David Roberson is a marketing and media executive with a focus on audience growth and monetization. Dave is currently the SVP, Subscriptions at Penske Media with responsibility for monetizing the audiences across consumer and business brands. Prior to joining Penske, he served in senior marketing roles at Meredith, Condé Nast and Rosalie.

In addition to RNF, Dave is on the board of trustees at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and is a past president of the Board of Trustees at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. He has an undergraduate degree from Auburn University and his MBA from Columbia University. Dave lives in New York City with his wife and two teenage boys.

Deborah Caldwell is CEO of Religion News Foundation and Publisher of RNS. She serves as the main point of contact for the RNF and RNS Boards, as well as grantors, oversees all RNF and RNS operations, leads development efforts, and manages long-term strategic planning.

Caldwell joined RNF/RNS in 2020 and previously served as Vice President of Content Marketing at Bank of America. She also previously held executive positions at Time Inc. — including digital managing editor at FORTUNE and digital assistant managing editor at MONEY — as well as at CNBC and Reader’s Digest Association.

She is a frequent speaker on the intersection of religion and media, appearing at industry conferences and academic institutions. Caldwell has also contributed thought leadership pieces on digital journalism, nonprofit media, and religious reporting.

Earlier in her career, Caldwell spent 20 years as an award-winning religion and politics specialist. She was a founding team member and Vice President of Content at Beliefnet, a Web 1.0 startup ultimately sold to News Corp. At Beliefnet, she helped guide the staff to multiple Webby Awards, the Online News Association Award for General Excellence and the National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online. Before that, she was a senior writer at The Dallas Morning News, where she won a Templeton Award for national religion reporting. Deborah was also a Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan.

Won Kim is a marketing and media executive with particular expertise in running creative teams on the cutting edge of strategy and marketing, running the gamut from startup ventures like Digg, Vault, and Relevant to enterprise corporate operations like Disney, Viacom, Alibaba. He has played a key role in the launch of highly engaging brand campaigns and activated digital strategies with notable brands. Won is the Co-Founder of Bored Room Ventures, an investment and consulting firm concentrating on web3, NFTs and metaverse strategy. He chronicles his day-to-day on Twitter @wonk1m, where his tweets cover a quartet of topic areas: family, work, internet culture, and random observations.

John serves as the Executive Director of the Stephen & Laurel Brown Foundation, which includes Upper House—a Christian study center located at the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison—and Dottie’s Ranch—a leadership development and spiritual retreat house located near Oregon, Wisconsin. John previously served as Director for the Center for Integrity in Business at Seattle Pacific University; before that, he worked with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA as the National Director for Professional Schools Ministries, as well as campus minister at Harvard Business School and National Director for MBA Ministry. John is a graduate of Indiana University (Bloomington), holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University), master’s degrees in theology (MATH) and religion (MAR) from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a PhD from Seattle Pacific University in industrial and organizational psychology. John and his wife, Vanja, lived in Middleton, Wisconsin, with their daughter, Elena.

Deborah Caldwell is CEO of Religion News Foundation and Publisher of RNS. She serves as the main point of contact for the RNF and RNS Boards, as well as grantors, oversees all RNF and RNS operations, leads development efforts, and manages long-term strategic planning.

Caldwell joined RNF/RNS in 2020 and previously served as Vice President of Content Marketing at Bank of America. She also previously held executive positions at Time Inc. — including digital managing editor at FORTUNE and digital assistant managing editor at MONEY — as well as at CNBC and Reader’s Digest Association.

She is a frequent speaker on the intersection of religion and media, appearing at industry conferences and academic institutions. Caldwell has also contributed thought leadership pieces on digital journalism, nonprofit media, and religious reporting.

Earlier in her career, Caldwell spent 20 years as an award-winning religion and politics specialist. She was a founding team member and Vice President of Content at Beliefnet, a Web 1.0 startup ultimately sold to News Corp. At Beliefnet, she helped guide the staff to multiple Webby Awards, the Online News Association Award for General Excellence and the National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online. Before that, she was a senior writer at The Dallas Morning News, where she won a Templeton Award for national religion reporting. Deborah was also a Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan.

Ken Chitwood serves as ReligionLink Editor for Religion News Foundation. He is responsible for creating resource guides to support religion journalists in their work and improve the quality of religion reporting. He creates at least one new relevant source guide per month.

Ken is a religion scholar currently working as the Fritz Thyssen Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures & Societies at Freie Universität Berlin. He is also a journalist-fellow with the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture’s Spiritual Exemplars Project and a lecturer in Islamwissenschaft at Otto Friedrich Universität Bamberg and in theology at Concordia College New York’s Global Initiative program. He graduated with his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 2019 where he worked with the Department of Religion and the Center for Global Islamic Studies. He is also an ordained Lutheran pastor.

He serves as Treasurer of the Religion News Association Board of Directors, as well as Vice Chair and Treasurer on the Religion News Foundation Board of Directors.

David Roberson is a marketing and media executive with a focus on audience growth and monetization. Dave is currently the SVP, Subscriptions at Penske Media with responsibility for monetizing the audiences across consumer and business brands. Prior to joining Penske, he served in senior marketing roles at Meredith, Condé Nast and Rosalie. In addition to RNF, Dave is on the board of trustees at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and is a past president of the Board of Trustees at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. He has an undergraduate degree from Auburn University and his MBA from Columbia University. Dave lives in New York City with his wife and two teenage boys.

