Katie Hawkins-Gaar is the editor for CNN iReport, the network’s global participatory news community. Based in Atlanta, Hawkins-Gaar is responsible for leading the editorial team of producers that manages user-generated content for CNN.

Hawkins-Gaar joined the company in 2007 as an associate producer of interactives for CNN Digital. Before being named senior producer of user participation for the iReport team in 2011, Hawkins-Gaar worked as an associate producer in 2010. Throughout her career, she has produced several standout projects, including Katrina: Then and Now, Connected by 9/11 and Meet the 99%. Hawkins-Gaar has also coordinated iReport’s on-the-ground presence at South by Southwest.

Prior to CNN, Hawkins-Gaar also split her time as a research assistant at Georgia State University and a program assistant at The Carter Center.

Hawkins-Gaar obtained her undergraduate degree from Georgia State University in Journalism.