Learn more and Register for ONA24

Are you stepping into a new management role at your news organization? Join the Maynard Institute for a special training session at the Online News Association’s annual conference (ONA24) taking place Sept. 18-21 in Atlanta, Georgia at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Downtown.

ONA’s conferences provide a platform to learn, connect and contribute to shaping the future of digital journalism. Attendees represent global news outlets, local news startups, technology companies, universities and the broader ecosystem of journalism support organizations.

This workshop equips new managers with the skills needed to confidently transition into leadership while creating an inclusive, supportive team culture. You’ll learn how to foster openness, respect, and innovation—key elements often overlooked in traditional environments.

Workshop Highlights:

  • Stepping into Your Role: Discover what’s expected of you as a manager and the essential elements for success.

  • Leaning into Your Fault Lines®: Address personal biases, encourage full participation, and create an environment that values feedback, innovation, and respectful disagreement.

  • Building Power and Gaining Influence: Learn how to gain recognition and effectively influence both multi-generational peers and higher-level staff as a first-time manager.

  • Handling Difficult Conversations: Bring real-life scenarios to the session and receive tailored advice on delivering tough news. You’ll also practice these conversations in a supportive setting, refining your approach.

Led by experienced facilitators from the Maynard Institute, this workshop blends practical strategies, real-world examples, and hands-on exercises to help you establish your leadership presence, shape a positive team culture, and navigate challenging situations with confidence.

This workshop is designed to provide mid-career leaders with everything they need to step into management roles for the first time and will guide participants through the challenges associated with navigating new responsibilities, managing difficult relationships, fostering work culture and building power and influence.

The Maynard Institute has a six-decade track record of helping managers succeed and ascend to top roles in news and journalism organizations.

How to Register

This session requires ONA24 registration and advance sign-up through the RSVP process, along with an additional $50 fee. Registered attendees can sign up using their personalized account link found in your ONA registration confirmation email sent by registration@journalists.org. More information about the RSVP process can be found in the conference FAQs and the ONA blog titled Moving On Up: Professional Development Training at ONA24.

Speakers:

Jean Marie Brown is Senior Fault Lines® trainer and Associate Professor of Professional Practice at TCU’s Bob Schieffer School of Communication. In addition to serving as a full-time faculty member at TCU, she is also director of student media. A former newspaper executive, Brown spent most of her professional career working for Knight Ridder and later McClatchy newspapers. She held management positions at The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The Charlotte Observer. Her management career included time as a deputy features editor, city editor, assistant managing editor and managing editor. At one time, she directed local news coverage for the Arlington and Northeast edition of the Star-Telegram. Her strengths as an editor were line editing, story idea generation and staff development. As a reporter, she excelled at covering local government and public policy. She began her career in the Chicago bureau of The Wall Street Journal where she covered agriculture, financial futures and U.S. farm policy. Brown has a bachelor’s from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and a master’s from Texas Christian University.

Kim Bui is a digital journalist, strategy consultant, freelance researcher and 2024 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow. Previously, she was the Senior director of product and audience innovation at the Arizona Republic. She’s focused her career on leading real-time news initiatives and creating new storytelling forms for digital, print and broadcast companies catering to local, national and global audiences. Prior, she was editor-at-large for NowThis News, focusing on original, social reporting and breaking news. She was also deputy managing editor for reported.ly, a digital media startup specializing in social journalism. She’s been a speaker, trainer and teacher on digital and social journalism at universities, conferences and gatherings worldwide. She writes a syndicated newsletter for emerging leaders and managers, The Middles.

Felecia D. Henderson is Director of Cultural Competency at the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. She is a coach on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging issues to over 100 print and broadcast news organizations in the Knight-Lenfest Table Stakes digital newsroom innovation program. She also leads Maynard’s Fault Lines® training program and the cultural competency program for colleges and universities. Before joining the institute, Felecia was an assistant managing editor at The Detroit News where she was a member of the senior management team responsible for newsroom operations. She began her journalism career at her hometown newspaper, The Courier- Journal in Louisville, KY, graduated from the Maynard’s Editing Program for Minority Journalists at the University of Arizona and held editing roles at the Detroit Free Press and The Cincinnati Post. Felecia has a bachelor’s in Radio-TV/Journalism from Murray State University and a master’s in Organization Development from Bowling Green State University.

Martin G. Reynolds is the co-executive director of the Maynard Institute. Before being named to leadership of the Maynard Institute, Martin was a senior fellow for strategic planning for the institute, helping to oversee planning and implementation of the “MIJE Re-Imagined” project. He is co-founder of Oakland Voices, a community storytelling project that trains residents to be community correspondents. For his work there, he was named as Digital First Media’s Innovator of the Year. Before his Maynard fellowship, Reynolds was senior editor for community engagement and training for 18 years with the Bay Area News Group and editor-in-chief of the Oakland Tribune between 2008-2011. Reynolds was also a lead editor on the Chauncey Bailey Project, formed in 2007 to investigate the slaying of the former Oakland Post editor and Tribune reporter. He conducts Fault Lines diversity training programs for media companies, colleges and universities. He is a sought-after speaker on the state of diversity, trust and inclusion in journalism

Moderator:

Evelyn Hsu is the co-executive director of the Maynard Institute. She will guide the strategic direction of the Newsroom Transformation Program. She joined the institute in 2004 as director of programs. Most recently, she was senior director for programs and operations. She worked as a reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Post. She was an associate director of the American Press Institute and a member of the faculty of the Poynter Institute. She is a past national president of the Asian American Journalists Association. She is a graduate of the Maynard Institute’s Summer Program for Minority Journalists.