Tony Elkins

Tony Elkins, a citizen of the Comanche Nation, is a faculty member at Poynter. His portfolio includes Poynter’s early and mid-career leadership workshops Essential Skills for Rising Newsroom Leaders and the Leadership Academy for Diversity in Media. He is a founding member of the News Product Alliance and has an extensive product and project management background. He is one of Poynter’s generative AI experts, specializing in ethics, use cases and effects of visual AI models. Elkins is the co-author of Poynter’s AI Ethics Handbook.

Prior to joining Poynter, Elkins was a product director at Gannett, leading the design of solutions-driven products to increase revenue and engagement. At Gannett, he founded and led its Austin-based innovation team, which focused on new technology and storytelling tools. His career has been focused on managing creative teams in design, visuals and production. Elkins was a assistant-managing editor at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and served as project manager for the paper’s Pulitzer-winning investigative team.

Elkins is a Gallup-certified Strengths Coach and trained design-thinking facilitator.