JAMES BURNETT

James Burnett is the founding editor and managing director of The Trace (thetrace.org), an independent, nonprofit media company dedicated to shining a light on America's gun violence crisis. As managing director, James leads impact strategy and fundraising for Trace Media and oversees the organization’s expansion and development. He was The Trace’s founding editor, setting coverage priorities and recruiting the first members of the newsroom.

James’s experience in media leadership includes tenures as editor-in-chief of Boston magazine, enterprise editor for AOL News, news editor for New York Magazine, and story editor for The New Republic. Burnett’s work has also appeared in Rolling Stone, Runner's World, The New York Times Magazine, and FourFourTwo.

He has shared a National Magazine Award for single-topic coverage, and five writers he has coached have been named finalists for the Livingston Awards for young journalists. James attended Duke University, where he majored in public policy.