Steven Waldman is co-founder and president of Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered communities and issues. He was the co-founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of Beliefnet. He also served as senior advisor to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and worked as a Washington correspondent for Newsweek. He’s the author of “Founding Faith,” a book about religion and America’s Founding Fathers.

Tom Levinson is a respected member of the Religion News Foundation’s elected volunteer Board of Directors. With his expertise in business and finance, he plays a crucial role in guiding the organization’s financial decisions. Tom has a successful track record as a business leader and has been involved in various philanthropic activities. He is passionate about supporting initiatives that promote interfaith dialogue and understanding. Tom resides in [Location] and enjoys spending his leisure time exploring different cultures and cuisines.

Won Kim is a marketing and media executive with particular expertise in running creative teams on the cutting edge of strategy and marketing, running the gamut from startup ventures like Digg, Vault, and Relevant to enterprise corporate operations like Disney, Viacom, Alibaba. He has played a key role in the launch of highly engaging brand campaigns and activated digital strategies with notable brands. Won is the Co-Founder of Bored Room Ventures, an investment and consulting firm concentrating on web3, NFTs and metaverse strategy. He chronicles his day-to-day on Twitter @wonk1m, where his tweets cover a quartet of topic areas: family, work, internet culture, and random observations.

Betsy is a writer and editor interested in stories about religion, faith, and social justice. She is associate editor at Sojourners magazine and serves on the board of the Religion News Association. Her freelance work—including stories about virtual reality Bibles, eco-nuns, and karaoke church—has been published in Religion Dispatches, Politics & Religion, and America Magazine. She holds an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School. Betsy also is the Vice President of the Religion News Association Board of Directors, and, as of September 2020, is its president. She is based in Washington, D.C.

Shahed Amanullah is the Managing Director of Frost Capital, a Palo Alto-based private equity fund manager and investment advisor. He is also known for co-founding Affinis Labs, an award-winning social innovation firm that was acquired by Frost Capital in 2019. In addition to his entrepreneurial ventures, Shahed also co-founded Zakatify, a social impact fintech startup in partnership with the PayPal Giving Fund. His expertise extends to growth strategy consulting, as he served as Senior Vice President of Digital Products and interim Senior Vice President of Marketing at Frost & Sullivan from 2020 to 2023. Shahed’s public service record is notable, having served in President Obama’s administration from 2010 to 2014 as the Senior Advisor for Technology at the US Department of State. During his tenure, he worked under Secretary Hillary Clinton on various entrepreneurship and technology initiatives. In 1998, Shahed created Zabihah, the world’s first global Halal restaurant guide, which was later acquired in 2023. He also founded Altmuslim, an online magazine with 2.5 million annual unique users, and served as its editor-in-chief until its acquisition in 2011. Beyond his professional pursuits, Shahed actively contributes to the community by serving on the boards of the Muslim Public Service Network and the Islamic Scholarship Fund. He also takes on the role of an Entrepreneurship Mentor at the Aspen Institute, providing valuable insights to Aspen Digital’s Digital Equity Accelerator program.

Robyn Tomlin is the Chief News Officer for McClatchy, with responsibilities that encompass all news, opinion, and multimedia content produced across the network’s 30 local news sites and affiliated brands. Before assuming her current role, Robyn served as the Vice President of Local News for McClatchy and held the esteemed position of President and Executive Editor at The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, a newspaper under McClatchy’s umbrella. Robyn’s career boasts an impressive trajectory, as she previously worked as the VP/Managing Editor for The Dallas Morning News. Her contributions extend to the digital realm, where she served as the Chief Digital Officer and VP of Communications at the Pew Research Center. Additionally, Robyn led Digital First Media’s Project Thunderdome and held executive editor positions at various local newspapers. In her commitment to the journalism community, Robyn currently serves as a faculty member and coach in Poynter’s Media Transformation Challenge program. Her dedication to elevating media and news dissemination is evident through her extensive career in the field.

Sean Coughlin is a husband, father, entrepreneur and two-time company CEO and cofounder. After a brief and unremarkable stint in “Big Law”, Sean cofounded FaithStreet, a leading discovery platform and payments software solution for places of worship. FaithStreet currently serves over 30,000 congregations, and Sean continues his work as board chair. At FaithStreet, Sean led the acquisition of the religion media property OnFaith from The Washington Post and, as Publisher, reimagined it as a home for thoughtful yet pithy, short and medium form, spirituality content. FaithStreet spun out OnFaith and sold it in 2017. Since stepping down as CEO of FaithStreet in 2023, Sean has served as President of a coaching-tech startup, leading it to a 20x year-over-year revenue growth. Sean serves as board chair of the Campus Communion at the College of Charleston, and is on the board of The Lowcountry Literacy Project. He previously served as the Senior Warden of The Cathedral Church of St. Luke and St. Paul, and co-chaired the Cathedral’s recent, successful $3 million capital campaign. Sean and his wife, Rachel, welcomed their fourth child (first daughter!) in early 2025. Sean is a dedicated surfer and bicycle commuter.

Elaine Justice recently retired from Emory University’s Division of Communications and Marketing. Her various roles during her 32-year career included guiding media relations for Emory’s Candler School of Theology, Graduate Division of Religion, Center for Ethics, and Center for the Study of Law and Religion. Elaine has been a member of the Religion News Association for more than 25 years, and has served on the RNA board for nearly a decade. She lives in Atlanta.