Joining us for the 2016 National Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida, on July 21-22? Read through the biographies below to get to know the speakers before you come. To find out more about the conference and sessions click here.
Rick Edmonds
Media Business Analyst & Leader of News Transformation, The Poynter Institute
Rick Edmonds is media business analyst for The Poynter Institute, where he has researched and written for the last 15 years. His commentary on the industry appears regularly on Poynter Online. He was co-author of the newspaper chapter in 10 editions of the Pew Research Center’s State of the News Media reports, 2004 through 2013.
Edmonds is frequently quoted for news stories on newspaper economic issues and new business models, including articles in The New York Times, Washington Post and numerous NPR reports. At Poynter he has helped coordinate conferences on emerging nonprofit news alternatives, the future of advertising and developing user-generated content.
Edmonds has presented his work at annual meetings of the American Society of News Editors and the Newspaper Association of America and to international groups in Paris, Norway, Chile, Madrid, and Vienna. Edmonds spent 11 years with the St. Petersburg Times organization in various editor and publisher roles, including two years as managing editor of the paper’s Tampa edition. Earlier in his career he was James Reston’s assistant at The New York Times and a reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in national reporting in 1982. He earned a B.A. from Harvard College in 1969. His wife, Marianne, is a municipal finance advisor; they have two daughters.
Travis Stanton
Editor, Exhibitor magazine
Travis Stanton is the editor of Minnesota-based EXHIBITOR Magazine, which boasts readers in more than 30 countries. As editor, Travis travels the globe attending dozens of trade shows and events each year, from Chicago to Shanghai. Most recently, he traveled to Milan, Italy, to cover the 2015 World Expo, and New Delhi, India, for the IFES World Summit, where he was a guest speaker. His work as a writer and editor has earned him numerous awards including a 2007 Young Leader Award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. In 2011, Travis and his team were honored by the Minnesota Magazine and Publishing Association with the Magazine of the Year award, and EXHIBITOR was recently named among the Trade, Association and Business Publications International’s top 95 English-language B2B publications in the world.
Christine Parizo
Christine Parizo Communications
Parizo is an experienced white paper writer, case study writer, and B2B copywriter who got her start in B2B technology journalism back when buyers still thought mobile phones were just for calls and clouds were something to watch on lazy, breezy days. Since then, she’s infiltrated companies who want their smartphones and tablets to access corporate networks from far-flung locations, studied corporate culture, and written white papers, case studies, website copy, brochures, data sheets, and other copy for a variety of B2B technology companies.
While she geeks out on technology and marketing, she also is passionate about running, fitness, the new Star Trek canon, Italian language, and coffee (she barista-ed her way through college and makes a mean latte). She clips Dilbert cartoons and has a red stapler, and she lives outside Houston with her husband, two small children, and an overly curious house cat. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Public Information with a minor in Advertising. Oxford commas make her swoon, so she’s also one of the copyeditors for the Copyediting newsletter.
Kelly McBride
Vice President of Academic Programs, The Poynter Institute
Kelly McBride is a writer, teacher and one of the country’s leading voices when it comes to media ethics. She has been on the faculty of The Poynter Institute since 2002 and is now its Vice President of Academic Programs.
The world’s largest newsrooms, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR and the BBC, frequently seek her advice for internal decisions and quote her expertise in their stories. Until recently, she ran the Ethics Department and the Reporting, Writing and Editing Department at Poynter. McBride directed Poynter’s Sense-Making Project, an initiative examining the transformation of journalism from a profession for a few to a civic obligation of many, the values of the Fifth Estate and the effects of technology on democracy. She was the lead writer on ESPN’s Poynter Review Project.
She is the co-editor, along with Tom Rosenstiel, of The New Ethics of Journalism: Principles for the 21st Century, which features essays by 14 thought leaders and practitioners, as well as a new code of ethics for journalists and people who care about journalism.
Ren LaForme
Interactive Learning Producer, The Poynter Institute
Ren LaForme is an Interactive Learning Producer at Poynter’s News University, but strongly prefers his vanity title, Executive Director of Awesome. He is one half of the duo responsible for #40BetterHours, a project to improve the workweek, and runs the Knight-funded digital tools catalog. He is also the cofounder of ONA’s Tampa Bay chapter and cofounder of Tampa Bay Media & Digital, a meetup group for locals who work in news media or on the Internet.
Born in Lockport, New York, LaForme credits his interest in news to reading newspapers with his grandfather as a child. He earned an M.A. in journalism and media studies from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg in summer 2013. For his culminating work, he created a “Snow Fall”-like online journalism project about the oyster town of Apalachicola, Florida (it was mostly just an excuse to eat oysters).
LaForme has presented for the Blue Ocean Film Festival, Association of Food Journalists, Edward R. Murrow Program, ESPN, and more.
Laura D’Alessandro
Integrated Media Editor, American Public Power Association
Laura D’Alessandro is Integrated Media Editor for the American Public Power Association where she manages the production of Public Power magazine in addition to producing cross-platform content for the association’s digital channels. Laura combines her experience and skills to produce concise content for multiple platforms. She also serves as National Blog Chair for ASBPE.
Jamie Winebrenner
Graphic designer, GIE Media
Jamie Winebrenner is a graphic designer for GIE Media based just outside of Cleveland Ohio, where she is primarily responsible for the design of Greenhouse Management and Produce Grower magazines. Jamie earned a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Akron, and a MSTech in Graphic Information Systems from Arizona State University. She is also the President Emeritus of the Cleveland chapter of AIGA and the recipient of several publishing awards.
Aubrey Altmann
Chief Design Director, Hanley Wood
Aubrey Altmann is the Chief Design Director of Hanley Wood headquartered in Washington DC, she is in charge of all media design across platforms including print and digital. Aubrey graduated from Virginia Tech with a Major in Industrial Design. She has won multiple National Design Awards including ASBPE, SPD, Folio, and National Magazine Awards, in design, photography, and infographics.
Andy Brown
Methodical Writing
When Brown started writing for B2B publications 15 years ago, a senior editor required him to meet three new sources a month. From there, he developed a department-wide source-cultivation process. The framework he uses is still produces powerful results today.
John Schlander
Digital General Manager, Tampa Bay Times
John Schlander is the digital general manager at the Tampa Bay Times and its website, tampabay.com. He leads efforts to connect content, audience and commerce, working across departments to help develop and implement strategies to grow audience and digital revenue. As adjunct faculty at Poynter, he teaches two NewsU courses: Web Headlines & SEO Essentials and Using Analytics to Drive Your Mission.
Mark Allen
Copy editor, writer and American Copy Editors Society (ACES) board member
Mark Allen is a freelance copy editor based in Columbus, Ohio, a 25-year newspaper veteran, and a member of the American Copy Editors Society executive board. He teaches advanced copyediting for UC San Diego Extension and has been tweeting short tips on grammar usage and style for seven years as @EditorMark.
Larissa Newton
Former copy editor at Central Penn Business Journal, and ACES 2014 Robinson Award winner
Larissa Newton is digital director for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Before that, she spent eight years as a copy editor for daily and weekly newspapers. She is a national board member for ASBPE, and was named one of the organization’s Young Leaders Scholars in 2014. She also is a member of the American Copy Editors Society, which gave her its 2014 Robinson Prize for Excellence in Copy Editing.