2013 board of directors ballot

Nominations for new chapter directors have been made and it’s time for the membership to vote.

We’re asking all chapter members in good standing to download the pdf ballot, print it, vote and return it by May 3 in order to ratify the board’s new slate of directors for three-year terms ending in 2016.

The new group of directors — as well as officers for 2013-14 — will be installed at the chapter’s annual Founders Day event on May 16 at the Fawcett Center.

The group of directors candidates this year includes:

• Tom Borgerding: an editor/reporter for WOSU News in Columbus. He joined the radio station in 1985. This will be Tom’s second full term on the board.
• Beth Gianforcaro: Director of Communications for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services. She has been a member of the Society of Professional Journalists since college and has served more than 16 years on the board for the Central Ohio Chapter, including as chapter president in 1992-93. This will be Beth’s second full term on the board.
• Nicole Kraft: a clinical assistant professor in the School of Communication at The Ohio State University. Nicole joined Ohio State full time in 2010 after six years as an adjunct professor of magazine writing. This will be Nicole’s first full term on the board after completing the last year of an unexpired term.
• Eric Lyttle: Licking County Bureau reporter for the Columbus Dispatch since February. Before that, he was the editor of The Other Paper for five years, spent 12 years as a writer and senior editor at Columbus Monthly magazine and 10 years as a sports writer and editor for the Suburban News chain of community newspapers. He joined SPJ in 2009 and served as the chapter’s president this year. This will be Eric’s second full term.
• Rick Rouan: transportation reporter at the Columbus Dispatch. He has worked across Ohio, including stops at Columbus Business First, the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette and The (Youngstown) Vindicator, as well as a stint in the Chicago suburbs for TribLocal, the Chicago Tribune’s hyperlocal news source. This will be Rick’s first full term after completing the last year of an unexpired term.

In other board news, long-time board member Sarah Mills Bacha will be returning as a director to fill the last two years of an unexpired term. Sarah, who was chapter president in 1995-96, has already served at least six three-year terms on the board and has received the chapter’s Distinguished Service Award twice.

Bacha will be serving the balance of Doug Haddix’s term after his resignation. Haddix, director of the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism at Ohio State, recently took on new duties as assistant vice president for editorial communications at OSU.