OUR STAFF
Luanne Rife, executive director and chief development officer
Luanne has worked in local news for nearly four decades as a reporter, editor, editorial page editor, and commentary editor at newspapers in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Alabama and Tennessee.
She took an early retirement from The Roanoke Times in April 2021, after 16 years there, when she learned continued staff cutbacks meant little ability to do in-depth reporting. Luanne received national fellowships from the Association of Health Care Journalists, The Gerontological Society of America and the University of Southern California’s Center for Health Journalism to support substantial reporting projects.
She has won dozens of journalism awards, including national honors, but is most proud of two from non-journalism organizations. She was named mental health journalist of the year by the Roanoke region’s National Alliance on Mental Health, and is the only journalist honored with the Charles Crowder Jr. Award by the Virginia Rural Health Association.
She cofounded Cardinal News in order to create a sustainable news organization to tell the important stories of Southwest and Southside Virginia. Contact: luanne@cardinalnews.org or 540-467-2189.
Jeffrey Schwaner, Executive editor
Jeff has been a storytelling coach and editor with Gannett’s Virginia papers for more than nine years. Jeff and the reporters he’s coached have won dozens of first place awards from the Virginia Press Association for in-depth and investigative reporting, data reporting and feature writing.
Jeff won the 2017 Freedom of Information Award from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government for an investigative story about Virginia pharmacies. The 2022 Gannett project Perilous Course, in which he coached 18 reporters, was honored by the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Jeff grew up in Rhode Island. He graduated from Cornell University. After traveling up and down the East Coast, he and his wife, Mary, settled in Virginia, where they’ve raised their children and lived for the last 19 years. He can be reached at jeffrey@cardinalnews.org.
Dwayne Yancey, Founding Editor
Dwayne has more than four decades of experience in Virginia journalism, including 39 years with The Roanoke Times as a reporter, editor and, for seven years, editorial page editor. During that time he twice won the Virginia Press Association’s D. Latham Mims Award for Editorial Leadership, and was inducted into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. He grew up on a farm in the Shenandoah Valley, graduated from James Madison University and is the author of “When Hell Froze Over,” a book about Virginia politics, as well as an internationally-produced playwright. He lives in Fincastle. Contact: dwayne@cardinalnews.org or 540-529-1136.
Megan Schnabel, managing editor
Megan has been a journalist in Southwest Virginia for more than 25 years. She started out writing about economic development, technology and retail business for The Roanoke Times, then became an editor at the newspaper, overseeing coverage of topics including business, local government and criminal justice. She also spent two years as editor of The Blue Ridge Business Journal. She holds a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and lives in Roanoke. Contact: megan@cardinalnews.org or 540-819-4969.
Elizabeth Beyer, politics and policy reporter
Elizabeth comes to Cardinal News from the USA Today Network, where she worked as the 2024 elections and politics reporting fellow in Virginia for the past 11 months. Before USA Today, she reported for the Wisconsin State Journal for three years, where she covered K-12 education during the COVID-19 pandemic amid the politicization of public schools, and at the La Crosse Tribune for one year, where she covered issues faced by rural communities and family farms in southwestern Wisconsin. She graduated with her master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in 2018. She received her bachelor’s degree from Columbia College Chicago after transferring from Columbus State Community College. She is based in Richmond cand can be reached at elizabeth@cardinalnews.org or 614-499-1434.
Matt Busse, business reporter
Matt spent nearly 19 years at The News & Advance in Lynchburg, most recently as its managing editor. He began as a reporter covering business, local government and courts, and later served as the digital editor for multiple Virginia newsrooms. A Richmond native, he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in mass communications. He lives in Lynchburg. You can reach him at matt@cardinalnews.org or 434-849-1197.
Susan Cameron, Southwest reporter
Susan is an award-winning journalist who has covered Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee for nearly 40 years. An Alabama native, she graduated from Virginia Intermont College with a degree in communications/psychology and spent 38 years at the Bristol Herald Courier, first as a reporter who covered crime, both Bristol city governments, politics, education, health care and the environment. She then spent 25 years as city editor, handling the coverage of local news. Contact: susan@cardinalnews.org or 276-791-5928.
