ROSEMARY ARMAO
Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Rosemary Armao was managing editor of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, a
130,000-circulation New York Times Regional newspaper on Florida's Gulf
Coast, for 2 years. She reported and edited previously for the Baltimore Sun, the Virginian-Pilot and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She is a former executive director and member of the board of directors of Investigative Reporters & Editor and JAWS (the Journalism and Womens Symposium.) She is currently on the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors.

GEORGE BENGE
Gannett Co., Inc.

George Benge is a news executive with Gannett Co., Inc. He joined Gannett in 1991 as managing editor of the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader. From 1993 until assuming his current position in May, 2001, he was executive editor of Gannett newspapers in Muskogee, Okla., Lafayette, Ind., and Asheville, N.C. Previously, Benge held editing and management positions in news, design, features and sports at The Detroit News, Miami Herald, Dallas Morning News and Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. In 2001, Benge participated in the Advanced Executive Program at the Media Management Center, Northwestern University. He is a past president of the Society of Newspaper Design, a current board member of the Native American Journalists Association and a past board member of the National Association of Minority Media Executives. He is a graduate of Olivet (Mich.) College.

STEPHEN BUCKLEY
St. Petersburg Times

Stephen Buckley has been a reporter for 13 years, and is a national correspondent for the St. Petersburg Times. Prior to coming to the Times, he worked as a metro reporter and foreign correspondent in Africa and Brazil for The Washington Post for 12 years. Before going to The Post, he was an intern at the St. Petersburg Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Philadelphia Daily News. He is married with two children.

SUSAN MANGO CURTIS
Northwestern University – Medill School of Journalism

Susan Mango Curtis is assistant professor at Medill School of Journalism, visual journalism. A former assistant managing editor-design and graphics at the Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio), she also was designer for the Journal newspapers in suburban Washington, D.C., staff artist at the Washington Post Magazine and has been a design consult. She also was part of the Akron Beacon Journal team that won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize gold medal for the Question of Color series.

A 1996 Garth C. Reeve chair in journalism, Florida A&M University, she has been an active member of the National Association of Black Journalist visual task force and Society for News Design since the 1991. Currently she is 2nd Vice President, and past Region director, Diversity chair, Secretary and Treasurer for the society. Mango has lectured on newspaper design at the Poynter Institute and various universities and newspaper societies. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University.

ELAINE KRAMER
Orlando Sentinel

As managing editor of the Orlando Sentinel, Elaine Kramer is responsible for the daily operation of the news department. The newsroom has about 340 employees who gather, compose and edit the articles and photographs that are printed in the paper and El Sentinel, and published on Orlandosentinel.com and elSentinel.com. She has held the position since June 2001.Kramer previously was editor and vice president for news at The Morning Call, in Allentown, Pa., where she was responsible for the direction and leadership of the news department. Before becoming editor in April 2000, she was managing editor at The Morning Call for two years.

In the previous 12 years, Kramer held several positions at The Hartford Courant in Connecticut, including assistant to the publisher, Page One editor, copy desk chief and features department copy editor. Orlando Sentinel Communications, The Morning Call and The Hartford Courant are Tribune Co. properties. Kramer has also worked at the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal, the Belleville News-Democrat in Illinois and as an adult literacy volunteer with the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Kramer, who won second place in the Sunmag’s Sunday Best contest in 1990, holds a bachelor’s of science in journalism from Northwestern University. She is married to Joel Shaul, a social worker, and they live in Longwood, Fla., with their two daughters.

SHERRIE MARSHALL
Macon Telegraph

Sherrie Marshall has been Vice President and Executive Editor of the Macon Telegraph since February 2001. She is responsible for leading the newsroom to journalistic excellence. This includes setting vision and direction for journalism efforts, working with the Managing Editor, who directs day-to-day coverage of news events, and acting as a liaison between the community and the newspaper. She also works with the paper’s other directors to establish company-wide policies and initiatives that will help grow a successful business.

Before joining the Telegraph, Sherrie spent nearly 23 years in various positions at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. Her last job there was Deputy Managing Editor, responsible, with the Managing Editor, for daily newsroom operations, including setting news-gathering and staffing priorities. She also was the lead content manager for the Sunday news sections and helped lead newsroom-wide diversity efforts.

Other positions included Assistant Managing Editor-News; News Content Editor; Acting Metro Editor; City Editor for the St. Paul Bureau; Assistant City Editor; Assistant News Editor for Business and the Nation/World desks, and copy editor. Sherrie is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga., and received an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has attended numerous training and development seminars, including the Institute of Journalism Education’s Management Training Center at Northwestern University and the Poynter Institute’s year-long Leadership for Managers program. Sherrie is a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Georgia Associated Press News Council and the board of the World Press Institute.

SHAWN McINTOSH
Clarion-Ledger

Shawn McIntosh is executive editor of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., where she previously served as managing editor. Under her guidance, the newspaper and its staff have won several national awards including the Heywood Broun award for public service reporting, the Sigma Delta Chi award for public service reporting and three awards from the National Association of Black Journalists. McIntosh did stints at The Dallas Morning News and USA TODAY as a special projects editor, working with reporters on enterprise, investigative and computer-assisted reporting. Before entering editing, she was a reporter at The Clarion-Ledger and The Macon Telegraph and News. She is vice president of Investigative Reporters and Editors.

