J. Carl Ganter: Co-Founder and Director
J. Carl Ganter is co-founder and director of Circle of Blue, the center for frontline reporting, research, and analysis on water resource issues and their relationship to food and energy in a changing climate. Ganter is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and photojournalist whose work has appeared in most major magazines, newspapers, and television and radio networks, including Time, National Geographic, and Rolling Stone. He earned his MSJ in investigative and magazine reporting at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism after graduating with honors from the University’s American Studies Program.
Eileen Ganter: Co-Founder and Creative Director
Eileen nurtures the creative ethos of Circle of Blue by cultivating the lyrical ingredients of journalism to supporting the human factor in all aspects of our work. Eileen has an MA in radio and television production from the University of Detroit. She is a writer, director, and narrator who produced and hosted regional and national programming for 13 years at Interlochen Public Radio, a National Public Radio affiliate in Northern Michigan. Eileen has won Telly Awards for her script writing and documentary work, and her association with Circle of Blue follows many years of independent multimedia journalistic projects and a life-long love of the Great Lakes. She holds an undergraduate and a masters degree (summa cum laude) in film and video from the University of Detroit. Dedicated to seeing our world from new perspectives, she gave this project its name. “In the long view,” Eileen says in our flagship video, “we are defined against the edge of space as a simple circle of blue.”
Keith Schneider: Senior Editor and Chief Correspondent
Keith manages story development for Circle of Blue. As senior editor and chief correspondent for our Global Choke Point project, Keith has reported on the intensifying confrontation between water, food, and energy from six continents. Keith holds a BA from Haverford College, and he is a nationally known journalist, online communications specialist, and environmental policy expert. He has won numerous awards for his work as a journalist, program innovator, and editor, including two George Polk Memorial Awards for environmental and national reporting (1984 and 1988), which are among the most prestigious in American journalism. For more than a decade, Keith was a national correspondent for The New York Times, where he continues to report as a special writer on energy, urban affairs, real estate, business, technology, environment, agriculture, and cultural trends. Before joining Circle of Blue, he was media and communications director at the US Climate Action Network and communications director at the Apollo Alliance. Keith developed one of the first independent online news desks as the founder and executive director of the Michigan Land Use Institute. A sought-after public speaker on global trends in energy, water, and food, and on the role of original reporting and online communications in the public interest, Keith writes from his home in Northern Michigan, where he has lived since 1993. Read his personal site at Modeshift.org.
Brett Walton: Senior Reporter
Brett writes about agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and the politics and economics of water in the United States for Circle of Blue. Brett also writes the Federal Water Tap, Circle of Blue’s weekly digest of U.S. government water news. He has an MA in Central Asian studies from the University of Washington and a BA in English from the University of Richmond. He is the winner of two Society of Environmental Journalists reporting awards, one of the top honors in American environmental journalism: first place for explanatory reporting for a series on septic system pollution in the United States (2016) and third place for beat reporting in a small market (2014). Brett has received fellowships from SEJ (2013) and the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources (2011). He is a frequent public speaker on U.S. water issues. Prior to Circle of Blue, Brett worked on a NASA-affiliated water data research project. Brett lives in Seattle, where he hikes the mountains and bakes pies.
Laura Herd: Manager and Producer
Laura is the projects, people, and content manager for Circle of Blue, overseeing our publication desk, content, series development, internships, partnerships, and the technical aspects of the website. Laura joined Circle of Blue in 2015. Her first project with Circle of Blue was to develop and implement the complete redesign of Circle of Blue’s website. By nature Laura is an event producer; she co-created and ran the Traverse City Wine & Art Festival prior to joining Circle of Blue.
Laura has a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Social Relations from Earlham College. She attended Earlham on a service learning scholarship due to her extensive work with youth programs prior to college. Laura lives in Traverse City, Michigan. You can find her remodeling her own home, gardening or wandering the shores of Lake Michigan.
Laura Gersony: Contributing Reporter
Laura Gersony is a reporting intern with Circle of Blue this summer and a third year at the University of Chicago, where she’s studying Political Science and Environmental Studies. She’s passionate about communicating how climate change and other environmental issues are experienced on the ground. In her free time, you can find Laura nursing seedlings on her windowsill, skateboarding around Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, or making unreasonably specific playlists on Spotify.
