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Membership Committee Roster
The Membership Committee follows membership trends in the Society and recommends membership recruitment drives to the national board and executive director. It is called upon to review chapter requirements, dues, organizational structure and other quality-of-life issues affecting the membership.
Membership Committee Chair
Holly Edgell
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Bio (click to expand)
Holly Edgell is journalist, consultant and journalism teacher/trainer based in St. Louis. She comes to the roster of SPJ Committee leaders with experience in journalism and academia.
Before hanging out her own shingle in February 2012, Edgell served as one of two regional editors for Patch in metro St. Louis, where she hired a team of 13 journalists to launch and grow 12 community news and information websites.
Edgell joined Patch from her position as an assistant professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and the Emmy-award winning executive producer at KOMU-TV (NBC) in Columbia, MO. She also served as the adviser for the Missouri School of Journalism student chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Her previous experience includes jobs as a newscast producer in Youngstown, Ohio, at WFMJ-TV and in Pittsburgh at WTAE-TV. Edgell's career later took her to Cleveland, where she worked as medical news producer at duopoly WOIO-TV and WUAB-TV, and to Detroit's WDIV-TV, where she worked as consumer news producer. Edgell spent more than four years as an assistant professor in Florida A&M University's journalism school.
At age 21, Edgell was the first news director for Great Belize Television in Belize, where she was born. She helped launch “News 5,” the first independent (non-government) television news program to air in that country. Edgell earned a master's degree in journalism with a concentration in media management at Kent State University in Ohio. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Michigan State University. She has traveled extensively in Africa, Asia, North America and Europe and speaks Spanish.
In her spare time, Edgell coordinates training for journalists and aspiring journalists in Belize, in conjunction with the University of the West Indies, Open Campus.
She also writes fiction and had her short story, “The Means and the End,” published in Picayune Lit Review. Her story, “Heaven and the Deep Blue Sea” appears in two journals: Pisgah Lit Review and Dialogo.
College Membership Subcommittee Chair
Tara Puckey
PO Box 7144
Fishers, IN 46038
765-730-4283
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Bio (click to expand)
Tara Puckey is a freelance journalist based in Indianapolis, Indiana. She always enjoyed writing, premiering her work at the age of three with “Blue Dot, Yellow Dot,” a story about two colors that befriended each other. Later, she participated in the Young Authors competition and wrote an article for American Way magazine. Sadly, there's no link to that since it was written before the Internet existed. Later in life, after choosing journalism in a list of alphabetical majors, she fell in love with the business. In 2011, she graduated from IU School of Journalism at IUPUI with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, with High Distinction. At that point, she had been freelancing for four years and won several national awards. Part of a military family, Puckey originally focused her freelance business on military media. Later, she expanded to offer web design, branding, editing and other services. She is especially fond of working with small, local businesses and non-profits.
Membership Committee Members
Rebecca Aguilar
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Sarah Bauer
Program Director
Minnesota Newspaper Association
612-278-0250
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Bio (click to expand)
Sarah Bauer is the Program Director for the Minnesota Newspaper Association (MNA). MNA is the trade association all Minnesota Newspapers, and represents the interests of more than 360 daily and weekly publications. Bauer plans all educational and outreach programs for the Association, including hands-on training for journalists, public forums on media issues, an annual excellence in journalism contest, and its annual convention.
Bauer speaks regularly about media ethics issues, community journalism, social media, and issues like the intersection of journalism and politics. Bauer graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in journalism and philosophy. She has been involved with the Society of Professional Journalists as member and chapter leader since she joined the University of Minnesota’s chapter. Since 2006, Bauer has served on the MN Pro chapter board of directors, currently serving as the chapter president and chair of its annual journalism award contest and banquet. She is also the chairwoman of the Society’s national membership committee.
Oren Campbell
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Debra DeCoster
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Sandra Gonzalez
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Gideon Grudo
Florida Atlantic University
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Michael Koretzky
Florida Atlantic University
954-292-7515
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Nicole Livas
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Robert Moran
ABC News
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Dana Neuts
Freelance Writer, Virtually Yourz
Owner, Publisher, iLoveKent.net
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Twitter
Bio (click to expand)
After a career in financial services, Dana (Blozis) Neuts began freelancing in 2003. Based in Kent, Washington, Dana is a freelance writer and editor as well as the owner and publisher of iLoveKent.net and iLoveCovington.com, hyperlocal blogs. Her work has appeared in many Seattle-area publications as well as national publications including GSN: Government Security News, HS Today and American Profile. She is past-president of the award-winning Western Washington Pro Chapter of SPJ, serves as the Region 10 Director of SPJ, is a member of the membership committee, and chairman of the freelance committee. She previously served on the SDX foundation board and has been a facilitator for Scripps. For more information, please visit VirtuallyYourz.com. Specialties: Business Writing and Editing, Features, Humor, Small Business, Nonprofits, Finance, Insurance, Travel, and Marketing Consulting and Implementation including Social Media.
Joe Radske
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Katie Knapp Schubert
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David Sheets
Sports Editor
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Bio (click to expand)
David Sheets is a sports editor and technology writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and its online alter ego, STLtoday.com. He is the president of the St. Louis Pro Chapter of SPJ, and is a member of SPJ's national membership, freelance and digital media committees.
Susan Stabley
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Alex Tarquinio
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Amanda Womac
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Clayton Woullard
YourHub/The Denver Post
720-219-5066
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College Membership Subcommittee Members
Michele Boyet
Bio (click to expand)
Michele Boyet is the current executive vice president for SPJ South Florida and the social media coordinator and wedding blogger for The Breakers, Palm Beach. Boyet is also the vice president of the Florida College Press Association and assistant director for College Media Advisers’ national journalism conventions in New York City. She formerly worked at the Sun Sentinel, was named College Journalist of the Year in 2010 by the SPJ South Florida Sunshine State Awards, and received the Robert D.G. Lewis First Amendment award from SPJ National in Oct. 2010.
Jeremy Hoover
Bio (click to expand)
Jeremy Hoover recently graduated with a B.A. in History from Metropolitan State College of Denver, and is pursuing a career in news journalism. He became involved with SPJ two years ago with the Colorado Pro Chapter, and became the first president of his school's new campus chapter. In June 2011 he participated in the SPJ Ted Scripps Leadership Institute and anticipates becoming more active in his Pro Chapter. He plans on attending graduate school for journalism after some time in the field, and would like to focus on environmental issues, education and health care. You can follow Jeremy twitter @JeremyD_Hoover, or check out his blog jeremydhoover.wordpress.com.
McKenzie Romero
Bio (click to expand)
McKenzie Romero is a student reporter and editor specializing in breaking news and community issues at Southern Utah University. She has been involved in SPJ since her freshman year, and looks to become even more active in the organization as she makes the transition to professional journalism. She enjoys running, Spanish and witty sci-fi.
Andrew Seaman
Bio (click to expand)
Andrew is a medical journalist for Thomson Reuters in New York. He is a 2011 graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where he studied investigative journalism techniques as a Stabile Scholar. After graduating with his master’s degree, Andrew covered health policy for Thomson Reuters’s Washington, D.C. bureau, where he also covered president Obama on weekends. He is a member of New York’s Deadline Club, and served on SPJ’s national board from 2009 to 2010.
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