Kenny Irby is visual journalism group leader and director of diversity at The Poynter Institute. He founded Poynter's photojournalism program in 1995, and he teaches and consults in areas of photojournalism, leadership, ethics and diversity.

Since joining the Institute in 1995, Irby has traveled to Nigeria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, Jamaica, Singapore, South Africa and Russia preaching excellence in photojournalism. He chaired the 2007 Pulitzer Prize (photography categories), lectured at the World Press Photos buddy training program, the International Center Of Photography, is a member of the Eddie Adams Workshop board, presented on the 2003 Flying Short Course, served as photo manager at two USA Olympic Games (1996 and 2002), chaired the Unity '99 Visual Task Force and is Poynter's representative and a founding member of The Best of Photojournalism (BOP) Committee.

He previously was a photojournalist and deputy director of photography at Newsday, and a photojournalist and assistant photo editor at The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Mich. Irby contributed as a photo editor to three Pulitzer Prize-winning projects while at Newsday. He is a recipient of numerous NPPA awards, including the 2007 Sprague Award (the organization's highest honor), 2002 President's Award, 1999 Joseph Costa Award and others.

He has a bachelor's degree in photojournalism from Boston University and was a Multicultural Management Fellow at the University of Missouri.

Read his complete Poynter profile here.