Officers

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Ben Abrams is a reporter and afternoon news anchor at KWGS (Public Radio Tulsa). He previously worked as a news assistant at the New York-based legal news website Law360. He is originally from Philadelphia, Penn. 

Ben graduated cum laude from Hofstra University where he received his bachelor's degree in radio production. He was a member of the news team at WRHU 88.7FM, the NAB Marconi Award-winning student radio station. At WRHU, he received a number of awards from both station management and the Press Club of Long Island. He also co-created the audio documentary program "Getting To The Root." He was named "Senior of the Year" in the Radio Production and Studies program (now known as "Podcasting and Audio Storytelling") and was accepted into the Lambda Pi Eta Communications Honor Society. 

Ben received his master's degree in journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY while navigating the challenges of reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At KWGS, Ben has covered local politics, public transit, education and Tulsa's renewed efforts to address the legacy of the 1921 Race Massacre. He has received awards from the Oklahoma SPJ Pro Chapter for his coverage and has joined his KWGS colleagues in accepting station-wide awards from the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters.

Heide Brandes is an award-winning journalist, travel journalist and editor with more than 20 years of published experience. 

She regularly contributes to numerous state, regional and national publications and has been published in BBC Travel, National Geographic, Cowboys & Indians, Huffington Post, Business Insider, Forbes, United Airlines Hemispheres, Sierra Magazine, Route Magazine, Silicon66, The Guardian UK, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Outdoor X 4 Magazine, Kayak Magazine, RoadTrippers Magazine, ROVA, TrailGroove Magazine, Destinations Travel Magazine, New York Daily News, The New York Times and others. She also served as the Oklahoma correspondent for Reuters News Service.

Heide is a public speaker and writing instructor who often speaks to writer groups, college classes and professional organizations. She holds numerous writing honors and served as a media relations professional for non-profit organizations.

Heide is currently a board member of The Society for Professional Journalists Oklahoma Pro Chapter, and is a member of Society for American Travel Writers, Outdoor Writers of America Association, and North American Travel Journalists Association.

Heide is an avid traveler, medieval warrior, hiker, professional bellydancer and Bellydance instructor and kind of a quirky chick who lives in Oklahoma City.

Andrew Griffin is a professional journalist and author with for over 30 years’ experience in unbiased factual reporting including 12 years as an editor and news director. 

His special focus includes politics, American and regional history, business, pop culture, conspiracy background, investigative pieces, and live event coverage.

He was also the publisher and owner of Red Dirt Report  from July 2007 to March 2020. 

The website was dogged in its coverage of Oklahoma news, politics, entertainment, sports, and opinion. It was recognized statewide as a respected, unbiased and factual source of information about things going on in Oklahoma and beyond. 

He self-published his first book: Rock Catapult: 1966 – The Launch of Modern Rock & Roll. (West Marie Media / 2018). 

He recently finished writing a novel – Talbot Finch and The Stilwell Enigma. 

 Dr. Mark Hanebutt is professor of journalism in the department of mass communication at UCO. A native of Evansville, Indiana, he holds a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from the University of Evansville, a master of arts degree in English from the University of Central Oklahoma and a juris doctor degree in law from the Oklahoma City University School of Law. 

Dr. Hanebutt was named to the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2024. He has worked for newspapers in Indiana and Florida, including The Orlando Sentinel, as a reporter, magazine writer, syndicated feature writer and editor. His work has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the country. 

He is the author of The Journalist’s Primer: A No-Nonsense Guide to Getting and Reporting the News (Kendall Hunt 2023). 

He teaches courses in news reporting and media law. His research areas include reporting, law, history, ethics and propaganda.

Allison Herrera joined APM Reports in November 2023 as a senior reporter. She previously covered Indigenous Affairs for KOSU in Tulsa. 

She received an Emmy Award nomination for her work on a Reveal investigation that centered on criminal justice in Oklahoma. 

Herrera also produced a podcast with Bloomberg. The podcast, In Trust, won a 2023 Loeb Award. It investigated how federal policies over the last few decades resulted in the transfer of mineral rights from members of the Osage Nation to white owners. The podcast won a Loeb Award. 

Herrera also reported for PRX’s The World, where she investigated the global surrogacy industry in Ukraine and the issue of reproductive rights in Argentina. 

For Colorado Public Radio, she worked as the climate and environment editor. 

Herrera’s Native ties are from her Xolon Salinan tribal heritage; her family’s traditional village is in the Toro Creek area of the Central California coast. She splits her time between Minnesota and Oklahoma.

Leslie D. Owens’ career has encompassed roles stating in an advertising agency’s project coordinator to co-founding/publishing Sooner Spectator magazine.

After starting a PR career informally in her own neighborhood, then after getting a journalism Bachelor of Arts from Oklahoma State, her professional path has led through the floors of the old Oklahoman building as copywriter in promotions, to being in corporate communications and working in a public affairs consulting firm that among other projects, did special initiatives pet projects for a governor at the time.

She has launched businesses of her own, with her husband, and for her husband, and advised many who graced their presence with her while at an SBA-funded women’s business center.

Owens has held a seat at the horseshoe for city council meetings a representative of her constituents and presented the idea to ACOG (Association of Central Oklahoma Governments) to use “Can you find me now?” on messages shared with legislators who then approved collection of fees to build the infrastructure for 9-1-1 dispatchers to locate callers using mobile devices.

