Board members

Ann Marie Fazio Aliotta

  • Member since 2022
  • Associate Director, Communications, Office of University Development, University of Michigan
  • The Michigan Daily Alumna, Reporter and News Editor
  • M.A. English and Creative Writing, New York University
  • B.A. English, University of Michigan

Jillian Berman

  • Member since 2023
  • Deputy Enterprise Editor and Enterprise Reporter, MarketWatch
  • Reporter, Managing News Editor, The Michigan Daily
  • B.A. History from the University of Michigan, 2011
  • MBA, Columbia Business School, 2021

John Copeland

  • Member since 2019
  • Managing Director of Development, Michigan Medicine
  • Formerly with Ross School of Business
  • B.A. Literature, Science and Arts, University of Michigan, 1990 

Geoffrey Gagnon

  • Member since 2023
  • VP, Executive Editor at National Geographic
  • Editor-in-Chief of The Michigan Daily, 2001
  • B.A., Political Science, University of Michigan

Jewel Gopwani Myers

  • Board Chair, FY26
  • Member since 2020
  • Senior Editor, The Detroit Free Press
  • Reporter, editor, arts writer and managing editor for The Michigan Daily 1997 - 2001
  • B.A., Organizational Studies, University of Michigan, 2001 

Ann Marie Lipinski

  • Member since 2025
  • Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for Investigative Journalism
  • Curator, Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Harvard University  - 2011 - present
  • Vice President for Civic Engagement & Senior Lecturer, University of Chicago, 2008 - 2011
  • Editor and Senior Vice President, Chicago Tribune
  • B.A. American Studies, University of Michigan
  • The Michigan Daily alumna, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Robin Luce Herrmann

  • Member since 2024
  • Retired attorney and Media Team Leader, Butzel, 1985 - 2024
  • Counsel for Michigan Press Association 2001 - 2024
  • J.D. Detroit College of Law, 1993
  • B.A. History from the University of Michigan, 1984

Walter Middlebrook

  • Member since 2021
  • Foster Professor of Practice, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, Penn State University
  • Part of an award-winning investigations team at The Detroit News; on staff 11 years
  • Part of team that won Pulitzer Prize for spot news reporting, Newsday 1992
  • Earned a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 from the Society for Professional Journalists, Detroit Chapter
  • Inductee, Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, 2023
  • B.S. Journalism, Boston University, 1976

Kyle Nowels

  • Member since 2025
  • Executive Director for Central States Fundraising, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, University of Michigan
  • B.A. Communication Studies, University of Michigan
  • MBA, Eastern Michigan University