About AZCIR

AZCIR Staff

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Brandon Quester is the founder, executive director and editor of the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. Under his leadership, AZCIR has become a nationally-recognized, award-winning newsroom best known for its deep investigative journalism on important public policy issues in Arizona and the Southwest. Prior to AZCIR, Quester’s reporting ranged from coverage along the U.S.-Mexico border to U.S. soldiers serving in Kuwait and Iraq, with domestic and international bylines. He has worked at newspapers and online publications from Phoenix to California to Wyoming, including work in education as an adjunct journalism instructor and as an editor for the nationwide Carnegie-Knight News21 investigative reporting program at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Quester was also a 2015 Kiplinger Fellow, and is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News Emerging Leaders Council, a group of leaders expected to advance the industry over the coming decade. Most recently he worked as the director of data and visuals for inewsource in San Diego.

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Maria Polletta is the managing editor of the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, where she oversees daily editorial operations and helps implement the newsroom’s long-term investigative priorities. She previously served as AZCIR’s senior reporter and associate editor, producing award-winning investigations into Arizona’s education and child care systems. Before joining AZCIR, Polletta covered state government and politics for The Arizona Republic and the USA Today Network, leading accountability coverage of Arizona’s executive and judicial branches. Over nearly 15 years in journalism, her reporting has covered a broad range of issues at the intersection of policy and everyday life — including criminal justice, economic development and public health — with bylines from Arizona to Mexico. Polletta has also appeared on television and radio as a moderator and analyst, and has been selected for national reporting fellowships through the Poynter Institute and the National Press Foundation.

Read Maria’s reporting

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Jasmine Demers is an investigative reporter covering health inequities for AZCIR. Prior to joining the newsroom, Demers covered issues related to youth, social services and legislative accountability in Kentucky. Her reporting on the foster care system led to changes in how the state’s child welfare agency investigates group homes. Demers also worked for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, her hometown, where she covered local government during the pandemic. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Arizona School of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree in communication from California State University San Marcos.

Read Jasmine’s reporting

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Christopher Lomahquahu is a Roy W. Howard fellow for AZCIR as part of a year-long investigative reporting fellowship program. He is an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community, where he began his award-winning journalism career covering a range of topics from culture and sports to education and governmental affairs. Most recently, Christopher earned a master’s degree in investigative journalism from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, completing his capstone at its Howard Center for Investigative Journalism—the namesake of his fellowship. Christopher also took part in the Cronkite School’s Borderlands Initiative and News21, both accountability-focused reporting projects, to investigate immigration and voter accessibility within underrepresented communities. In addition, he contributed to an investigation examining university compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. He is a first-generation college graduate, and holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and separate master’s degree in social work, both from ASU.

Read Christopher’s reporting

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Molly Bohannon is an investigative reporter covering higher education for AZCIR, through a partnership with Report for America and the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund. She previously covered breaking news for Forbes and education at the Fort Collins Coloradoan, reporting on challenges facing students, teachers and school districts across northern Colorado. A Phoenix native, Bohannon earned a master’s degree in investigative journalism from Arizona State University and a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English from Creighton University. During her master’s program, she worked on an award-winning investigation into how communities nationwide responded to COVID-19 outbreaks among unhoused populations.

Read Molly’s reporting

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Ally Markovich is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice for AZCIR through a partnership with Report for America. Before coming to AZCIR, she was an education and enterprise reporter at Berkeleyside, where her data-driven accountability journalism earned multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists of Northern California. Her investigation into a sexual misconduct case exposed how a school district knowingly kept a predatory teacher employed for more than 15 years. Markovich’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Huffington Post and The Washington Post, and she has reported internationally from Ukraine and Greece. Previously, she taught high school English in Mississippi, New Jersey and California. She holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University and master’s degree in journalism and politics from Columbia University.

