For Immediate Release:
Dateline: Indianapolis,
IN
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
CONTACT: Claire Regan, SPJ National President, cregan@spj.org
Zoë Berg, SPJ Communications Specialist, 317-920-4785, zberg@spj.org
INDIANAPOLIS — The Society of Professional Journalists membership has elected its 2022-23 Board of Directors and Regional Coordinators.
The winners were sworn in at the MediaFest22 Closing Business Meeting. They were sworn in by 2021-22 National President Rebecca Aguilar. Aguilar also sworn in SPJ’s 106th President Claire Regan, who became president-elect in 2021, at the President’s Award Banquet. Regan is an assistant professor of journalism and faculty adviser to the student newspaper at Wagner College.
Additions to SPJ’s 2022-23 Board of Directors are:
— Vice President: Ashanti Blaze-Hopkins is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, producer, educator, author, higher education equity consultant and public relations expert. She is currently a tenured journalism professor at Santa Monica College. She has served as president of the Greater Los Angeles Pro Chapter, SPJ National Executive Director Search Committee chair, Nominations Committee chair and SPJ National Delegate Taskforce member.
— Secretary-Treasurer: Israel Balderas is an attorney, journalist and educator. He is an assistant professor of journalism at Elon University. Balderas has served on SPJ’s Board of Directors, the SPJ Foundation Board of Directors and as the Legal Defense Fund Committee chair.
— At-Large Director (two-year term): Kevin Z. Smith is the executive director of the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. He served as the SPJ national president from 2009-10, campus adviser at-large, Region 4 director, SPJ secretary-treasurer and SPJ Foundation Board member.
— At-Large Director (two-year term): Adam Sennott is a metro correspondent for the Boston Globe. He has served as president of the New England Pro Chapter and co-founder of the SPJ Puerto Rico Chapter as well as a member of the Delegate Analysis Task Force, Diversity & Inclusion Committee and Nominations Committee.
New Regional Coordinators are:
— Region 1: Chris Vaccaro is vice president of Digital News at Altice USA and the director of graduate journalism at Hofstra University. He is on the board of the Press Club of Long Island. He previously held this position.
— Region 4: Ginny McCabe is a freelance journalist. She is president of the Greater Cincinnati Pro Chapter and secretary of the Freelance Community. She previously held this position.
— Region 5: Nicole DeCriscio is assistant for a local Human Rights Commission and has been a reporter, photographer and paginator. She previously served as the assistant Region 5 Coordinator and is a member of the Membership Committee.
— Region 9: McKenzie Romero is the deputy news director at Deseret News. She is a board member of the Utah Headliners Pro Chapter.
Region 7 and Region 8 had no candidates run. Regional Coordinators serve two-year terms, with half of the 12 RCs being up for re-election each year.
SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to informing citizens; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and fights to protect First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. Support excellent journalism and fight for your right to know. Become a member, give to the Legal Defense Fund or give to the SPJ Foundation.
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