From June 24 to June 30, our chapter will hold an election to fill officer positions and seats on the board of directors for the coming year. Here are the nominees, who would take office beginning July 1:
Officers
President — Chris Tyree, co-founder and senior director of the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO. Chris, who has served on the SPJVA Board of Directors since 2022, is seeking re-election to a second year as the chapter’s president.
Vice President — Alix Bryan-Campos, assistant professor in the Robertson School of Media and Culture at Virginia Commonwealth University. Alix directs the Newsroom at VCU and advises the student SPJ chapter. She has served on the SPJVA board since 2023.
Secretary — Jeff South, associate professor emeritus at VCU, where he taught journalism from 1997 to 2020. Jeff, who freelances and conducts journalism training, served as SPJVA president from 2019 to 2021 and is currently chapter secretary.
Treasurer — Deana Meredith, communications manager at the Virginia Press Association. Deana, an award-winning writer and photographer and former editor at The Central Virginian, has served on the SPJVA board since 2022 and as treasurer for the past year.
Directors
The board includes nine directors serving staggered three-year terms. We are seeking to fill four unexpired terms and three full three-year terms.
Director 1, unexpired term (expiring June 2026) – Paul Fletcher, SPJ’s national president in 2015-16. For more than three decades, Paul was the publisher and editor in chief of Virginia Lawyers Weekly. Now CEO of the Virginia Bar Association, he teaches media law and ethics at VCU.
Director 2, unexpired term (expiring June 2026) – Bonnie Newman Davis, editor-at-large at Charlottesville Tomorrow. Bonnie has been a journalist for more than four decades and is an award-winning educator and author. She is active at the national and local levels with SPJ and the National Association of Black Journalists.
Director 3, unexpired term (expiring June 2027) – Scott Elmquist, a photojournalist for Style Weekly and recipient of the SPJVA’s 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award. Scott was named the Best Alt-Weekly Photographer in America in 2019 and 2020.
Director 5, unexpired term (expiring June 2026) – June Nicholson, a professor emeritus of journalism at VCU and a longtime SPJ leader at the state and national levels. June was a newspaper reporter in Virginia and edited a book about women in journalism.
Director 7, three-year term (expiring June 2028) – Mason Adams, a freelancer covering the Blue Ridge Mountains and co-host of Inside Appalachia on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Mason has been on the SPJVA board for the past year.
Director 8, three-year term (expiring June 2028) – Shawn Day, the senior director of public affairs for the consulting firm Capital Results. He has been a journalist for The Virginian-Pilot and other newspapers. Shawn has served on the SPJVA board for the past year.
Director 9, three-year term (expiring June 2028) – Susan Smigielski Acker, a freelance journalist and editor with more than 25 years of experience, including with The Virginian-Pilot. For the past year, Susan has served as SPJVA’s vice president.
In accordance with our bylaws, the election will be held via an online ballot that we will send to all SPJVA members. (That means everyone who is current on their national and local SPJ dues. You can check your membership status at spj.org.)
The ballots will be sent by email on Tuesday, June 24. The deadline to vote will be noon on Monday, June 30.
If you do not receive an email with the ballot but you believe you are eligible to vote in the election, contact us at virginiaprospj@gmail.com.
The SPJVA Board of Directors also will include the following members who are not up for election:
- Director 4 (expiring June 2027) — Dina Weinstein, a Virginia Humanities fellow, Henrico Citizen reporter and former SPJVA president
- Director 6 (expiring June 2027) — Reynolds Hutchins, editor of The Daily Progress in Charlottesville and board member of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government
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