Staff
Dean
Geeta Anand
(she/her)
Geeta Anand is dean of Berkeley Journalism. She is providing leadership and strategic direction for the California Local News Fellowship. She came to the journalism school in 2018, after working as a reporter for 27 years. She has led the school in the development of a strategic plan that aims to support local journalism and change who gets to become a journalist in this world. A native of Mumbai, India, she began her career in the U.S. at a free weekly newspaper on Cape Cod and went on to cover local government in Vermont for the Rutland Herald and then city and state government for the Boston Globe. She later worked for The Wall Street Journal, where she was part of teams that won a Pulitzer Prize and was a finalist for another, and served as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times in South Asia. In addition to serving as dean, she teaches an introduction to reporting class that focuses on covering Richmond, California.
Cohort Manager
Ekene "E" Okobi
(she/her)
E is creating the fellowship experience, helping to design and lead the coaching, mentoring, support and training for our fellows. E has backgrounds in journalism, education and theater. She has produced and reported stories for Marketplace Radio, PRX The World, and WAMU, the Washington, D.C., public radio affiliate. She most recently reported for KQED News in the San Francisco Bay Area. As an educator, she has designed and delivered programming and training for institutions including New York University, University of the Arts, London, and the New York Public Library. She’s excited to help journalists and newsrooms collaborate on empowering their communities with the information they need to be active and engaged citizens.
Finance and Operations Specialist
Sarah Ffinch
(she/her)
With a background in nonprofit events management and logistics, adult education, and an unhealthy political news addiction, Sarah feels right at home in the School of Journalism. She lives in the East Bay with her husband and two young children.
Project Director
Christa Scharfenberg
(she/her)
Before joining the fellowship program, Christa was senior vice president for portfolio success at the American Journalism Project, a venture philanthropy that invests in the growth of local nonprofit newsrooms across the country. Prior to AJP, Christa spent more than 18 years at Reveal / The Center for Investigative Reporting, serving as CEO from 2017-2021. She helped lead the growth of CIR from a small nonprofit producing a handful of reporting projects a year to a multiplatform newsroom reaching millions of people through the Reveal website, public radio show, podcast, documentaries, social media and innovative approaches to collaborations and community engagement. She is on the advisory boards at the Poynter Institute, the Legal Clinic Fund and Correctiv (in Berlin). Christa feels incredibly privileged to be able to help early career journalists launch their careers and California newsrooms to more fully serve their communities.
Project Coordinator
Flynn May
(they/them)
Flynn has been a member of the UC Berkeley Journalism staff since 2014. Before joining the Fellowship program in 2023, they lent administrative and participant support to the journalists, educators and communications professionals at Advanced Media Institute (Berkeley AMI) and AMI recording studios. They bring a multi-disciplinary approach to solving problems, gained through administrative, programmatic and hospitality roles in organizations like the Children's Creativity Museum, Hill|Holiday, KQED and WBUR, along with other creative roles in the arts. As a veteran of several media internships, Flynn recognizes the challenges in establishing a career in this industry, and is excited to support our state's journalists in reaching their career goals.
Marketing Manager
Alena Feeney
(she/her)
Alena has designed integrated marketing campaigns for state agencies and corporate, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. She has worked with a wide spectrum of clients including: Mood Media, Washington Dept. of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, Spark Museum, Whatcom Community Foundation, University of Hawaii/STEM Pre-Academy, and many small businesses to expand their reach and market share. Additionally, Alena teaches courses in digital marketing and social media at Bellingham Technical College and is pursuing a doctorate in Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, examining how platform design, social ties, and artificial intelligence influence discourse within virtual communities.