Knight-Bagehot program names 2016-17 fellows

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism announced 10 Knight Bagehot Fellows in economics and business journalism for the 2016-2017 academic year.

They include journalists from APM’s Marketplace, Bloomberg News, Business Insider, CNBC, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

The mid-career fellowships provide full tuition and a living stipend of $55,000 for experienced journalists to take graduate courses at Columbia’s schools of Business, Law and International and Public Affairs. Fellows also attend special seminars at the Journalism School, led by scholars and business experts during the nine-month program, which begins in August. The program is open to journalists with at least four years’ experience.

“These journalists represent the best and brightest in business journalism,” said Terri Thompson, director of the program, in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming them for a rigorous program of study here at Columbia.”

This year’s fellows are:

Tim J. Craig, 40, is Afghanistan-Pakistan bureau chief for The Washington Post. In his 13 years at the Post, he covered local and state government in Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C., before moving to Pakistan as bureau chief in 2013, where he covers the struggle against terrorism and how residents of both Pakistan and Afghanistan cope with war and economic uncertainty. He began his career as a reporter for The Baltimore Sun in 1999, after graduating from Gannon University with a B.A. in communications English.

Edward Krudy, 39, joined Reuters in 2009 as a stock market reporter, going on to lead the Wall Street team for two years. Since 2013 he has been covering state and local government and municipal finance with a recent focus on Puerto Rico’s debt crisis. British-Hungarian, he graduated with a B.A. in East European languages and regional studies from University College London in 2001 and an M.A. in history from the Central European University in Budapest in 2004. In 2007, he set up Thomson Financial’s Budapest bureau ahead of the merger with Reuters, and before that worked for a number of Hungarian and international news organizations, including Interfax Central Europe and Business Hungary.

Stephen Kurczy, 33, is special correspondent for Americas Quarterly, the Latin America-focused magazine and news site published by Americas Society/Council of the Americas. Previously, he was Brazil correspondent for Monitor Global Outlook, a business publication of The Christian Science Monitor, where he was formerly desk editor. He also freelances for Fusion and has contributed to The New Yorker and VICE. After getting his start with The Day newspaper of Connecticut, he reported on staff for The Cambodia Daily and Debtwire, gaining journalism and language experience across three continents. He graduated from Calvin College in 2005.

Douglas MacMillan, 32, based in San Francisco, has been technology reporter for The Wall Street Journal since 2013. He was part of the team that received the 2015 Scripps Howard Award for Business/Economics Reporting for a series of stories exposing new risks in private tech investing. Previously, he covered technology for Bloomberg News and Businessweek. He is the first beat reporter for a major news outlet focused on Uber, Airbnb and other rising tech startups. He graduated in 2005 from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in English.

Silvana Ordoñez, 26, is a Spanish-language personal finance correspondent and assignment desk producer for CNBC, where she writes, produces and presents CNBC-branded segments in Spanish for Telemundo. Before joining CNBC in 2012 as a news associate, she was a metro reporter for the Miami Herald. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in journalism from Florida International University, where she was awarded outstanding journalism student of the year.

Tracey Samuelson, 33, is a New York-based reporter for APM’s Marketplace, covering business and economic stories. Recently, her work has focused on the impact of international trade on the U.S. economy and public perception of trade agreements. In addition to Marketplace, her radio stories have appeared on NPR, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and the Planet Money podcast, as well as in print for The New York Times, New York Magazine, and the Christian Science Monitor , among others. She has a B.A. from Williams College and an M.S. in journalism from Columbia.

Christie Smythe, 33, as legal reporter for Bloomberg LP, covers consumer, banking, white-collar fraud and other business cases in Brooklyn federal court. Prior to joining Bloomberg in 2012, she wrote and edited for Law360.com, an online news service for corporate lawyers. Previously, she was a business reporter for the Cape Cod Times and a real estate reporter for the Arizona Daily Star. She graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri.

Timothy J. Stenovec, 32, is technology editor for Business Insider’s consumer-focused technology site, Tech Insider. He reports, writes, and edits stories focused on products, services, apps, streaming media, and the future of TV, and covers such companies as Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Previously, he reported and edited for The Huffington Post, and was a reporting intern for The New York Times. He began his career working at a TV station in Colorado. He graduated magna cum laude from Colby College with a B.A. in history, and from New York University earned an M.A. in Journalism.

Roshanak Taghavi, 34, focuses on U.S. security policy and economics, politics and culture of the MENASA region for Newsweek Middle East. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in business from Boston College, she began her journalism career in 2003 reporting on Iranian politics for Egypt’s English-language newspaper, Al Ahram Weekly. For two years she was a correspondent for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, and has since freelanced for a variety of news organizations, including Foreign Policy Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, and Al Jazeera English. In 2007, she earned a Master of international affairs from Columbia University.

John Tozzi, 32, is a health care reporter for Bloomberg.com and Bloomberg Businessweek. Since joining Businessweek magazine in 2008, he has also covered small business and entrepreneurship online and in the print magazine. Previously, he covered community news in Queens for the TimesLedger chain of weekly newspapers. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in journalism from Boston University.