Local. Independent. Award-winning.
Meet the Searchlight team.
Ed Williams | Investigations Editor
Ed Williams has been an investigative journalist for Searchlight New Mexico since 2018, where he has reported on systemic issues impacting New Mexico’s children and families, human trafficking, abuses of power, and more. As investigations editor, Ed oversees Searchlight’s deep-dive reporting and collaborations with local and national media partners. Before joining Searchlight, Ed was a reporter in both the United States and Latin America, working for print, digital and radio outlets, including seven years in public radio.
His numerous journalism awards include a 2020 First Amendment award and 2019 local accountability reporting award from the Poynter Institute and a 2023 Breaking Barriers Award from the Institute for Nonprofit News.
He was a USC Annenberg Health Journalism Fellow in 2016 and has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.
Margaret O’Hara | Health Accountability Reporter
Margaret O’Hara is a New Mexico-based journalist who has been writing for daily news publications in the Mountain West since 2021. Her assignments have led her from courtrooms to classrooms, professional rodeos to state capitals, where she’s sought to capture human stories with care and precision.
Margaret reports on issues affecting healthy communities in New Mexico. Her work is funded by a grant from Anchorum Health Foundation. Her work appears on Searchlight New Mexico and The Santa Fe New Mexican. She has spearheaded several investigative projects at The New Mexican, including a six-month-long inquiry into unrecovered human remains at the New Mexico-Mexico border; a series on inadequate services for aging New Mexico residents; an extensive examination of the state’s implementation of so-called “free and universal” child care; and a special section examining infrastructure and declining student enrollment at local public schools. Margaret earned eight awards from the New Mexico Press Association in 2025 — beating her 2024 record of six awards.
Margaret holds bachelor’s degrees in Literary Journalism and Criminology, Law and Society from the University of California, Irvine.
Esteban Candelaria | Child Welfare/Juvenile Justice Reporter
Esteban Candelaria is an award-winning journalist who covers child welfare, juvenile justice and early childhood issues spanning New Mexico. Born and raised in Albuquerque, he joined The Santa Fe New Mexican through a fellowship with Report for America, which places journalists in newsrooms throughout the country to report on undercovered topics. His work appears on Searchlight New Mexico and The Santa Fe New Mexican.
He has focused on the state’s troubled child welfare agency, guided by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, as it attempts to make up for decades of inadequacies and improve outcomes for its most vulnerable children. He has also focused on developments in New Mexico’s expansion of its early childhood services as the state hopes to address root causes behind its struggles with poverty, substance use, child maltreatment and juvenile crime.
Esteban previously covered education at the Albuquerque Journal, and in his free time enjoys fly fishing.
Elthea Miguel | Donor Outreach Manager
Elthea Miguel brings global experience to her work, from the Philippines to Guam, and now here in New Mexico. She graduated with honors from the University of Guam with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
For more than three years, she has applied her expertise to help local businesses and organizations, both for and non-profit, grow by using her digital expertise to ensure their messages reach the right people. Skilled across multiple digital platforms, Elthea supports growth through social media, email, website, and print marketing. At Searchlight New Mexico, she leads our digital initiatives, working to expand awareness of Searchlight’s mission to hold the powerful accountable and deliver transparent, high-impact reporting across New Mexico.
Outside of work, Elthea is an adventurous soul. Together with her husband, they spend their time exploring the U.S. and the world! They hike every mountain they can, camp through the summers, and snowboard and ski through the winters. Her passion to explore new heights shines through in her work. With her creativity and dedication to the cause, Elthea is committed to helping Searchlight reach every New Mexican who deserves clear, trustworthy reporting.
Christopher Potter | Site Developer
Chris brings more than 28 years of experience in web design and development to his role at Searchlight New Mexico. His career has spanned newsrooms, advocacy organizations, and mission-driven projects, beginning with his work as senior web designer at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and continuing in Vermont as a designer and developer for Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, a national initiative founded by Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. Throughout his career, Chris has remained deeply committed to local journalism, social advocacy, and strengthening communities through thoughtful, accessible digital storytelling.
Chris holds a Master of Science in Multimedia Design and a Bachelor of Arts in American History, a pairing that reflects both his technical expertise and his enduring interest in the stories that shape our civic life.
After raising his two children in Vermont, Chris recently made the move to New Mexico, where he continues his work while embracing the beauty and openness of the Southwest.
Outside of work, Chris enjoys woodworking, cooking, keeping a watchful eye on his three Boston Terriers, and spending evenings under New Mexico’s wide, luminous skies.
Michael Braga | Data Projects Coach
Michael Braga is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist with nearly 30 years of experience in the business. He currently is an assistant professor of practice at Texas Tech University who has been partnering with Searchlight New Mexico on various projects.
He has reported and edited weeklies and dailies, startups and 100-year-old newspapers. He has been a business journalist and an investigative reporter and editor. He has worked in the United States and in Latin America. Along the way, he has written or edited stories that deal with everything from real estate fraud and bank collapse to violence in mental institutions and nursing homes to bias in the criminal justice system and exploitation of prison labor. Most recently, he was an investigative reporter and investigative editor at The Arizona Republic and before that a regional investigative editor for USA Today.
Bill Church | Executive Director
Bill Church serves in a pro bono role as executive director of Searchlight New Mexico. He doubles as The Santa Fe New Mexican’s executive editor and project director for The New Mexican Public Service Journalism Fund. He has led news operations at the national, regional and state levels. He was executive editor when the Sarasota Herald-Tribune won a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.
Church is a former national president of the Associated Press Media Editors, a Knight Visiting Nieman Fellow at Harvard and a two-time Pulitzer jurist. He is on the publishers’ board for Stars and Stripes and a longtime member of the Asian American Journalists Association. He is a recipient of the national Robert G. McGruder Diversity Leadership Award.
He holds a B.A. with Distinction in economics from the University of Oklahoma and an M.S. in administration from Central Michigan University. He has taught university-level courses in marketing and media culture. He and his wife, Darla, are the “cool” grandparents and avid travelers who enjoy living in Santa Fe.