Tad Dickens, technology reporter
Tad is an east Tennessee native who grew up drumming and writing, and he considers himself fortunate to still do both. He came to Roanoke in 1999 to work for The Roanoke Times, and his multiple beat assignments included about 16 years covering the Southwest Virginia music scene. Tad was the paper’s features editor from September 2021 to August 2023. The East Tennessee State University graduate has won awards for courthouse coverage, critical writing and column writing. For fun, he walks his dog, Buster, reads too much news and plays drums with two Roanoke-area bands. Reach out via 540-293-6018 or tad@cardinalnews.org
Grace Mamon, Danville reporter
Grace is a Virginia native who grew up in Fredericksburg and studied journalism and English at Washington & Lee University. During her time there, she served as editor-in-chief of the university newspaper and completed internships with The Roanoke Times and the Tampa Bay Business Journal and freelanced for Cardinal. In Danville, Grace devotes particular attention to the economic rebirth of that city and the surrounding counties. Contact: grace@cardinalnews.org or 540-369-5464.
Dutchie Jessee, director of development
Dutchie is a Roanoke native who has a long history in non-profit journalism, as a reporter, anchor, producer and assignment editor at NPR member station WVTF/RADIO IQ. Most recently, she served in a fundraising and marketing capacity there. Previously, Dutchie was a local television news producer as well as a radio news reporter and editor. She received a degree in Media Studies from Radford University, and has had a side hustle as a personal trainer, fitness instructor and vocalist for many years. Dutchie is passionate about legitimate, fact-based journalism and is excited to be part of the Cardinal News team. Contact: dutchie@cardinalnews.org or 540-597-2797.
Roxzanna Montague, copy editor
Roxzanna is a Southwest Virginia native, born and raised in Wythe County on a cattle farm. She studied Wildlife Science at Virginia Tech where she conducted research and published findings with her fellow researchers in several scientific publications. For the past decade, she has lived in rural Downeast Maine, working in municipal government and proofreading for local newspapers. Currently, she lives in Nelson County with her husband and two children.
Erica Myatt, copy editor
Erica has worked in editing roles in the Roanoke Valley for more than 25 years, with most of that time spent at The Roanoke Times. In her time on the night copy desk, she served over the years as a night editor, overseeing nightly editing and headline-writing for news sections. As community editor at the newspaper, she led a team of journalists who launched and grew three weekly publications and accompanying websites. Erica currently serves by day as a public relations specialist at Virginia Western Community College. She holds a bachelor’s in history, master’s in English writing and certificate in professional leadership from Hollins University. Contact: erica@cardinalnews.org.
Sherry Quinley, sponsorship sales manager
Sherry has worked in local media for several decades as a reporter, television director, and an account executive. Her video production company documented events and provided legal services in the region for 10 years. More recently, she was director of sales and marketing for Johannus US. In 2018, Sherry co-founded Regional Obituaries Inc., designed to serve families by providing low-cost obituaries for friends and loved ones. Sherry has won many awards for her marketing abilities and is ready to help you be successful in reaching folks in the community. Contact sponsorships@cardinalnews.org or 540-397-1724.
Lisa Rowan, education reporter
Lisa was most recently an editor and senior reporter covering consumer finance and the economy at Forbes Advisor, a subsidiary of Forbes Media. Lisa has written about personal finance and small business for a variety of publications over the last 10 years, and her first book, “Money Hacks,” was released in 2020. She got her start in journalism in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and has worked for outlets in Washington, D.C., and St. Petersburg, Florida. Contact: lisa@cardinalnews.org or 540-384-1313.
Emily Schabacker, health care reporter
Emily most recently was the only health care reporter in the state of Montana for more than two years, contributing to her hometown newspaper, The Billings Gazette. She garnered statewide recognition for her coverage, while also earning a reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation. This fellowship addressed issues of aging and the long-term care crisis in America. Contact: emily@cardinalnews.org or 406-690-0456.
