Adam Gunther and Michael Mann join The Intercept’s newly formed board of directors

The Intercept announced today the addition of two distinguished names to its newly formed board of directors: Los Angeles-based musician, philanthropist and investor Adam Gunther and Michael Mann, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of law firm Crowell & Moring. They join Omidyar Group Managing Director Pat Christen and Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa, inaugural members of The Intercept board formed earlier this year following the organization’s restructuring as a standalone nonprofit.

“Adam and Michael are incredible additions to The Intercept’s board of directors,” said Intercept CEO Annie Chabel. “Their commitment to investigative journalism and the public interest, and their expertise in board governance will be critical to our success. Their backgrounds are a great complement to Maria and Pat’s experience and interests.”

In recent months, The Intercept has taken significant steps to grow its business operation and secure additional funding, following the announcement of its new structure in January 2023.

“Adam and Michael bring invaluable skills, experience and vision to The Intercept board of directors. We are looking forward to benefiting from their wisdom, common sense and strategic acumen helping us navigate the many challenges and significant opportunities ahead,” said Pat Christen.

“We live in a world of complex interdependencies,” Christen said. “We can no longer approach issues from a siloed perspective — each issue intersects with myriad others. It takes investigative journalism like The Intercept to illuminate the roots of these intersections. From cybersecurity to international relations, The Intercept is doing groundbreaking work shaping global conversations.”

In March, The Intercept announced Annie Chabel as its inaugural CEO, and in June, Sumi Aggarwal joined the organization as chief strategy officer, a newly created role with a focus on impact, audience and partnerships.

“It is truly an honor to join The Intercept's inaugural board of directors,” said Adam Gunther. “Since its inception, The Intercept has been an integral resource in my own political and social awakening. I believe that investigative journalism of this type is a necessary social good. The Intercept’s transition to an independent nonprofit newsroom is taking place at an important time in the history of journalism. I hope to safeguard the organization and grow the newsroom for the benefit of our politics and the next generation of critically minded global citizens and thinkers.”

“In an age where trusted and verifiable news sources are few and far between, The Intercept stands as a bulwark for truth and transparency,” said Michael Mann. “Now more than ever is the right time to build and nurture its credibility, independence, global reputation, and reach. I am thrilled to join such a distinguished group of board members and look forward to supporting the effort to meet these critical goals.”

Adam Gunther is a musician, philanthropist and investor living in Los Angeles. As a musician, Gunther works in pop production, multimedia theater and film scoring. He currently runs a recording studio and focuses on producing independent artists.

As an investor, Gunther focuses on real estate and early-stage technology. And as a donor, he is active in LA’s vibrant environmental justice and criminal justice reform communities with a focus on policy and systems change. 

He was the vice board chair of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition for three years and served on the board for seven. During his time at ARC, the organization grew from an upstart to one of California’s most far-reaching criminal justice reform organizations with a strong voice in the California Legislature. This experience provided Gunther with a deep appreciation for policy and its impact on communities.

More recently, he has been active in the environmental justice movement and the fight to end urban oil drilling in Los Angeles via support and participation in the STAND LA coalition, which recently won hard-fought battles to phase out drilling in the nation’s largest urban oil field.

Gunther will serve as treasurer of The Intercept’s board of directors.

Michael D. Mann’s law practice focuses on international securities regulation and enforcement and the cross-border conduct of business. He provides strategic advice to public companies, their audit committees, officers and directors relating to governance and compliance with U.S. regulatory requirements. Mann was awarded the rank of distinguished executive in the Senior Executive Service by President Bill Clinton and the inaugural recipient of the SEC Chairman’s Award for Excellence. 

From 1989 to 1996, he served as the first director of the Office of International Affairs at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mann established the key relationships between the SEC and its foreign counterparts in developed and emerging markets, including negotiating the first understandings to facilitate cooperation on enforcement, regulation of cross-border trading activity, and the development of securities markets.

Prior to becoming director of the Office of International Affairs, Mann served as associate director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. While in the Division of Enforcement, he carried out investigations and litigation, with a particular emphasis on international matters. He acted as counsel for the commission in SEC v. Levine, SEC v. Certain Unknown Purchasers of Santa Fe, and SEC v. Winans (the “Wall Street Journal case”), among others.

Mann is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the distinguished practitioners’ council and board of advisers to the SEC Historical Society, and the editorial board of Wall Street Lawyer: Securities in the Electronic Age. He previously served as a member of the Hampshire College board of trustees and the board of directors of the Federation of American Scientists. He also served as the chair of the Securities Market Advisory Board of the Toronto International Leadership Centre for Financial Sector Supervision. Mann was a founding partner of Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP.

About The Intercept:

The Intercept is an award-winning nonprofit news organization dedicated to investigating powerful people and institutions, with the courage to dig deep and uncover hard truths. We cover stories that fall into the shadowy corners where politics, national security, criminal justice, and technology meet.