The Colorado Sun
Focus
Public policy and accountability reporting placing crucial issues in context for Coloradans
Established
2018
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom on a mission to deliver insightful, interesting, important (and sometimes fun) reporting across Colorado. The newsroom uses deep reporting, careful writing and great photography to help Colorado better understand issues that shape its communities.
The Sun was launched in 2018 by 10 legacy newspaper reporters and editors certain they could fill gaps in political, environmental, health, business and equity reporting left by the contraction of other media. Six years later, it continues to serve a vast and diverse readership that ranges from small rural communities to the huge metro cities in Colorado.
With support from the American Journalism Project, The Sun will professionalize its business and philanthropic functions to become a truly sustainable, free news source for Colorado. This will include growing its journalism staff over the next three to five years to ensure the newsroom can center its coverage in communities rather than merely reporting on them.
Leaders
-
![]()
Larry RyckmanPublisherCo-founder and publisher Larry Ryckman oversees all operations with a particular emphasis on the business and nonprofit fundraising efforts to support The Sun’s mission. He previously was a news leader at The Denver Post, the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Greeley Tribune. He also spent 22 years at The Associated Press, serving as assistant managing editor of the world’s largest news-gathering organization, a national editor in New York and reporter and editor in San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego and Carson City, Nevada. He helped cover the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of a new Russia as a Moscow correspondent in the 1990s. He also directed AP’s coverage of the Columbine High School shooting, the presidential election recount in Florida in 2000 and countless other national and international news events. -
![]()
Dana CoffieldEditorCo-founder and editor Dana Coffield has helped guide The Sun since its inception, including through the conversion to nonprofit, which called on entrepreneurial skills gained in editorial direction and management at publications ranging from her family-owned North 40 News in Wellington and The Lafayette News, to the start-up Northern Colorado Business Report. She also was an editor at the Daily Times-Call and The Rocky Mountain News, and for 17 years worked as an editor on the features, business and city desks at The Denver Post. Her special skills include beekeeping, which is surprisingly useful in journalism. -
![]()
Lauren WhynottDirector of Membership, Marketing & Audience EngagementLauren Whynott oversees membership, donor engagement and marketing at The Colorado Sun. She is dedicated to supporting The Sun’s essential journalism by connecting with audiences and expanding community support. She focuses on data-informed growth and retention strategies to foster meaningful relationships that support The Sun’s work. Prior to working at The Sun, Lauren held positions as the manager of membership & audience engagement at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and as development director at Respite Care, Inc. in Fort Collins. Her educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies from Colorado State University and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado Denver. Lauren is a lifelong Coloradan. She can usually be found exploring local restaurants, hunting for furniture, or listening to a book on tape.
