# InDepthNH.org Editorial Staff, Roles, and Weekly Rhythm

**Date:** August 13, 2026  
**Analyst:** Aaron R. Davis / Shepherd  
**File:** `~/Desktop/INDNH/editorial/staff_roles_and_coverage.md`  
**Sources:** `~/Desktop/INDNH/Nancy workflow`, InDepthNH WP REST API users endpoint, recent site byline counts, live site navigation.

---

## Staff roster

### Core staff / regular bylines

| Name | Role / beat | Location | Contact style | Notes |
|:-----|:------------|:-----------|:--------------|:------|
| **Nancy West** | Founder, Executive Editor, deputy managing editor until Aaron is fully onboarded | Barrington, NH | Text, email, phone; keeps close tabs on all stories; prefers everything flow through her | 30+ years at Union Leader; founded NH Center for Public Interest Journalism in 2015; does investigations, courts, fundraising, grant work, newsletters |
| **Aaron R. Davis** | Lead Editor / Deputy Managing Editor (new, 90-day contractor) | Austin, TX → NH | Email, phone, web tools, data/GIS | Managing editor trifecta with future Director of Development and bylaws-focused board member; covers environment, data-driven accountability, national-with-NH-angle |
| **Paula Tracy** | Statehouse / Senate, Executive Council, health, courts, photography | Center Harbor, NH | Phone, text, email; travels to State House and North Country | Covers Senate in person; shoots photos for House stories; willing to drive to arraignments up north; excellent photographer |
| **Garry Rayno** | House, state budget, revenue, politics (“Distant Dome”) | New London, NH | Phone, text, email; covers House via YouTube and contacts | Writes monthly state revenue story; copy usually clean; needs close eyes on small things; covers House by screenshot/remote |
| **Damien Fisher** | Courts, crime, politics, breaking news | — | Email/text | Handles weird murder cases, police scandals, candidate stories; often works same-day |
| **Zach Laird** | Education, UNH, state audits, younger-reporter beat | — | Email; needs mentoring per Nancy | Wonderful but needs mentoring; covers education/system issues |
| **Katharine Webster** | History, features, profiles | — | Email | Working on history stories that “won’t be a yawn” |
| **Chelsea Hensley** | Contributor / editor (CMS role) | — | — | WP user with staff access |
| **Montana West** | Contributor | — | — | WP user; relationship unclear |
| **Sara Persechino** | Contributor / possible social/web support | — | — | WP user; relationship unclear |
| **Project Largo Administrator** | CMS/network admin account | — | — | Technical WordPress/Largo account |

### Featured columnists / regular freelancers

| Name | Column / series | Focus |
|:-----|:----------------|:------|
| **Beverly Stoddart** | A NH Life | Profiles, personal histories |
| **Bob Charest** | Why Should You Care NH; board member | Civic engagement, voter education, watershed issues |
| **Arnie Alpert** | Active with the Activists | Activism, social movements |
| **John Harrigan** | View from Above the Notches | North Country, outdoors, public lands |
| **Wayne D. King** | The View from Rattlesnake Ridge | Rural/place-based commentary |
| **Susan Dromey Heeter** | Joyful Musings | Lifestyle, culture |
| **Michael Davidow** | Radio Free New Hampshire | Politics, media commentary |
| **Monica West / Monica Drahonovsky** | Monica Reads | Book reviews |
| **D. Maurice Kreis** | Power to the People | Utility/energy consumer issues |
| **Mike Marland** | Mike Marland Cartoons | Editorial cartoons |
| **Elijah Fisher** | Editorial cartoons | Gen Z perspective cartoons |
| **George Liset** | Writing on the Fly | Outdoors/lifestyle |
| **Jeffrey Hastings** | Photography contributor | — |
| **Jessica Williams, Valerie Hershfield** | Occasional contributors | — |

### Board of directors (editorial/publisher context)

- **Don Burns** — retired lawyer, First Amendment focus, board chairman
- **Bob Charest** — original incorporator, journalist, columnist
- **Gina Gilmore** — CFO/treasurer
- **Robin Mulcahy** — founding member
- **Gloria Norris** — author, LA-based
- **Steve Taylor** — former NH agriculture commissioner, farmer, journalist
- **Lucy Wyman** — North Country advocate
- **Beverly Stoddart** — author, journalist, columnist
- **Barbara Tetreault** — North Country reporter (also stringer)

*Note:* Board list from `https://indepthnh.org/board-of-directors/` as of Aug. 2026. Verify whether a new bylaws-focused board member has joined.

---

## Nancy West workflow — day by day

From the Nancy workflow text and site observation, her typical day includes:

1. **Morning review**
   - Checks site, other news sites.
   - Looks for huge stories InDepthNH may have missed.
   - May reach out to a reporter if a story matches their beat, or put something together herself.

2. **Statehouse / legislature days**
   - House and Senate usually in session on the same days.
   - Paula Tracy covers Senate in person at the State House; takes photos for Garry Rayno’s House stories.
   - Garry Rayno covers House remotely from New London via YouTube and contacts; gets screenshots.
   - Nancy posts Garry’s monthly state-revenue story and runs the usual photo with it.

