The Progressive welcomes two terrific new staff members!
The great editor and investigative reporter Bill Lueders joins the magazine as associate editor.
The dynamic fundraiser and organizer Lily Johnson joins The Progressive as development director.
Bill Lueders has won dozens of state and national awards as a reporter for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, and during his twenty-five years at Isthmus, Madison’s alternative weekly.
One of Wisconsin’s leading investigative reporters, Lueders has regularly broken big stories, including the physical altercation between two Supreme Court justices, and has written a weekly column that ran in newspapers all over the state.
Lueders is also president of the Freedom of Information Council, a statewide group that protects access to public meetings and records.
“Bill is a longtime friend of The Progressive,” said Progressive editor Ruth Conniff. "He worked as an intern here under our late, great editor Erwin Knoll, and he wrote the classic biography of Erwin, An Enemy of the State. He was my editor at Isthmus for many years, is very highly regarded by his colleagues, beloved by writers who have worked with him, and is, himself a top investigative journalist. We are delighted that he is coming home to The Progressive at this crucial time for political journalism in our state and our nation.”
"The Progressive is a great magazine with a great history,” Lueders said. "I look forward to applying what I have learned in three decades as a reporter and editor to upholding that tradition."
The Progressive is also proud to announce that Lily Johnson has taken the position of development director.
"Lily has been part of our Progressive community for many years,” said Conniff, “as a key fundraiser for progressive candidates, organizer of Fighting Bob Fest—the nation’s largest outdoor gathering of progressives—and, most recently, in her development work for Planned Parenthood.”
“I am so pleased that Lily has joined us at The Progressive,” Conniff added. “She is very well connected in progressive politics, she is committed to our values, and, as our supporters will soon find out when they meet her, she is an absolutely delightful person."
At The Progressive, Johnson will oversee all fundraising and outreach to the magazine’s supporters, readers, and partners.
“As a progressive fundraiser, my career has been focused on making sure our causes—peace, social justice, civil liberties, democracy, and protecting the environment—have the resources they need to compete against the never-ending onslaught of rightwing special interest money,” Johnson said. “It is a thrill to be able to put my skills to use at The Progressive, a magazine that has graced the coffee table in my parents’ home since I was a child.”
