Staff

Adelle M. Banks is the projects editor and a national reporter for RNS, covering topics including religion and race, the faith of African Americans and partnerships between government and religious groups.

An award-winning journalist, Banks joined RNS in 1995. She previously was the religion reporter at the Orlando Sentinel and a reporter at The Providence Journal and newspapers in the upstate New York communities of Syracuse and Binghamton. Banks was honored with the Washington Association of Black Journalists’ inaugural lifetime achievement award in 2022. She is the third-place winner of the 2021 Best In-depth Newswriting on Religion Award from the American Academy of Religion. Banks spearheaded RNS’ “Beyond the Most Segregated Hour” project, which won a 2021 Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council, and an RNS project on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, which won a 2014 Wilbur Award. Banks was a third-place winner in the Religion Newswriters Association’s Religion Reporter of the Year contest in 2011 and 1998. She also has received first-place Associated Church Press awards in news, convention, photography and multimedia categories. Her writing has been featured in The Washington Post, USA Today, Christian Century, Christianity Today, Jet, BlackVoices.com, Sojourners, Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly, Nieman Reports and the 2006 book “Good News: The Best Religion Writing in North America.”

Banks is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. A former board member of the Religion News Foundation, she is a public speaker on religion reporting at gatherings of students, scholars, journalists and other communicators.

Bob Smietana is a national reporter for RNS based near Chicago, covering evangelicals, weird religion and the changing religious landscape. He is the author of “Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why it Matters.”

Smietana is an award-winning religion reporter and editor who has spent two decades producing breaking news, data journalism, investigative reporting, profiles and features for magazines, newspapers, trade publications and websites. Most notably, he has served as a senior writer for Facts & Trends, senior editor of Christianity Today, religion writer at The Tennessean, correspondent for RNS and contributor to OnFaith, USA Today and The Washington Post. He is best known for his coverage of Islam and Islamophobia, including his comprehensive reporting on the Murfreesboro mosque conflict, and of evangelical Christianity, including the emotional journey of Pearl Joy Brown’s family as well as the Willow Creek Community Church scandal.

Yonat Shimron is a senior editor at RNS and a North Carolina-based reporter covering Judaism, the South's changing religious landscape and the growing nonreligious divide.

Yonat Shimron joined RNS in April 2011 and became managing editor in 2013. She was the religion reporter for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. from 1996 to 2011. During that time she won numerous awards. She is a past president of the Religion Newswriters Association.

Jack Jenkins is a national reporter for RNS based in Washington, covering the intersection of religion and politics as well as U.S. Catholics. He is the author of “American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country.”

Before joining RNS in 2018, Jenkins was senior religion reporter at the Washington-based ThinkProgress. Jenkins was an RNS reporting intern in 2011 and later blogged for RNS. His work has appeared or been referenced in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, MSNBC and elsewhere. After graduating from Presbyterian College with a Bachelor of Arts in history and religion/philosophy, Jack received his Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University with a focus on Christianity, Islam and the media. Jenkins is based in Washington, D.C.

Claire Giangravè is a Rome-based reporter for RNS, covering the Catholic Church and the Vatican.

Before joining RNS in 2019, Giangravè was at Crux Catholic Media Inc., where she served as a faith and culture correspondent. She also previously worked at CNBC/Class Editori, ForexInfo.it, PBS and MSNBC News. She received her bachelor’s degree from Roma Tre University and her master’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Claire speaks Italian, English and French.

Kathryn Post is a Pittsburgh-based reporter for RNS covering topics such as Gen Z spirituality, pop culture and abuse in religious contexts.

Before joining RNS in 2021, she earned a Master of Arts in Religion from Yale University. She interned at RNS in 2020 and has degrees in writing and political science from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Sojourners, the Christian Century, Broadview Magazine and more.

Richa Karmarkar is a New York City based reporter for RNS, primarily covering Hinduism. She also helps with a variety of editorial needs in the newsroom. Before joining RNS in 2022, Karmarkar previously worked at the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy and on the production team of the Interfaith Voices podcast. Karmarkar is a graduate of Columbia University with a Master’s degrees in Religion and Journalism. She also holds three Bachelor's degrees in Religious Studies, History, and Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Aleja Hertzler-McCain is a reporter for RNS covering Latino faith and American Catholicism. Before joining RNS, Hertzler-McCain reported at the National Catholic Reporter and Sojourners, where she won awards from the Catholic Media Association and The Associated Church Press. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music and anthropology from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif.

Hertzler-McCain’s first languages are Spanish and English, and she also uses French and Portuguese in her reporting. She is based in Prince George’s County, Md.