Our Team
To suggest a story, email our team attips@mountainstatespotlight.org.
To ask questions about membership or a donation, or for general information, email us atcontact@mountainstatespotlight.org.
Duncan Slade
Deputy Managing Editor
Duncan Slade came to Mountain State Spotlight as Audience Manager before being promoted to Deputy Managing Editor in February 2023. Before joining the team, he was the editor-in-chief of the Daily Athenaeum, the independent campus newspaper of WVU. That year, he more than doubled the publication’s readership through analytics, audience engagement and a digital-first newsroom restructuring. He previously worked as a public radio reporter and freelance photographer. His reporting work has been published by the Washington Post, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and NPR.
Erica Peterson
Editor-at-Large
Erica Peterson has more than a decade of experience as a reporter, editor and newsroom manager in both West Virginia and Kentucky. She started her career as a reporter with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, then covered energy and the environment for years as a reporter at Louisville Public Media where her reporting took her into rivers, coal mines and World War II-era bunkers.
Most recently, Erica oversaw the large local and regional newsroom at Louisville Public Media as the director of news and programming. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Carleton College and a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.
Erin Beck
Public Health Reporter
Erin Beck is a native West Virginian with more than a decade of journalism experience. Growing up, she lived in Doddridge and Ritchie counties, then she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in public health at West Virginia University. Her work has appeared in the Charleston Gazette, Register-Herald, and several other West Virginia publications. She earned multiple West Virginia Press Association awards and spent one year completing an Association of Health Care Journalists fellowship. She enjoys swimming, live music and poetry. Her own poetry has been featured in West Virginia’s Goldenseal magazine.
Henry Culvyhouse
State Government Watchdog Reporter
Henry Culvyhouse is a seasoned journalist who has served at small town dailies in West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky. He is a native of Inwood, West Virginia, where he graduated from Musselman High School in 2010. He received a BA in print journalism from Marshall University in 2014.
He is the proud father of a step-daughter and the husband to the best wife in West Virginia. When he’s not on assignment, Culvyhouse can be found in the woods doing God knows what.
Ken Ward Jr.
Founding Editor-in-Chief
Ken Ward Jr. is founding editor-in-chief. He spent six years working on major projects with the ProPublica Local Reporting Network. Before that, Ken spentnearly three decades reporting for The Charleston Gazette on the impacts of coal mining, chemical manufacturing and natural gas drilling on his home state of West Virginia. In 2018,he received a MacArthur Fellowship – the so-called “Genius Grant” — for “revealing the human and environmental toll of natural resource extraction in West Virginia and spurring greater accountability among public and private stakeholders.” He grew up in Mineral County and graduated from West Virginia University. He lives in Charleston with his wife, Legal Aid Attorney Elizabeth Wehner, and their son, Thomas.
Lauren Hatcher
Development Officer
Lauren Hatcher comes to the Mountain State Spotlight team with over six years of West Virginia nonprofit experience in roles ranging from engagement, marketing & communications, development, and recruitment. Prior to joining us, she worked closely with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources consulting on the state of child welfare. Lauren graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College with a bachelor’s degree in English and minors in religious studies, sociology, and gender studies.
As Development Officer, Lauren uses her rich experience to preserve and promote the honest and complex truth in the Mountain State to our supporters. She weaves together the threads of people’s experiences to encourage each funder, grantor, and reader that there is potential not only to inform but also to inspire change through our collective stories in West Virginia and beyond.
Mary Kay McFarland
Managing Editor
Mary Kay McFarland has worked with West Virginia news media for more than two decades. She began her journalism career as a photojournalist for The Exponent Telegram and then went to The Charleston Gazette, where her love for a variety of storytelling mediums eventually made her the Multimedia Editor.
In 2009, she began teaching journalism at West Virginia University where she was the director of the West Virginia Uncovered program developing multimedia training for state newspapers and facilitating their working relationships with students learning community journalism. While at WVU, Mary Kay led and collaborated on award-winning projects focused on the effects of the opioid epidemic on West Virginia’s children, the mass incarceration of women in the state and the information needs of underserved communities.
Mary Kay has an undergraduate degree in English from Bethany College and a masters degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. She is from Elkins, West Virginia, home of the Forest Festival, where you will find her every October, enjoying lumberjack contests and Polish sausage.
Sara Crickenberger
Executive Director
Sara Crickenberger, a native West Virginian, is Executive Director. She has spent decades running nonprofits in West Virginia. Most recently, she was the Foundation Relations and Institutional Grants Officer at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. She previously led Lewisburg’s Carnegie Hall and for a decade was President and CEO of the American Lung Association of West Virginia.
Crickenberger began her professional career working for newspapers in Martinsburg, Beckley and Charleston. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Marshall University and a master’s in communication studies from West Virginia University.
Sarah Elbeshbishi
Environment and Energy Reporter
Sarah Elbeshbishi covers environment and energy for Mountain State Spotlight. Prior to joining the team, she worked at USA TODAY for three years, first as a politics intern before joining as a general assignment reporter, then later as a politics reporter. During her time at USA TODAY, Sarah covered issues including education, religion, health and politics. Most recently, she covered Congress, the 2022 midterms and the lead up to the 2024 presidential election through the lens of real-world impact on everyday Americans. Sarah holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and public policy from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Tre Spencer
Economic Development Reporter
As a native Ohioan born and raised in Toledo, he has developed a vested interest in community impact journalism, public service and nonprofit management. He covers economic development and looks forward to hearing from native West Virginians.
He is also a recent graduate of Ohio University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s degree in public administration. In his free time, he enjoys exploring, attending concerts, painting, hiking and cooking new recipes to try.
Trey Garlow
Operations Manager
A lifelong West Virginian, Trey Garlow has spent most of his life in Kanawha and Putnam counties. With nearly ten years of experience in Office Administration from Garlow Insurance, Trey brings a blend of knowledge and expertise to help Mountain State Spotlight’s newsroom function efficiently and effectively. He has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Geneva College and a minor in graphic design from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
Tyler Dedrick
Audience Manager
Tyler Dedrick is a career pivoter from digital communications and has grown online communities for a variety of companies, including e-commerce stores and a national nonprofit organization. Prior to joining Mountain State Spotlight, he reported on the suburban communities of Madison, Wisconsin for Adams Publishing Group. His reporting work has appeared in Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Inno and Cronkite News. Tyler holds a master’s degree in Investigative Journalism from Arizona State University and a bachelor’s in Journalism and Mass Communication and certificate in Digital Studies from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Our Board of Directors
Ben Bailey, Chairman
Amar Rajwani, Treasurer
Suzanne Weise, Secretary
Elizabeth Mobley