Now an idea-generating mad woman (or muse), she and her husband, Phil Owens, an attorney whose caseloads are heavy with child welfare cases and appeals, have six adopted children and one bonus young man as part of their family. She now serves as chaplain for a therapy group helping veterans with service-related PTSD.

Lionel Ramos is an award-winning investigative journalist dedicated to uncovering systemic issues and holding institutions accountable. As State Government Reporter for KOSU, Oklahoma City’s NPR member station, he leads coverage of the Oklahoma State Capitol, delivering in-depth reporting on policy, governance, and its impact on communities.

Before joining KOSU in 2024, Lionel was a Report for America corps member at Oklahoma Watch, where he specialized in investigative reporting on race, equity, and marginalized communities. His work tracked the political rise of Latinos in Oklahoma, the challenges faced by Afghan refugees resettling in the state, and the legal implications of the landmark Supreme Court rulings affecting Indigenous rights. His commitment to in-depth, high-impact journalism earned him First Place in the Defending the Disadvantaged category at the 2023 SPJ Fort Worth Pro Chapter’s First Amendment Awards, recognizing his reporting on vulnerable populations.

In 2025, he was selected for the National Press Foundation’s "Widening the Pipeline" fellowship, a program dedicated to fostering diversity in journalism.

Abigail Siatkowski is KOSU’s digital producer. She joined the newsroom in August 2024.

Siatkowski was born and raised in Oklahoma City. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in communication and a minor in information and media literacy.

While in college, Siatkowski worked for the student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, as the editor of its quarterly magazine and later its managing editor. She received first place at the 2024 California College Media Association Excellence in Student Media Awards in the Best Print Magazine category. She also led The Bruin through its coverage of the campus encampments in spring 2024.

Previously, Siatkowski has reported for Los Angeles Magazine and the Los Angeles Times, covering the music industry, the environment and events in Los Angeles.

Wendy Suares is co-anchor with Adam King of the KOKH FOX 25 News at Five and 5:30, the FOX 25 News at Nine, and the FOX 25 Late Edition.

Wendy arrived on the Primetime desk in 2013 after co-anchoring the FOX 25 Morning News. Prior to that, she was a morning anchor and reporter at KARK, the NBC affiliate in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Wendy has earned Associated Press awards for public affairs reporting as well as for news photography, covering everything from Hurricane Katrina to cold cases from the Civil Rights era. Wendy's passion for fair and hard-hitting political reporting developed as she covered the Mississippi state legislature for WLBT and 5 other television stations.

A native of Biloxi, Wendy began her career as an anchor and reporter in 2004 at WXVT, in Greenville, Mississippi.

Wendy graduated cum laude from Emerson College in Boston. While earning her bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism and Political Communications, Wendy co-anchored and reported for the Associated Press' "College News Station of the Year."

Wendy has traveled extensively. She spent a semester in college studying in The Netherlands. She played college tennis at Emerson and continues to play competitively when she can. In her free time, you'll find her enjoying live music or hitting up one of OKC's fantastic restaurants.

Dr. Philip Todd is a longtime journalist and media scholar with more than 30 years’ experience in newspapers, magazines, textbooks, reporting, editing, design, radio, and instruction. 

He is an instructor in journalism and student publications advisor at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Ind. He has taught at the University of Oklahoma, St. Gregory’s University, University of Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky University among others.

Todd has presented and published work on topics ranging from media pedagogy and ethics to musicology. His University of Oklahoma  dissertation was named the 2020 Penn State Davis Ethics Award winner for best media ethics-related research. 

In addition to causing whatever trouble he can in Indiana and Oklahoma over the past 20 years, he also serves as copy editor and consultant for Peace Studies, a quarterly publication of The Peace and Justice Studies Association; and does publicity and planning for ProgDay, an annual outdoor progressive rock festival in North Carolina. 

Beth Wallis is StateImpact Oklahoma's education reporter. She joined the collaborative in December 2021, initially focusing on environment and science reporting.

Beth holds two degrees from Oklahoma State University. After teaching band at a public school for five years, she pursued another degree — this time in journalism at the University of Oklahoma.

Previously, Beth was a student reporter for KGOU and the Oklahoma Daily.

In April 2021, she worked with Next Generation Radio, reporting on the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre. The digital journalism and audio training project was a collaboration between KOSU and the OSU School of Strategic Communications.

Beth is also a News21 Fellowship alum, and the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists, Professional Chapter awarded her first place for At the Seams podcast. It chronicled the community of Norman, Okla. during calls to defund the police, recalls of local politicians and ongoing threats and harassment.

Mindy Ragan Wood is a freelance writer and reporter with more 20 years of media, journalism and management experience  Her areas of focus include infrastructure, municipal government policies and human services with an emphasis on the needs of intellectually vulnerable and physically challenged adults.

Mindy has covered the state Legislature for the Oklahoma Voice; was a senior staff reporter for The Norman Transcript; staff writer for the Yukon Progress; and managing editor for the Shawnee Outlook, Ada Hub and Connection magazines.

While at The Norman Transcript, she covered the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority's proposal to construct a turnpike extension in east Norman, including related litigation. This included allegations that the turnpike authority violated the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act.