OUR STAFF
Meet our team.
Adrienne Samuels Gibbs
Executive Director Adrienne Samuels Gibbs is a strategic media leader and award-winning journalist who has spent more than two decades centering race and equity in national narratives. Previously, Adrienne held senior leadership roles at Ebony and Medium. Her career is defined by directing coverage of era-defining moments — from the Laquan McDonald case to the intersection of business and culture for Fortune. She has also driven content strategy for global platforms like Netflix, specializing in high-impact storytelling and narrative positioning. A proud Chicago native and Medill alumna, Adrienne’s newsroom experience includes The Chicago Sun-Times, The Boston Globe, St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald. As a former educator at Chicago State University, she is committed to scaling IPRE’s reach and mentoring the next generation of investigative talent.
Get in Touch
We want to hear from you. Send us a message and we’ll respond promptly.
Angela Caputo
Editorial Director Angela Caputo is an award-winning investigative journalist and educator. She was the Investigative Project's inaugural executive director and is a co-founder of the organization. Her work has prompted legislative reform on voting rights in Georgia; exposed a series of racially-biased policing practices that informed Department of Justice oversight of Chicago’s police department; spurred juvenile justice reforms in Illinois’ legislature and Cook County’s courts; and touched off the indictments and firings of public officials. She got her start as an intern for The Chicago Reporter and subsequently worked at American Public Media, the Chicago Tribune and Daily Southtown.
Rui Kaneya
Interim Investigations Editor Rui Kaneya was a senior editor at ProPublica, where he helped oversee projects for the Local Reporting Network. Prior to ProPublica, he served as a senior reporter at the Center for Public Integrity. He was also an investigative reporter for Honolulu Civil Beat, a correspondent for the Columbia Journalism Review and investigations editor at The Chicago Reporter.
Ismael Perez
Director of Audience Engagement Ismael Pérez is a digital journalist and a national award-winning columnist. He was social media editor at the San Antonio Express-News before working at the Chicago Sun-Times as an audience engagement specialist, editorial board member and columnist from October 2019 to March 2025.
Emeline Posner
Investigative Reporter Emeline Posner covers housing, immigration and policing through an equity lens. Previously they worked as an intern with the Illinois Answers Project and as a freelance reporter covering local news. Posner is a graduate of the master's program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and lives on the South Side.
Jonathan Torres
Reporter Jonathan Torres is a Columbia College Chicago graduate with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and film studies. Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Torres is a graduate of the Project’s Apprenticeship Program and joined the team with his sights set on producing journalism "that makes a difference in our communities."
Jose Abonce
Apprentice Jose Abonce is an independent immigration reporter and investigative journalist. As a freelance writer, his work regularly appears in South Side Weekly, where he recently shared the 2025 Sarah Brown Boyden Award in the immigration reporting category. Abonce seeks to reveal facts through authentic storytelling that preserves memories and creates emotional engagement without sacrificing the truth.
Melissa Dai
Apprentice Melissa Dai built a track record in rigorous investigative journalism through in-depth reporting and data analysis as a student at Northwestern. Her work centers on human-focused storytelling that exposes systemic failures and amplifies underrepresented voices. Melissa interned at Injustice Watch, NBC Chicago’s Investigative Unit and Investigate Midwest, and has also reported for ProPublica and MindSite News.
Reema Saleh
Apprentice Reema Saleh began her journalism career at the Chicago Reader, City Bureau and the Change Agents Journalism Lab, which sparked her passion for community-engaged journalism. She writes for outlets including Block Club Chicago, Chicago Sun-Times and South Side Weekly, and serves as a daily editor at the Chicago Review of Books. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago.