Mike Hixenbaugh is a senior investigative reporter for NBC News, co-creator of the Southlake and Grapevine podcasts, and author of They Came for the Schools: One Town’s Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America’s Classrooms.

Hixenbaugh’s reporting in recent years on the battles over race, gender, and sexuality in public schools won a Peabody Award and was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

While working as a newspaper reporter in Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, and Texas, Hixenbaugh uncovered deadly failures in the U.S. military, abuses in the child welfare system, and safety lapses at major hospitals, winning numerous national awards and triggering reforms aimed at saving lives and keeping families together.

His first book, They Came for the Schools — winner of the prestigious Lukas Work-in-Progress Award — is set to be published by Mariner in May 2024.

Hixenbaugh lives in Maryland with his wife and four children.