Read Ally’s reporting

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Adriana Navarro is a Roy W. Howard fellow at AZCIR as part of a year-long investigative reporting program to support emerging journalists. She’ll cover the intersection of gender, politics and policy across Arizona. Navarro is an award-winning investigative and data journalist whose reporting has focused on topics ranging from natural disasters and climate change to the opioid crisis in Baltimore City. As a graduate student at the University of Maryland, she led a team with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism to uncover how lobbyists privately fund congressional travel by exploiting legal loopholes. She has since held data reporting internships at The Washington Post and The Baltimore Banner. Navarro holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland.

Read Adriana’s reporting

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Brendon Derr, former Roy W. Howard Fellow for AZCIR, is a contributing data reporter for the newsroom. Derr earned his master’s degree in investigative journalism from the Cronkite School of Journalism at ASU. As a reporter for the Howard Center for Investigative Reporting, Derr worked on the award-winning project “Little Victims Everywhere.” The investigation exposed systemic problems with the federal government’s investigation and prosecution of child sexual abuse cases in Indian Country. He also reported on the prisons and jails team for The New York Times’ COVID-tracking effort, which won the newsroom a Pulitzer Prize in public service. Most recently Derr worked as a data reporter for the Houston Chronicle.

Read Brendon’s reporting

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Tallulah Anne is a fact-checker for AZCIR, working in partnership with Gigafact. Originally from Lewes, England, Tallulah recently earned her bachelor’s degree from ASU’s Cronkite School of Journalism. During her time at the Cronkite School, Tallulah led a national, year-long investigation at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, freelanced for the The New York Times and contributed to local news outlets across the state. She is passionate about accountability reporting, survivor-centered storytelling, and building trust through transparency and documentation.

Read Tallulah’s Fact Briefs

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AZCIR Board of Directors

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AZCIR Policies

• AZCIR Bylaws
• AZCIR Code of Ethics
• AZCIR Conflicts of Interest Policy
• AZCIR Fundraising Policy

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AZCIR Financials

• 2024 AZCIR 990
• 2023 AZCIR 990
• 2022 AZCIR 990
• 2021 AZCIR 990
• 2020 AZCIR 990
• 2019 AZCIR 990
• 2018 AZCIR 990

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DONORS

2024 | 2023 | 2022 |2021|2020 | 2019 | 2018

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2024

Foundations and Corporations

• Inasmuch Foundation
• Arizona Community Foundation’s Ellis Center for Educational Excellence
• Emerson Collective and Silicon Valley Community Foundation
• Democracy Fund
• The Reva & David Logan Foundation
• Press Forward
• Local News Hub
• The Scripps Howard Foundation
• Fund for Investigative Journalism
• Fund for Nonprofit News (NewsMatch) at The Miami Foundation
• Vitalyst Health Foundation
• The GroundTruth Project | Report for America
• Pakis Family Foundation
• The Carter Center
• Murray & Dottie Goodman Family Foundation

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2023

Foundations and Corporations

• Inasmuch Foundation
• Arizona Community Foundation’s Ellis Center for Educational Excellence
• The Scripps Howard Foundation
• Fund for Investigative Journalism
• The Miami Foundation
• Vitalyst Health Foundation
• The GroundTruth Project | Report for America
• The Carter Center

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2022

Foundations and Corporations

• Arizona Community Foundation’s Ellis Center for Educational Excellence
• Inasmuch Foundation
• Institute for Nonprofit News
• The Miami Foundation
• The Scripps Howard Foundation
• The GroundTruth Project | Report for America
• Gigafact
• The Carter Center
• Community Foundation for Southern Arizona (donor-advised fund)

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2021

Foundations and Corporations

• Arizona Community Foundation’s Ellis Center for Educational Excellence
• Inasmuch Foundation
• The GroundTruth Project | Report for America
• John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
• The DeFilippis Family Fund
• Community Foundation for Southern Arizona (donor-advised fund)
• BBB Serving Pacific Southwest (in honor of Adam Goodman)

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2020

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2019

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2018

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