Meet Our Journalism Advisory Board

Nicole is a founding board member and board president of The Owen News, the first local non-profit newspaper in Indiana. She has been an independent journalist since 2019. She previously worked for several daily newspapers throughout South-Central Indiana. Nicole currently serves as the Region 5 Coordinator for the Society of Professional Journalists. She also served as the national chair for the Generation J Community and as Region 5 Assistant Coordinator.

Travis worked for seven years as a Staff Writer for a daily community newspaper and served for eight years as Managing Editor for four publications. He is a past recipient of Editor & Publisher Magazine’s ‘Top 25 under 35’ award, the T. Perry Wesley Community Leader of the Year award, and was recognized as an Honorary Chapter Member by the Indiana FFA Association.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors and Journalism Advisory Board for The Owen News, and volunteers as a correspondent for The Owen News.

Travis grew up in Owen County and is a graduate of Owen Valley High School. He later attained a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Western Governors University-Indiana.

Travis currently serves as a Construction Technician for an engineering firm, focusing on drinking water and wastewater projects. He resides in Owen County with his wife, Jill.

Bio coming soon!

Leann Burke began her journalism career in 2013 with an internship at The Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City. Since then, she has built her career in southern Indiana where her articles appear in several publications, including the inaugural edition of The Owen News. She won a first place Best of Indiana Journalism award for the personality profile "Onward: Dr. Scott Beckman," which was published in 2023 in the Dubois County Free Press.

Jordan Gass-Poore’ is an award-winning independent podcast producer and investigative journalist based in New York City. Currently, Gass-Poore’ is the creator and host of Hazard NJ, a limited-series podcast about the impacts of climate change on hazardous Superfund sites in New Jersey. This podcast is in collaboration with NJ Spotlight News/NJ PBS.

Ryan Lynch is a staff writer with the Orlando Business Journal. He has been with the publication for six years, covering topics like health care, government, education and transportation. He graduated in 2018 from Florida Atlantic University and served in multiple roles with the university's student newspaper, the University Press.