Melvin Claxton is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author. He has won dozens of national journalism awards and is a much sought after lecturer and media consultant. Claxton began his journalism career at The Virgin Islands Daily News before holding senior investigative reporting positions at the Chicago Tribune, Detroit News and Tennessean newspapers. His work won the V.I. Daily News a Public Service Pulitzer in 1995. He was also a finalist for a Public Service Pulitzer in 2003.

Russell Carollo is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter whose specialties include computer-assisted reporting, FOIA, public records, law enforcement and the military. The New Orleans-area native is a four-time Pulitzer finalist. Carollo, a former University of Michigan Journalism fellow, has a degree in journalism from Louisiana State University and a history degree from Southeastern Louisiana University.

William C. Gaines, journalism professor emeritus, University of Illinois; an investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune for 27 years and the winner of two Pulitzer prizes, one for abusive patient care in 1976 and another for corruption in the Chicago City Council 1988.  He is the author of a college textbook: “Investigative Journalism: Proven Strategies for Reporting the Story.”

Leavett Biles is a highly successful newsroom media convergence consultant. He specializes in converting existing staff and resources into fully integrated content management and design operations for print, online and television. In addition to his positions as Graphics Director at the Denver Post and Sun-Sentinel, Biles redesigned Cars.com, which is the automotive classified tool of choice for more than 100 newspaper web sites. As a consultant and subject matter expert, Biles has written requests for proposals (RFPS) and statements of work for such clients as DaimlerChrysler, Hyatt Corporation and WestAM bank.