TRISHA O’CONNOR
Myrtle Beach Sun News

Trisha O’Connor is editor and vice president of The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C. She grew up in Knoxville, Tenn., and graduated from the University of Tennessee with a BAJ in 1970. She worked as a reporter and editor at The Anniston (Ala.,) Star, The Capital Times of Madison, Wis., the Wichita Eagle and The Charlotte Observer before moving to the South Carolina coast 2 years ago. Professional affiliations include memberships in ASNE, IRE, the partnership board of the College of Journalism at the University of South Carolina; the board of visitors of the College of Humanities at Coastal Carolina University and the Freedom of Information Committee for the South Carolina Press Association. She has been a visiting faculty member at the Poynter Institute. Her husband, Bill, is a family physician. They have four children.

VICTOR PANICHKUL
Baltimore Sun

Victor Panichkul was born in Bangkok, Thailand and his family immigrated to the United States in 1970. He is a graduate of Baylor University and holds a bachelor’s degree in international politics and journalism. He is currently Assistant Managing Editor/Design at The Baltimore Sun. Previously he has worked at the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Austin
American-Statesman and Springfield News-Leader. He has held the positions of copy editor, wire editor, assistant news editor, news editor and design director. He has received design awards from the Society of News Design and the Dallas Press Club. Panichkul is active in the Asian American Journalists Association and is currently the organization’s President. He also serves on the diversity committee of the Newspaper Association of America as well as the board of directors of Unity Journalists of Color.

LAURENCE M. PAUL
The New York Times News Service and The New York Times Syndicate

Laurence M. Paul, known to most everyone as "Lad," has been executive editor of the New York Times News Service since 1999 and before that was its deputy editor for a year. In August 2000 he was named executive editor of the New York Times Syndicate as well. The News Service sends the contents of the New York Times to some 600 client news organizations around the world. The Syndicate distributes features and columns by authors from outside the Times.

Before joining the News Service, Paul worked in the newsroom of the Times in a variety of editing capacities, primarily on the National Desk. In 1996, he spent a year as the weekend editor of the Times's National Edition. He also edited at various times on the Foreign, Metro, Science and Style desks. Before joining the Times in 1989, Paul was assistant managing editor at The Des Moines Register. Paul is a graduate of Drake University in Des Moines.

BRUCE POTTER
Media General

Bruce Potter is director of News Synergy for Media General Inc.'s Publishing Division, which owns 25 daily newspapers in the Southeast. He previously was editor of the Division's shared-content network and worked 14 years in various reporting and editing positions at the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch and the Richmond News Leader. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University and has a master's in business administration from the University of Richmond.

JOHN REETZ
CoxNet/AJC

John Reetz is director of CoxNet, which works to increase sharing and cooperation among the 17 daily and 30 weekly Cox Newspapers. CoxNet ties together the papers' databases on a common network, with standardized software, allowing easy, fast sharing of editorial, advertising, marketing, circulation and other material among the Cox papers. CoxNet also includes Cox News Service. Reetz also has a dual role as assistant managing editor of news operations at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His newspaper career includes roles as a reporter and editor in Atlanta, plus ownership of a weekly paper and managing editor of a suburban Atlanta paper.

DAVID RISSER
Montgomery Advertiser

David Risser is the managing editor of the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser. He was previously managing editor of the Jackson (Tenn.) Sun and has held editing positions at the Salem (Ore.) Statesman Journal and the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times. Risser has edited several projects that have won national awards, including the APME public service award and the Payne ethics award. A graduate of Stanford University, Risser began his career as a reporter at the Daily Press in Newport News, Va.

STACY SWEAT
Chicago Tribune

Stacy is the Associate Managing Editor for Design and Graphics at the Chicago Tribune. Most recently, she was the project manager for the redesign and the 50" web conversion for the newspaper. In the nine years she has been with the Tribune, she has introduced innovative ways to approach presentation of breaking news and features stories. Her position requires a unique combination of editing and art directing abilities to lead the staff of 37 visual journalists. The Tribune’s work has been recognized with awards by several organizations, including the Society for News Design, Society of Publication Designers and Print Magazine. The Chicago Tribune is the fourth newspaper in Stacy’s career.

She is a Florida native and in 1978, she began working at The Orlando Sentinel while attending the University of Central Florida. She left Florida in 1982 to join the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Sunday magazine staff as the Art Director and then worked as Assistant Systems Editor during the installation of the Atex system at the paper. After five years she took a position at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and as Art Director, she supervised the redesign of that newspaper in 1990.

DAVID WATERS
The Commercial Appeal

David Waters is a columnist for The Commercial Appeal and Scripps Howard News Service. A former copy editor, wire editor, and beat reporter, Waters was Scripps Howard headline writer of the year in 1985-1986, reporter of the year in 1996, and columnist of the year in 2000. He won the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award for religion and spirituality in 1997. He was elected to the Scripps Howard Editorial Hall of Fame in 2001.