Officers
SPJ South Florida Leadership
February 2008 - 2009
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EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
COMMITTEE CHAIRS AND OTHERS
President: JULIE KAY
jkay@alm.com | 954.248.2622
Kay is an award-winning South Florida journalist who covers the southeast United States for the National Law Journal. She previously worked for the Daily Business Review for seven years, where she authored a weekly column entitled “Justice Watch.” Kay is also the Florida consultant for C-SPAN and freelances for People Magazine, the New York Post and Closer Magazine. Previously, Kay worked as a staff writer for the Miami Herald for five years, covering city and county government in Broward County, as well as for the Palm Beach Post. Kay previously served as president of the South Florida chapter of SPJ from 2002 to 2004. She also serves on the national group’s Legal Defense Fund committee.
Executive Vice President: OPEN
Immediate Past President: DARCIE LUNSFORD
dlunsford@bizjournals.com | 954.949.7523
Lunsford is the real estate editor at the South Florida Business Journal and Regional Director of the Society of Professional Journalists, overseeing Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. She served as president of SPJ’s South Florida Pro Chapter from 2004 to 2007. A veteran reporter, Lunsford has spent the past 10 years covering South Florida real estate. She is a former on-air contributor on WPLG Local 10 in Miami, WPBF TV-25 in Palm Beach Gardens and reports stories for the Business Journal on WPTV TV-5, the NBC station in West Palm Beach. Lunsford cut her reporting teeth as a cop and government reporter at the Marietta Daily Journal near her hometown of Atlanta. She moved to Florida in 1993 and went to work for the Boca Raton News and later business the Daily Business Review. She joined the Business Journal in 1997. Lunsford also has penned freelance articles for national magazines such as the American Journalism Review and American Way, the flight magazine for American Airlines.
Vice President for Membership: OPEN
Vice President for Programs: SERGY ODIDURO
sodiduro@tribune.com | 954.798.1371
Odiduro is a reporter for the Forum Publishing Group. She began her journalism career as an editorial assistant at the Daily Business Review. She graduated from Bernard M. Baruch’s School of Communication with a bachelor’s in journalism. While in school, she was features and op-ed editor for the campus newspaper, The Ticker. She was also a contributor to Dollars and Sense, Baruch College’s review of business and society. Prior to joining the Daily Business Review, Odiduro interned with Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) and Radio Soleil D’ Haiti, where she produced and hosted a regular English-language news segment.
Treasurer: WILLIAM F. HIRSCHMAN
muckrayk@aol.com | 954.478.1123
Hirschman is a theater critic and arts reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a freelancer at-large for several publications and is writing a novel. He has worked as a reporter or editor at newspapers in New York, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas before coming to work for the Sun-Sentinel in 1994 as an education reporter specializing in investigative reporting. He has also covered social services and county commission for the paper. He is past president of the South Florida SPJ chapter and past president of the Kansas Professional SPJ chapter. Among many awards, he received SPJ’s national First Amendment Award, reflecting his long-standing battle for public access to government.
Secretary: JAIME GEORGE
jaime_george@nbr.com | 305.424.4070
George is web producer for PBS’s Nightly Business Report, which is produced by WPBT Channel 2 in Miami. Prior to immersing herself in the interactive world, George worked as a broadcast producer in Channel 2’s local productions department. She produced episodes and segments for the station’s magazine programs and also served as main producer of public affairs programs, which included the Decision 2006 Florida gubernatorial and senatorial debates. Earlier in her career, George was a reporter/anchor/producer at WDTV, the CBS affiliate in North Central West Virginia, and an associate producer/assignment editor at WFTV, Orlando’s ABC affiliate. George earned her MBA from Florida Atlantic University in 2005 and also has undergraduate degrees in Film and Radio/Television from the University of Central Florida.
Board Member: SYLVIA GURINSKY
sgurinsky2003@yahoo.com
Gurinsky is a freelance journalist and blogger. She also works part-time as an educator at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida. Gurinsky previously worked for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Forum Publishing Group, as a staff writer for the Delray Times and Sunrise Forum community newspapers, and as assistant editor and then editor of the Jewish Journal and Shalom Today weekly papers. Earlier in her career, she worked for WPLG-Channel 10, Miami’s ABC affiliate.
Board Member: JOHN HOPKINS
JDH-Miami@att.net | 786.242.0766
Hopkins is a retired copy editor with a keen interest in international relations, urban development and conflict resolution. He leads Green Mobility Network, a Miami-area volunteer group that promotes walking, bicycling and running. He chaired SPJ’s International Journalism Committee for three terms and has served South Florida SPJ members as chapter president, vice president and newsletter editor.
Board Member: RON LEVITT
RLAnetwork@aol.com | 954.349.2596
Levitt is a freelance writer, former Assistant Secretary of State, and former United Press Staff Correspondent. He is also founder/chairman of a public relations firm — The Levitt PR Group (www.levittgroup.com). Levitt currently edits Florida Media News and is Florida Correspondent for the Huffington Post. He is president of the South Florida International Press Club and is past secretary of the SPJ South Florida Pro Chapter. He also serves on the Board of WLRN Public radio/TV in Miami.
Board Member: MERWIN SIGALE
msigale@mdc.edu | 305.237.2261
Sigale is a senior associate professor of journalism and mass communication at Miami Dade College. He is also part-time copy editor at The Miami Herald. He previously worked as Latin American correspondent for ABC News, co-anchor and managing editor of WPBT’s Nightly Business Report, and business editor of The Miami News.
Board Member: MARTHA STERNBERG
msternberg@alm.com | 305.347.6625
Sternberg is a copy editor at the Daily Business Review. Prior to joining the Review, she was a copy editor at the Miami Herald, the SunPost and a managing editor with the Sun-Sentinel Community News Group. Sternberg started her journalism career in news radio as a producer and news director. She went on to manage national accounts and direct issue campaigns for Hill & Knowlton, the world’s largest government relations firm.
Board Member: SAM TERILLI
sterilli@miami.edu | 305.284.8451
Terilli is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Miami. He spent 12 years as the General Counsel of the Miami Herald Publishing Company and 6 years as a partner in a national law firm. Terilli also served on the Miami Herald’s editorial board for six years, writing editorials and columns, and spent two extended assignments in the Herald’s newsroom, once to lead a reorganization of the news operations and once as a working reporting and editor to study the news operations.
Broadcast Affairs and Recruitment Chair: OPEN
Ethics Chair: OPEN
Freedom of Information Chair: OPEN
Scholarships Chair: OLINE COGDILL
ocogdill@sun-sentinel.com | 954.256.4886
Student Affairs and Recruitment Chair: MICHAEL KORETZKY
michael@koretzky.com | 954.292.7525
Sunshine State Awards Chair: JULIE KAY
jkay@alm.com | 954.248.2622
Sunshine State Awards Administrator: TIM DODSON
tim@timdodson.com | 305.756.0735
Web Administrator: JAIME GEORGE
jaime_george@nbr.com | 305.424.4070
Web Content Managers: SUZANNE LEVINSON & KATE HOWELL
slevinson@miamiherald.com | 305.376.4676
lhowell@bizjournals.com | 954.949.7516
