Roxann Stafford
Managing Director / Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund
Roxann is the Managing Director of the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, a +$20-million independent joint venture formed by the Knight Foundation and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism designed to strengthen local journalism at scale, through supporting journalistic excellence and serving the information needs of communities.
Previously, Roxann was the Director of Program (NYC) for Matter, a startup accelerator and venture capital firm grounded in the principles of design thinking that supports early-stage media entrepreneurs and mission-aligned media institutions building scalable ventures that make society more informed, inclusive, and empathetic. Roxann has extensive international experience identifying and co-creating sustainable and soulful solutions to big system problems in regions from the Pacific Islands to East Africa to the Caribbean, and cultivating opportunities for entrepreneurship to solve those issues. She works with individuals, organizations, companies, governments and communities on how to thrive in a state of reinvention and reimagination with a particular emphasis on the relationship between self agency and community agency. With groups like the Guild of Future Architects, Roxann co-creates universal prosperity by focusing on justice, interdependence and well-being.