Brown University Interviews was founded with a central mission of providing interesting interviews with important people, in a space that allows students to define “interesting” and “important” on their own terms. The views, thoughts, and opinions of our interviewees are not necessarily shared by the interviewer nor by Brown Interviews as an organization. We believe in the power of the first-person source so pride ourselves on a format that allows the subject to tell their story their way, without extraneous commentary of any kind. Impartiality of interview content is paramount to this purpose. Brown University Interviews is inclusive of all identities, perspectives, practices, and opinions, without exception. Those involved with content decisions agree to not silence voices they disagree with, nor unduly privilege those they do agree with, and to consciously hold their peers to these same standards.
Board of Advisors
Maggie Williams
Maggie Williams is a scholar and political leader who served as Director of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, Director of Communications for the Children’s Defense Fund, Deputy Press Secretary of the Democratic National Committee, and Congressional aid to Morris Udall. From 1993-1997, Williams worked as President Clinton’s assistant, and was then named First Lady Clinton’s Chief of Staff, becoming the first person to hold both positions concurrently. Williams went on to become Manager of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. After leaving the White House, Williams was named President of Fenton Communications, becoming the highest ranked Black woman in an American public relations firm at the time. She is now a partner at consulting firm Griffin Williams, as well as a director of the Scholastic Publishing Corporation, a director of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and a US Commissioner for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Jonathan Klein ’80
Jonathan Klein is a Peabody and Emmy award winning media producer and executive who has most notably served as President of CNN U.S. and Executive Vice President of CBS News. From 1999 to 2004 he worked as the founding President and CEO of The FeedRoom, which became one of the leading online broadcasters in the world, delivering over a million video clips each day to customers including NBC, ESPN, Reuters, USA Today, Business Week, General Motors, Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, General Mills and the U.S. Department of Defense. He is the co-founder and co-chairman of TAPP Media, a proprietary platform for over-the-top streaming channels that connect super-fans with their idols. Klein graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in History in 1980 and is the President of the Board of Directors of Brown’s radio station, WBRU.
Stephen Kinzer
Stephen Kinzer is an award-winning foreign correspondent who has covered over 50 countries across five continents. Kinzer spent more than 20 years working for The New York Times, most of it as a foreign correspondent. His postings placed him at the center of historic events and, at times, in the line of fire. He was The New York Times Bureau Chief in Nicaragua from 1983-1989, Bureau Chief of Bonn, West Germany, (after unification, Berlin, Germany), from 1990-1996, and newly opened Istanbul, Turkey Bureau Chief from 1996-2000. He has authored eight books, including multiple bestsellers. His most recent book Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control was named to Amazon’s Best Books of the Year list 2020. After leaving The New York Times in 2005, Kinzer taught journalism, political science, and international relations at Northwestern University and Boston University. He is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois and Scranton University. Kinzer is now a Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University and writes a world affairs column for The Boston Globe.
Jonathan Readey
Jonathan Readey is a lecturer in English at Brown University and the Associate Director of the nonfiction writing program. His work in the field of nonfiction writing includes co-editing the book Crafting Cultural Rhetorics: Readings for University Writers; literary criticism, where he has published essays in The Henry James Review and the book collection The Literature of New York; and creative writing, where he has published several short stories in literary journals. He has also taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Notre Dame, and Indiana University-South Bend. Prior to returning to academia, he worked in television news, business writing, technical writing, and researching and editing commemorative books, experiences he tries to bring to bear in his courses at Brown.
Amelia Spalter ’21 MA ’22 – Alumni Coordinator
Amelia Spalter graduated from Brown University with a BA in Religious Studies in 2021 and earned a BA in 2022 through the Fifth-Year Master’s honors program. She was elected the student speaker for Brown’s 2022 master’s commencement ceremony. She is the founder and former Editor in Chief of Brown University Interviews. A brief selection of her previous interviews include media personality Norman Lear, attorney Alan Dershowitz, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, and former FBI Director James Comey. Before enrolling at Brown University, her formal education was stewarded primarily by television. As such, she now plans to pay it forward by pursuing a career in television writing. She is also a former senior staff writer for The Brown Daily Herald, Director Emerita of The Brown Political Review Interviews Board and founder of the Brown University Screenwriting Collective, the Ivy League’s largest pre-professional screenwriting organization. She currently serves as director of communications for a not-for-profit community center, The United Community Martial Arts Institute of Rhode Island, where she is also a Black Belt instructor.
Executive Committee
Kristoffer Balintona ’24 – Editor in Chief
Kristoffer is a philosophy student with primary interests in metaethics and and epistemology. Currently, he aims to learn about existentialism, anti-foundationalism, and phenomenology. Kristoffer’s philosophical leanings also have a historical bend, often collaborating with the intellectual trends and context of the region and time period.
At Brown University Interviews, he hopes to share and empower perspectives and opinions, through conducting interviews as well as affording other students the same opportunity.
Charles Alaimo ’25 – Senior Interviewers Coordinator
Charles Alaimo is a sophomore interested in urban planning, political philosophy, and economics. Outside of Brown University Interviews, he is an outreach worker for the housing justice group HOPE and a member of the men’s fencing team. He grew up in Boulder, Colorado, where he enjoys writing poetry, snowboarding, and climbing mountains.