Resume

MIKE HIXENBAUGH

EXPERIENCE

Reporter — NBC News — Houston
June 2019-present
•National investigative reporter. My reporting on overzealous CPS efforts in partnership with the Houston Chronicle inspired calls for new policies to protect Texas parents from painful family separations after questionable child abuse reports from doctors.

Reporter — The Houston Chronicle — Houston
September 2016-June 2019
•Investigative reporter focussed on health care. My reporting with ProPublica exposed serious safety flaws and poor outcomes at a renowned cardiac hospital, prompting the federal government to strip funding and the hospital to fire its top executives.

Reporter — The Virginian-Pilot — Norfolk, Va.
March 2011-September 2016
•Projects and investigative reporter covering the military in America’s biggest Navy town. My investigation following a deadly Navy helicopter crash in 2014 — including a long-form narrative and TV segment that appeared on NBC News — led to the grounding of more than 150 helicopters and changes to improve safety. Prior to that, covered schools and then City Hall in the sprawling suburbs of Virginia Beach.

Reporter — Fayetteville Observer — Fayetteville, N.C.
April 2010-March 2011
•Worked a county government beat while also honing skills in watchdog and enterprise reporting. Won three statewide journalism awards, including first place in general news reporting among state’s largest newspapers for coverage of unexplained infant deaths at Fort Bragg.

Reporter — Rocky Mount Telegram — Rocky Mount, N.C.
November 2007-April 2010
•Covered an array of topics, including the N.C. General Assembly, politics, military issues, county government and business en route to winning six statewide journalism awards. Work covering suspected serial murders drew national attention.

Reporter — The Record-Courier — Ravenna, Ohio
February 2007-November 2007
•Put to use deadline writing skills while working as the Ravenna city beat writer at my hometown newspaper. Exposed government officials who were aware that defective streetlamps had been crashing onto sidewalks but largely ignored the safety threat. The city later spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace the lamps.

AWARDS

•I’ve won dozens of state and national journalism honors since 2008, including: APME national storytelling award; Four-time Livingston Awards finalist; Texas APME & Headliner’s Foundation Star Reporter of the Year; Sigma Delta Chi Award for best national TV news investigation; AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards, Gold; AHJC Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, second place; Military Reporters and Editors Association for domestic national security coverage; Top prize for journalistic integrity and community service, Virginia Press Association; Outstanding Young Journalist of the Year, Virginia Press Association.

EDUCATION

College — The University of Akron
August 2003-May 2007
•Communications: news media major, sociology minor
•Graduated with honors

Investigative Reporting Fellowship — UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
September 2015-August 2016
• Helped produce a documentary based on my reporting: Who Killed Lt. Van Dorn.

REFERENCES

•Please contact me for a list of references.