With 15 years of experience advancing solutions to complex societal challenges, Francesca de Quesada Covey will lead Knight’s Community Impact program nationally and across Knight cities

Knight veterans take on new leadership positions: Kelly Jin as vice president for AI and Insights and John Sands as vice president for Information and Society

Miami – May 22, 2025 – The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today announced new leadership appointments reflecting the foundation’s commitment to strengthening community engagement, information and technology. 

Public innovation leader Francesca de Quesada Covey has been named vice president for Community Impact. In this role, de Quesada Covey will oversee Knight Foundation’s portfolio that supports connected, vibrant and thriving communities. Additionally, Knight Foundation unveiled two new strategic functions led by experienced Knight leaders: Kelly Jin as vice president for AI and Insights and John Sands as vice president for Information and Society.

“As we navigate a rapidly evolving world, these strategic leadership changes ensure we’re not just keeping pace—but leading the way,” said Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, president and CEO of the Knight Foundation. “The appointments underscore our commitment to adapting with purpose and ensuring our work continues to strengthen democracy and empower the communities we serve.”

De Quesada Covey will manage an active grant portfolio of over $250 million across 26 cities—places where the Knight brothers once owned and operated newspapers. Each city’s portfolio is guided by a locally tailored strategy focused on building stronger communities. 

“Knight Foundation has long been a trailblazing advocate of community development, and I’m honored to carry that legacy forward” said de Quesada Covey. “My career has focused on technology and government, working to scale products that deliver economic benefit and build stronger, more resilient communities. I look forward to working with the exceptional team at Knight.”

Along with her role as chief of staff at Knight, Jin will also serve as vice president for AI and Insights. This cross-cutting function aims to rethink how Knight uses data to assess grantmaking, unlock institutional knowledge to guide future investments and build a responsible, mission-aligned strategy for integrating AI tools across the foundation.

“It’s been the honor of a lifetime to lead Knight’s Communities program—working alongside our dedicated team and local leaders to build places where democracy thrives,” said Jin. “In this new role, I’m excited to help Knight––and our grantees––make better use of data and feedback to drive meaningful change. This isn’t just about technology; it’s about equipping communities with tools that deepen learning and accelerate impact.” 

Sands will serve as vice president for Knight’s new Information and Society program, a reimagining of the former Learning and Impact program. The new focus reflects the growing urgency to understand how information and technology are shaping society, and to support research that informs policy and social practice to advance core democratic values like free expression, access to information and accountability. The program’s new name emphasizes the importance of information as a throughline across Knight’s work, in highlighting agency, resilience and connection in a democratic society.

“Major shifts are underway that are already changing how we seek and share information, form beliefs and connect with one another. The implications for our communities and institutions are both profound and poorly understood,” said Sands. “We are refining and refocusing Knight’s expansive research portfolio to meet this moment.”

Additional information:

Francesca de Quesada Covey most recently served as chief innovation and economic development officer for Miami-Dade County, leading initiatives across a $12 billion government serving nearly 3 million residents. A champion of public-private collaboration, she co-founded the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority (MDIA)—a first-of-its-kind platform investing in startups that address civic and public sector challenges. Backed by the Knight Foundation, philanthropist Ken Griffin and Miami-Dade County, MDIA has funded eleven companies and launched four public innovation challenges focused on real-world government and community impact. De Quesada Covey’s career has included roles at Meta and the White House, with a focus on scaling technology products for underserved communities. 

Since joining Knight Foundation in 2021 as vice president for Communities and National Initiatives, Kelly Jin has overseen more than $175 million in grants committed across Knight communities. She expanded Knight’s community strategy to focus on local partnerships that drive economic growth, reconnect neighborhoods and leverage other private and public funding. Additionally, Jin has deep expertise in analytics and technology, previously serving as New York City’s chief analytics officer, where she and her team delivered insights and data-driven decision making for the mayor and city agencies; she also co-chaired the city’s Algorithms and AI Task Force, where she helped establish principles guiding the city’s responsible use of AI.

John Sands has been at Knight Foundation since 2019 and most recently served as senior director of media and democracy, where he has led more than $124 million in grantmaking to support independent scholarship and policy research on information and technology in the context of our democracy. He also led the foundation’s multiyear Trust, Media and Democracy research partnership with Gallup. Before Knight, he worked in both development and enrollment management at the University of Pennsylvania, where he developed and led the implementation of committee-based evaluation, a student application review model that has since been adopted by dozens of college admission offices nationwide.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

We are social investors who support democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and the success of American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once had newspapers.