Chris Martin, vice president of external relations and president of the Poynter Foundation, is leaving her position. Elisa Jackson has been promoted to executive director of the foundation, which is the Poynter Institute’s fundraising arm, and she will manage the foundation’s fundraising efforts.
“I’ve been restructuring all facets of the institute as part of a new strategic plan that is designed to change our business model and bolster the finances of the institute for the long term,” said Tim Franklin, who became Poynter Institute’s president 10 months ago. “We’ve made significant progress this year, and I’m quite optimistic about 2015. This restructuring has included changes to the teaching team, our Poynter.org leadership and our program coordinators.”
Franklin recently began conversations about restructuring the foundation and as a result of those conversations, he said, Martin decided to leave the job.
“It is her wish to pursue some new opportunities in higher education,” Franklin said. “Chris has spent most of her career in academia, in several leadership positions, and that’s a continuing passion of hers. I wish her well in that pursuit, and I’m grateful for her help in getting the foundation off the ground.”
Before working at the Poynter Institute, Martin was vice president of university relations at West Virginia University for eight years and prior to that, she was dean of the University’s Perley Isaac School of Journalism. She was the co-director of Poynter’s summer college journalism program from 1997 to 2004.
Jackson has been with the Poynter Institute since September 2013. Prior to that she was the assistant director of development at the University of South Florida for two years.