Zachary Shelton, audience engagement and content manager
Before joining Cardinal News, Zachary played a pivotal role in Marketing and Communications at Radford University, where he crafted strategies that significantly elevated the university’s digital presence. He later took on content management at Groupon, where he led initiatives that broadened audience engagement and optimized online visibility. As a proud resident of Christiansburg, Zachary is deeply committed to his local community and is passionate about driving growth in the Southwest and Southside Virginia regions. At Cardinal News, he is dedicated to amplifying the voices of the communities we serve, ensuring that their stories are heard and their perspectives are represented.
Dean-Paul Stephens, Martinsville-Henry County reporter
Dean is a Jamaica-born reporter who grew up in North Carolina, where he covered communities throughout the state. Most recently he covered race and regional politics for the USA Today network. In Martinsville, he will spotlight an often-overlooked region of the state. Contact: dean@cardinalnews.org or 276-618-6609.
Samantha Verrelli, Roanoke Valley reporter
Samantha is a recent Penn State graduate with degrees in journalism and Spanish. She was an investigative reporter for The Daily Collegian at Penn State for four years and a freelance reporter with PennLive. She’s from outside Philadelphia. She was part of a team of reporters who covered the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio (which sits on the border of Pennsylvania), including the cleanup, the railroad’s response and the lingering health and social effects on the community. In the Roanoke Valley, she will provide on-the-ground coverage of our largest metro area. Contact: samantha@cardinalnews.org or 610-312-7980.
Who is “Cardinal Staff”?
You will see some bylines that say merely “Cardinal Staff.” That byline appears on items that are generally a compilation of news briefs from other sources where we haven’t done enough original reporting to justify a byline — such as routine announcements.
OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Cardinal News is operated by Cardinal Productions Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit, which incorporated in Virginia in July 2021. Cardinal’s board:
Caroline Glickman, board president
Caroline, a long-time resident of Lynchburg, is a former editor at The (Lynchburg) News & Advance and The Roanoke Times.
Quinn Graeff, board member
Quinn Graeff is a lawyer in Roanoke.
Debbie Meade, secretary
Debbie is a former publisher of The Roanoke Times.
Chris Turnbull, treasurer
Chris is a longtime strategic communicator in the region and currently senior director of corporate communications for Carilion Clinic.
We will be expanding this board to include representatives from throughout Southwest and Southside Virginia. Cardinal News also has two advisory committees.
Our community advisory committee:
Dayo Abah, head of the journalism department at Washington and Lee University, Lexington
Earving Blythe, retired vice president for information technology and chief information officer at Virginia Tech
Rick Boucher, former member of Congress, Abingdon
Erin Burcham of the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council, Roanoke
Bev Fitzpatrick Jr., retired Transportation Museum director, Roanoke
Tiffany Franks, president, Averett University
Cynthia Gray, retired fundraiser, Roanoke
Bob Goodlatte, former member of Congress, Roanoke
Jeff Haley, president and CEO, American National Bank & Trust, Danville
Tonya Hart, former Roanoke Times chief financial officer, Roanoke
Larry Hincker, former public relations executive, Blacksburg
Frank Kilgore, attorney, St. Paul
Charles Majors, board chairman, American National Bank & Trust, Danville
Jeff Mitchell, attorney, Blacksburg
David Neumeyer, executive director, Virginia Legal Aid Society
Molly O’Dell, retired public health director and poet, Buchanan
J.R. Pugh, retired executive, AREVA
Megan Rhyne, Virginia Coalition for Open Government, Williamsburg
Travis Staton, president and CEO, United Way of Southwest Virginia
Neal Sumerlin, retired professor, University of Lynchburg; former director of Belk Astronomical Observatory
Our journalism advisory committee:
Lawrence Emerson, co-founder, Fauquier Now
Caroline Glickman, former editor, The (Lynchburg) News and Advance, former editor, The Roanoke Times
Beth Macy, author, “Dopesick,” “Factory Man,” “Truevine.”
Rich Martin, former managing editor, The Roanoke Times; former head of journalism department, University of Illinois
Joe Stinnett, former editor, The (Lynchburg) News and Advance, former editor, The Roanoke Times
Carole Tarrant, former editor, The Roanoke Times
Leslie Taylor, former reporter and editor, The Roanoke Times; now College Editor, Roanoke College
Ben R. Williams, former reporter, The Martinsville Bulletin
Kelly Zuber, former news director, WDBJ-TV (Channel 7)