Chris Kromm is executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies, a nonprofit media, research, and education center founded by civil rights veterans based in Durham, N.C. Chris also serves as publisher of Facing South, the Institute’s online magazine. Chris is the author or co-author of more than 70 Institute reports on Southern issues and trends including labor, democracy, politics, and demographic change, and has appeared on more than 300 local, state, and national broadcast outlets including CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, NPR, and XM Radio. Chris was a founding board member of N.C. Asian Americans Together and Progress North Carolina.
Under Chris’ leadership, the Institute has been recognized with several prestigious honors and awards, including the George Polk Award for Magazine Reporting, a North Carolina Justice Center Defenders of Justice Award for Policy Research and Advocacy, a Harry Chapin Media Award for coverage of poverty issues, an Investigative Reporting award from the North Carolina Press Association, and honors from the National Press Club, Society of Professional Journalists, and the White House Correspondents’ Association.