Reporters Shield has named Camille Eiss President and Chief Executive Officer, marking a new chapter for the organization as it builds a strong foundation to match the scale of its mission.
Eiss will lead Reporters Shield’s strategic direction, including efforts to expand its global membership, scale its legal defense fund, and strengthen protections for independent media outlets and those reporting in the public interest worldwide.
An experienced foreign policy, non-profit, and anti-corruption strategist, Eiss brings more than 20 years’ experience shaping global policy impact and innovating for organizational growth. She joins Reporters Shield at a moment of historic threats to press freedom, with the number of SLAPP suits (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) increasing year on year and lawfare increasingly deployed to silence critical voices.
“Camille Eiss brings the insight, judgment, and experience Reporters Shield needs right now. Across government, investigative journalism, and civil society, she has established herself as a leader in advancing accountability for corruption and human rights abuse. She also has a proven record of driving the kind of growth, reach, and impact this moment demands,” said Bob Cusumano, Board Chair.
“At a time when threats to democracy can feel abstract and overwhelming, Reporters Shield offers something concrete and actionable: collective legal defense that helps ensure those reporting in the public interest can pursue the highest-stakes stories,” said Eiss. “I look forward to working with our partners, members, and team to grow that support and strengthen the protections this work increasingly needs – here in the U.S. and globally.”
About Camille Eiss
Camille Eiss is the President and CEO of Reporters Shield. She most recently served as Senior Advisor to the Ambassador for Sanctions Coordination at the U.S. Department of State, where she led sanctions policy and strategy to advance U.S. objectives in Europe and Eurasia and to drive accountability for corruption, human rights abuse, and foreign malign influence globally. Eiss was also a Visiting Fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s SNF Agora Institute from 2023-24.
From 2018-2022, she served as Chief of Global Partnerships and Policy at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a cross-border investigative journalism platform, where she led an international team that scaled operations and engaged civil society, governments, and philanthropy to advance accountability and support independent media worldwide. Previously, Camille served in the Obama administration as the inaugural Senior Advisor on Anti-Corruption to the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Rights, and Labor, and in policy and strategic communications roles at USAID.
She is the founding Policy Director of the Truman National Security Project, with prior research and editorial experience at Freedom House and CSIS. Camille holds degrees from Georgetown University and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
About Reporters Shield
Launched in 2023, Reporters Shield was developed by investigative journalists and media lawyers to protect independent newsrooms and NGOs from financially devastating Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). Members and donors contribute to a mutual defense fund and have access to robust pre-publication reviews and legal defense strategies, giving them the confidence to pursue the stories that matter most. Its membership comprises more than 65 newsrooms, media outlets, NGOs and environmental campaigners from 40 countries around the world. Through its three-pronged Prevent, Respond, Defend strategy Reporters Shield has already responded to close to 200 legal threats, with only one so far progressing to court.
-ENDS
