsberg

Ginsberg, who is former CEO of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, has very passionate beliefs in the role journalism can and must play in our society and communities. As CEO of the Community Foundation he supported the growth of the New Haven Independent for several years at a very meaningful level.

Credit: Courtesy of John McKinney

John McKinney

McKinney is former CT Senate Minority Leader from 2007 to 2015 and Republican candidate for governor, currently serving as a commissioner of the Liquor Control Commission since his appointment by Gov. Ned Lamont in 2021. McKinney serves as the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Westport/Weston Family YMCA and on the Advisory Board to Operation Hope, a homeless shelter in Fairfield. He and his family help provide housing and care for people with AIDS through the Stewart B. McKinney Foundation.

As manager of audience engagement, Gabby is responsible for CT Mirror’s digital growth. She manages our website, newsletters, search engine optimization, CT Mirror Explains product, on-site marketing, social media channels and internal data analysis. Gabby previously worked as a reporter on Patch.com’s Connecticut team and as an associate editor at The Woonsocket Call in Rhode Island. She is a Connecticut native who holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UConn and is pursuing a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.