John Perry is technical director of the AJC's award-winning data journalism team. Before joining the newspaper staff, Perry was the senior Computer-Assisted Reporting Fellow at the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in Washington, D.C. The AJC's data team gives the newsroom the technical skills needed to collect and analyze information in the digital age. Perry has more than 20 years experience in data journalism and has also worked as an editor and reporter covering topics ranging from crime to religion and from public schools to the state legislature. He started at the AJC in 2008 as a data specialist on the investigative team where he helped uncover systematic cheating on state achievement test by the Atlanta Public Schools. Since it was organized in 2014, the data team has played key roles in many of the AJC's most high-profile investigations, including "Doctors and Sex Abuse" and Unprotected: Senior Care". Perry is an Oklahoma native and a citizen of Cherokee Nation.