3. **Midday reporting / editing**
   - Spends much of the day digging into major investigations (e.g., Chief Justice story, Judicial Conduct process).
   - Mines sources, re-examines processes.
   - Stays ahead of NHPR on stories where possible.

4. **Court / crime follow-up**
   - Fights with courts over Webex access; believes Webex should be default.
   - Tracks arraignments in North Country; may send Paula Tracy to drive or attend remotely.
   - Monitors Laurie List / dishonest police coverage.

5. **Afternoon publishing / newsletter**
   - Pushes to get stories up as soon as they’re finished.
   - Sends Mailchimp newsletter between 7–9 p.m. (earlier is better).
   - Resends same newsletter early morning to people who didn’t open the night one.
   - Always asks for money in newsletter with donation link; pushes donor-advised funds and “saving local news.”

6. **Evening media scan**
   - Watches WMUR news in background from 5–6:30 p.m.
   - Checks other NH news sites for anything missed.

7. **Business / fundraising side**
   - Works on grants.
   - Manages the site’s first real advertising deal (lawyer ad, $2,000 through end of year).
   - Coordinates with lawyer on grant-related matters.

8. **Communication norms**
   - Reporters don’t communicate much with each other; most communication goes through Nancy.
   - Paula and Garry communicate directly by phone/text/email because of House/Senate coordination.
   - Nancy prefers everything to go through her so she knows what is going on.
   - Dislikes Google Docs and complex planning tools; wants simple, free, easy tools.

---

## Weekly rhythm

| Day | Typical activity |
|:----|:-----------------|
| **Monday** | Catch up from weekend; plan week; check legislature calendar; start newsletter draft |
| **Tuesday–Thursday** | State House session days (when in session); Paula at Senate, Garry remote on House; Nancy edits and posts |
| **Friday** | Wrap stories, revenue/budget stories often run; planning for next week; court stories may publish |
| **Saturday** | Supervisors of the checklist meetings (periodic); some town clerk registration deadlines |
| **Sunday** | Newsletter send early a.m. if needed; light publishing |

### Recurring cycles
- **Monthly:** Garry Rayno state revenue story.
- **As needed:** Judicial Conduct / courts investigations.
- **Quarterly / seasonal:** Grant deadlines, fundraising pushes.
- **Election cycle:** Candidate coverage, voter guides, election-law litigation.

---

## How Aaron fits in

- **Managing editor / deputy managing editor scope** per 90-day contract.
- Nancy wants Aaron to be “better than me” and is eager to return to being a reporter.
- Aaron’s strengths: data journalism, GIS/visualization, web tools, environmental accountability.
- Aaron’s early wins: NH weather widget, eelgrass year-slider map, Manchester PFAS story, Karoline Leavitt brief.
- Aaron should expect:
  - Stories routed through Nancy.
  - Need to coordinate with Paula/Garry on statehouse days if relevant.
  - Freedom to build prototypes and tools but keep them simple and optional unless Nancy adopts them.
  - Fundraising language in newsletters; grant work is part of the growth plan.

---

## Gaps and opportunities

1. **Coordination tool** — Nancy hates Google Docs and complex planners. A simple shared task list or email-based workflow may work better.
2. **Staff bios / byline consistency** — Many contributors lack author pages in WordPress (Garry, Paula, Damien, Susan Dromey Heeter have no WP user accounts; bylines are hard-coded in post content). This makes author-page analytics unreliable.
3. **Newsletter timing** — 7–9 p.m. plus early-morning resend is current practice; could be A/B tested.
4. **Photography** — Paula is the main photographer; build a shared photo archive/asset system.
5. **Court Webex access** — Persistent problem; a tracker of which courts allow remote access could be a story/service piece.
6. **State procurement / Executive Council contracts** — Undercovered; fits accountability mission.
7. **Election coverage** — Current litigation over student IDs is exactly the kind of story InDepthNH should own with service + accountability framing.

---

## Bylines observed in last 500 posts

Based on WP content extraction:

- **Paula Tracy:** 88
- **Damien Fisher:** 50
- **Garry Rayno:** 43
- **Zach Laird:** 25
- **Nancy West:** 10
- **Michael Davidow:** 7
- **Susan Dromey Heeter:** 7
- **Aaron R. Davis:** 2 (new, growing)
- **Katharine Webster:** 1
- AP / wire contributors scattered

This confirms a small core staff carrying most of the load, with a large columnist bench.

---

## Open questions

- [ ] Confirm Damien Fisher’s beat and availability.
- [ ] Clarify Chelsea Hensley, Montana West, Sara Persechino roles.
- [ ] Ask Nancy whether she wants a formal editorial calendar or prefers the current informal flow.
- [ ] Build out author pages for Garry, Paula, Damien, Susan to improve SEO and analytics.

---

*Last updated: 2026-08-13*