T-Squared: Meet our new Houston reporter and our new audience analyst

We have two stellar new additions to the fast-growing Texas Tribune staff. Mitchell Ferman will become our first Houston-based reporter, focusing on energy and the economy, and Jon Garza has joined us as audience analyst.

Ferman has most recently been a reporter at The Monitor in McAllen, where he has covered cross-border trade, politics and the city of McAllen (including how taxpayers funded lavish requests by Enrique Iglesias). He has also been regularly freelancing from the Rio Grande Valley and beyond for The New York Times, Texas Monthly and Reuters, writing about topics including the family separation crisis and unexpected consequences of the border wall. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri.

At the Tribune, Ferman will cover everything from oil booms and busts to innovations in renewable energy — and he’ll also take a broader look at the Texas economy. He’ll do much of this from the Energy Capital of the World, though his reporting will also take him outside of Houston. He will be based at the offices of our partners at Houston Public Media.

Ferman starts March 9. A food lover, he is looking forward to exploring Houston’s much-lauded culinary offerings.

Garza joined the Tribune this month. He most recently worked at Integrate Agency, a digital marketing and public relations company in Austin, where he was a marketing analyst. He previously worked for the University of Texas at Austin’s Information Security Office. He is a graduate of UT-Austin.

Garza's work at the Tribune focuses on analyzing data to help inform strategic decisions about reaching our audience. Outside of work, he’s a U.S. history enthusiast who has a goal of visiting every presidential library.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.