Staff



CIR Staff

See the California Watch staff list.


Robert Rosenthal, Executive Director
An award-winning journalist with nearly 40 years of experience, Rosenthal has worked for some of the most respected newspapers in the country, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer and, most recently, the San Francisco Chronicle. As a reporter, his awards include the Overseas Press Club Award for magazine writing, the Sigma Delta Chi Award for distinguished foreign correspondence, and the National Association of Black Journalists Award for Third World Reporting. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in international reporting. Rosenthal worked for 22 years at the Inquirer, becoming its executive editor in 1998. He became managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle in late 2002, and joined the Center for Investigative Reporting as executive director in 2008.
Contact Robert Rosenthal | Full Profile | Reporter's Blog
Christa Scharfenberg, Associate Director
Christa manages the day-to-day operations at the Center for Investigative Reporting, is responsible for budgeting and financial management, and assists with strategic program development and fundraising. She joined CIR in 2003 as communications director and served as acting executive director in 2007 before becoming associate director. She was senior producer of CIR's documentary "Banished" and executive producer of "Hot Politics" and "A Dangerous Business Update."
Contact Christa Scharfenberg | Full Profile | Reporter's Blog
Allegra Bandy, Operations Manager
Allegra works closely with the Executive and Associate directors, to help maintain the smooth operation of the CIR office and its regular functions, as well as provide support for its development and fundraising efforts. Allegra Bandy is a native of San Francisco with an extensive background as an educator as well as a musical performer, recording artist, producer, and director for the past 16 years. For more information go to www.allegrabandy.com.
Contact Allegra Bandy | Full Profile
Carrie Ching, Senior Multimedia Producer
Carrie produces and manages multimedia reports for CIR. She also acts as web editor and runs The Muckraker Blog. She is producer of CIR's web-video series, "The Investigators," highlighting investigative reporting—as it happens—around the world. Prior to joining CIR, Carrie was a magazine editor and newspaper reporter; she also produced video reports for Washingtonpost.com and Current TV. She completed a master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley in 2005.
Contact Carrie Ching | Full Profile | Reporter's Blog
Cherilyn Parsons, Director of Development (Consultant)
Cherilyn oversees CIR’s fundraising and participates in developing CIR’s strategy and programs. She brings more than fifteen years of experience in all aspects of fund development, and has specialized in non-profit journalism and media. She also has led foundation relations at USC and served on USC’s faculty. She has a master’s degree in Professional Writing from USC, is writing a novel, and has traveled extensively.
Full Profile
Mark Katches, Editorial Director, California Watch
Mark is the editorial director for California Watch. Previously, he was the deputy managing editor for projects and investigations at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel where he directed and edited the newspaper's pension project that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. In 2009, he edited a series of stories about dangerous chemicals that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer and also won the George Polk Award, a Scripps-Howard National Journalism Award and the John B. Oakes award. At the Orange County Register, Mark twice managed projects that were finalists for the Pulitzer. In 2001, he was part of a reporting team that won the Gerald Loeb, Sigma Delta Chi and IRE awards for a series of stories detailing the rising profits from the human tissue trade. E-mail: mkatches@californiawatch.org
Full Profile | Reporter's Blog
Mark Schapiro, Senior Correspondent
Schapiro has been an investigative journalist for more than two decades and has built an award-winning track record with a focus on environmental and international affairs. His work has appeared in Harper's, The Nation, Mother Jones, and The Atlantic Monthly. He's also been a correspondent on NOW with Bill Moyers, FRONTLINE/World, and Marketplace. His new book, Exposed, was published by Chelsea Green in September 2007.
Contact Mark Schapiro | Full Profile | Reporter's Blog
G.W. Schulz, Reporter
Schulz joined CIR in 2008 and covers homeland security. Prior to joining CIR, he wrote extensively about politics, municipal corruption, workplace safety, criminal justice and the changing national landscape in news media for the San Francisco Bay Guardian and Urban Tulsa, a weekly newspaper in Oklahoma. He was an early contributor to the Chauncey Bailey Project, which won an IRE Tom Renner Award in 2008. In 2007, he won first place for investigative reporting from the California Newspaper Publishers Association and the Public Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California. Schulz graduated from the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas.
Contact G.W. Schulz | Full Profile | Reporter's Blog
Andrew Becker, Reporter
Andrew covers the federal judiciary for CIR and is currently reporting on the immigration court system. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Nation Web site and Mother Jones. Before joining CIR in 2008, he was a fellow at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where he reported on human smuggling and corruption along the Southwest border for a joint New York Times and PBS FRONTLINE/World production. Previously he was a reporter for the Contra Costa Times. He has also written and reported for the Dallas Morning News, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, FRONTLINE, KQED California Report, and Los Angeles magazine. He received a master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley.
Contact Andrew Becker | Full Profile | Reporter's Blog