Founders
Stephen Grey
Stephen Grey has exposed high-impact stories as a reporter for more than three decades, including as a special correspondent in the Reuters news agency for 13 years and previously foreign correspondent and head of investigation (Insight Team editor) for the Sunday Times of London.
Author of 3 books, he has written or broadcast for the BBC, New York Times, Guardian, Le Monde Diplomatique, Channel 4 Dispatches and Channel 4 News, PBS Frontline, and ABC News.
A member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, in 1999 he co-founded a collaboration that resulted in the resignation of the entire European Union commission and was co-founder of the Daphne Project which continued the work of murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
He hosted a USA No 1 podcast (Who Killed Daphne) about the investigation, in which the chief assassin confessed for the first time to the killing.
Stephen is best known for his exclusive revelation exposing the CIA’s “torture airline" used for its program of extra-ordinary rendition, for frontline investigations in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, and investigations into corruption in Greece, Russia, Ukraine, the UK and people smuggling in the Mediterranean.
He left Reuters in January 2025 to co-found Story Bond. He is also founder and chairman of a London youth sports charity.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephengrey1/
Nicolas Karlson
Nicolas Karlson is a marketing and content executive with over 25 years of experience leading creative organizations across media, advertising, and entertainment. He currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer at CEW, where he oversees corporate marketing strategy, brand identity, client partnerships, and content initiatives company-wide.
Previously, as Managing Director of VICE Middle East & Africa, he led a $150M commercial business across digital publishing, social, and studio production, and negotiated major partnerships with government entities across the region. Earlier in his career at VICE, he held senior leadership roles overseeing global accounts and operations, building a commercial network that unified ad sales and client servicing across 35 offices worldwide — running the division's P&L with disciplined budgeting and tracking along the way.
Prior to his nine years at VICE, Karlson served in a variety of account, brand, and production roles at media and advertising companies including Viacom, Havas Worldwide, R/GA, AOL, Universal Pictures, and HBO.
His work has been recognized with numerous awards including a Peabody Award, Emmy, Cannes Lion, D&AD Pencil, One Show Pencil, Clio, and Webby. He holds a BS in Communication from the University of Utah, where he was also a member of the top-ranked NCAA alpine ski team.
A born-and-bred New Yorker, Karlson lives with his wife and their three college-age children. He's an advocate for trans rights and has an unshakable espresso habit.
George Lavender
George Lavender is an Emmy award-winning journalist and storyteller. A 2026 Sulzberger Executive Leadership Fellow, he was previously Head of Limited Series at the premium podcast studio Wondery.
He has executive produced more than 30 #1 podcasts, including Dr. Death, The Shrink Next Door, WeCrashed, Fed Up, Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc, Kill List, and Harsh Reality, bringing rigorously reported, character-driven stories to millions of listeners. Many have been adapted for film and television. In 2022 he was named one of Hollywood Reporter's 35 rising executives under 35.
His reporting has been heard on NPR, Radio France International, Marketplace and 99 Percent Invisible among others. He co-developed and taught the first podcasting curriculum at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and has led storytelling workshops around the world including for Sundance Collab and the International Documentary Association.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgehblavender/
Susanne Reber
With decades of experience as an Executive Producer leading investigative teams in multiple mediums, Susanne Reber is a former head of investigations at CBC (Canada) and NPR in Washington and Reveal at the Center for Investigative Reporting in California.
She co-founded REVEAL, the first weekly investigative radio program and podcast in the US now in its tenth year as a weekly show. She also founded Verified, another top investigative documentary podcast series. SEASON 1 was adapted as a series for TV.
Susanne is a winner of the Peabody (3 Times), the Emmy, the DuPont Columbia Awards and the Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism among many other awards. Susanne is a specialist in turning complex stories into captivating dramatic narratives.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanne-reber/
JT Rogers
J.T. Rogers was the showrunner and creator of Tokyo Vice, which ran for two seasons on HBO Max, and is currently writing new projects for HBO/Netflix.
An award-winning playwright with residencies at the National Theatre in UK and Lincoln Centre in New York, he is the author of Oslo (Tony Award for best play, which he adapted into an Emmy-nominated HBO movie), Blood and Gifts, The Overwhelming, Madagascar, White People, Murmuring in a Dead Tongue, and other plays. His works have been produced in London by the National Theatre and Tricycle Theatre, toured the UK with Out of Joint, and been heard on BBC radio.
In New York City, his plays have been seen at the Roundabout Theatre, the SPF Play Festival, and commercially Off-Broadway; they have been staged as well in Australia, Israel, and Germany, and throughout the United States.
His essays have appeared in American Theatre and in London’s Independent and The New Statesman. Rogers is a resident playwright at New Dramatists, a member of the Dramatists Guild, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Margot Williams
Margot was most recently Research Editor for Investigations at The Intercept. Her 14-year career at the Washington Post (including membership of two Pulitzer-prize winning teams), then New York Times, NPR, and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has made her one of the most respected in the investigative reporting world. She has pursued jihadis online and detainees who died in U.S. immigration detention, investigated Iraq war contractors, and followed the money (and private jets) of mayors, governors, senators, presidential candidates, and ex-presidents. And she has spread her passion for investigative journalism — and her incredible ferreting skills — at numerous international workshops over the years
During her 14 years at the Washington Post, she was a member of two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams, for a 1998 investigation of D.C. police shootings of civilians and then again in 2001 for national coverage of terrorism.
In the aftermath of 9/11 at the Washington Post and later at the New York Times, she investigated the network of jets and shell companies involved in the transport of terrorism suspects among secret prisons around the globe.
She also compiled the first list of the Guantánamo detainees — years before their names were made public — and created the comprehensive Guantánamo database on the Times website. In 2011, she analyzed the Guantánamo documents leaked by Chelsea Manning for NPR and the New York Times.
