Mary Williams Walsh worked at the New York Times as a reporter covering the intersection of finance, public policy and the aging population. Her work included pensions; public debt; bankruptcy, especially Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy; and insurance, including insurance provided by governments.

Before joining The Times, she worked for The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, mainly in foreign bureaus. Her first foreign posting was to Mexico, during a painful debt crisis that engulfed Latin America from the Rio Grande to Argentina. She has been struck to find some of the same forces at work in the United States today, in places like Puerto Rico.

She has received a George Polk Award for reporting on how companies sell medical supplies to hospitals, and a Society of American Business Editors and Writers award for reporting on public pensions.

She grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin. She was a Walter Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, where she learned how to read a balance sheet, among other things. Later she was a Nieman fellow at Harvard, where she blissfully forgot all about balance sheets and studied music composition. 

She joined News Items in January 2023 and serves as its managing editor and financial columnist.

Tom Smith has more than 18 years experience in marketing research and analysis with leading national advertising and PR agencies, including as Vice President, Information Resources at Hill Holliday and as Vice President, Marketing Research & Strategic Planning at Brodeur. He has also worked in sales, real estate management and transportation, including a recent stint as a package delivery driver for Amazon. Following a brief retirement, Tom joined News Items as Associate Editor, where he oversees and conducts research for both News Items and Political Items.

Previously she served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Getty Images and Managing Director Chief Marketing Officer at Morgan Stanley.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley as CMO, Susan worked as a consultant ​on branding, creative and integration assignments from JP Morgan Chase, and Getty Images.

Susan was the Chief Executive Officer of Product (RED), a global marketing company whose partnerships with iconic brands like Nike, Apple and Starbucks ​helped raise millions to fight AIDS in Africa. In addition, during her tenure (RED) launched several content series including (RED)Nights, (RED)Wire and ​the documentary film: The Lazarus Effect. Susan was the Executive Producer of this acclaimed HBO documentary. Additionally she partnered with Sotheby's to raise $42 million at the (RED) Auction.

She served as the spokesperson for Product (RED) and its mission to fight the AIDS pandemic. Her efforts gained national recognition from media outlets and academic institutions. She was featured in Fortune magazine's Boards issue. She has been a keynote speaker for conferences at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, the Harvard Business School , Mashable Conference and Columbia Business School. Fast Company Magazine named her to its “Most Creative People In Business” and “Most Generous Marketing ‘Genius.’”

Prior to joining (RED), Ms. Smith Ellis served as an Officer and Executive Vice President of the Omnicom Group of Companies, the world’s largest advertising and marketing services corporation. She was an Executive Vice President at BBDO.

Presently, Susan serves on the board of The Southport School ,the Greenwich International Film Festival and is an Advis​ory Board member of I Relaunch.She was Executive Producer of the documentary “Get The Picture,” which featured much of Getty Images iconic photography.