Robert Downen
Robert Downen covers nonprofits and other business news for the Houston Chronicle. He's also covered religion, City Hall and COVID-19.
After joining the newspaper as a Hearst Fellow in 2017, Robert was part of the investigative team behind "Abuse of Faith," a joint investigation by the Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News that detailed hundreds of sexual abuses by Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers. The series won or placed in numerous awards contests, prompted new disclosure laws and continues to dominate the agenda of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's second-largest faith group.
Prior to that, he worked as a business reporter in Albany, New York, and as the managing editor of a group of six newspapers in Illinois.