T-Squared: Total Staffer Moves

We’ve got a series of big staffing moves to report here at the Trib: We’re saying goodbye to one colleague and rolling out the welcome mat for a few others.

First off, the bad news: We’re sorry to announce the departure of Travis Swicegood, our news apps and data editor, who has been an interactive journalism guru here since 2010. Travis, who established our news apps team, has been a reliable captain on countless election nights, an engine behind innovation of all sorts and a loud and proud evangelist for our work in developer circles. He’ll be with us through the March primary.

The good news: We’ve got great talent to take his place. Developer Ryan Murphy will step up as news apps team lead, serving as the pivot point between the tech and editorial departments on data-centric projects, overseeing our major explorers and continuing to launch more and better interactives every day. Becca Aaronson, who has simply rocked the health care and women’s health beats, will be transitioning to the news apps team full time. She’ll be an interactive storyteller working in tandem with reporters to tell more of our stories visually — and she’ll be developing new tools to help do it.

Alexa Ura, the Trib intern so good we wouldn’t let her leave, will come aboard full-time to cover health care and women’s health. A Laredo native, fluent Spanish-speaker and UT-Austin grad, Alexa will continue covering politics and the Latino vote through the primary and then will transition to her new gig.

Meanwhile, Managing Editor Brandi Grissom, a ferocious criminal justice reporter and a brilliant storyteller, will be mostly leaving reporting behind to focus full-time on leading the Tribune's projects and investigative efforts. 

In the coming months, we'll be hiring a criminal justice reporter to replace her — as well as adding one additional developer to our news apps team. (Interested? Those job descriptions are online here.)

We wish Travis well on his future adventures and congratulate Ryan, Becca, Alexa and Brandi on their new responsibilities. It's a fantastic team; apply now if you'd like to join it!