In 2022, the Maynard Institute welcomes back Dickson Louie as the Maynard 200 Fellowship program’s media entrepreneurship executive-in-residence. As Principal of Louie & Associates and Lecturer at the University of California Davis Graduate School of Management, Louie has over 25 years of professional management experience within the news media industry. He brings veteran expertise as a planning and business development executive at the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle. At these organizations he helped oversee the launch of several new initiatives, including the Viet Mercury Vietnamese-language weekly at the Mercury News. As a member of the corporate staff of Times Mirror—then the parent company of the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and the Baltimore Sun—Louie oversaw the finances of its $2 billion newspaper division.

One of the Maynard Institute’s core programs, the Maynard 200 Fellowship provides advanced, tuition-free training to mid-career journalists of color. With the supportive peer network, Maynard 200 fellows have the opportunity to grow the impact of their work while helping diversify institutional and entrepreneurial news organizations.

“In this era of digital disruption, it's never been easier to be an entrepreneur. But the challenges of establishing a sustainable venture remain. In this Maynard 200 media entrepreneur track, fellows learn the frameworks that will help increase the odds of their venture's success: discovering market opportunities, identifying business models, learning how to pitch ideas, setting goals, and leading a start-up team.” Dickson Louie, Principal of Louie & Associates

Curriculum designed for today’s media entrepreneurs

When asked about how Maynard 200 fellows benefit from the media entrepreneurship curriculum, Louie said, “In this era of digital disruption, it’s never been easier to be an entrepreneur. But the challenges of establishing a sustainable venture remain.”

“In this Maynard 200 media entrepreneur track, fellows learn the frameworks that will help increase the odds of their venture’s success: discovering market opportunities, identifying business models, learning how to pitch ideas, setting goals, and leading a start-up team.”

Maynard 200 entrepreneurs learn how to pitch to investors

The Maynard 200 entrepreneurship track is designed to support fellows navigating the modern media landscape. “Fellows learn from case studies, marketing experts, and media entrepreneurs who have already been there and made it,” Louie said.

One of the components of the media entrepreneurship curriculum is a pitch meeting with a panel of industry veterans and potential investors during the October training sessions. Last year’s panel included digital media executives such as Christian Hendricks, Managing Partner of Extol Digital, and Waylae Gregoire, Partner and Head of Business Development of NextShark. Check back for details on the 2022 panel and read more about the 2021 Maynard 200 media entrepreneurship award recipients.

About Maynard 200 faculty, mentors and partners

The Maynard 200 program is grateful to all members of the 2022 faculty and mentors. In addition to media entrepreneurship, the Maynard 200 program includes three additional areas of focus for investigative storytellers, executive leaders, and frontline editors. Each track is led by accomplished industry veterans such as peabody award-winning journalist Aaron Glantz for investigative storytelling, former newsroom C-suite executive Virgil Smith for the leadership track, and senior editor John X. Miller for frontline editors and managers.

Over 60 executives in media and other relevant disciplines participate in the Maynard 200 program. Their expertise and representation mirror that of our fellows — of diverse heritage, geography across the United States and globally, affiliation at mainstream and ethnic media outlets as well as entrepreneurial ventures.

Since the inception of Maynard 200, the Maynard Institute’s partners have been instrumental in the program’s success. Partner organizations include Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), Native American Journalists Association (NAJA), National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), Poynter Institute, the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York (CUNY), and Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ). Special thanks to IRE’s support for this year’s mentorship roster, which includes their distinguished board members and network partners.

The program supports and emboldens the next generation of storytellers, leaders, managers, creators and founders of new media ventures. Check out the video greetings from the 2021 Fellows and the recap of the 2021 fall training session plenary fireside chat featuring Los Angeles Times executive editor Kevin Merida.

Maynard 200 has been supported by Google News Initiative, the Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Hearthland Foundation, and the McClatchy Foundation. The Fox Corporation is a confirmed sponsor for the 2022 program.

Join the Maynard 200 Kick-off in Los Angeles

The 2022 program will be held in-person during the week of June 27th at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in Los Angeles, California. Maynard 200 fellows will benefit from tuition-free training and mentorship, plus air travel and lodging expenses will be covered by the Maynard Institute.

The deadline to apply for Maynard 200 was March 28, 2022. Applications are now closed.