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Board of Directors

Megan Campbell

Past President

Megan Campbell spent about a decade in journalism, mostly recently as the health care and retail reporter for the Puget Sound Business Journal. Prior to her time there, she spent about four years working at Sound Publishing, most recently at the Daily Herald in Everett. She is currently working in public relations.

She graduated from Oregon State University with a bachelor’s in new media communications and a minor in writing in 2014. While at OSU, she managed an award-winning news team at the student-run newspaper, The Daily Barometer.

After graduating, she was stationed at a daily print publication in Roseburg, Oregon, as a Charles Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism intern before moving to Seattle that fall.

 

 

 

 

Madison Miller

President

Madison Miller is the Trends & Engagement Editor at ParentMap. She previously served as an assistant editor at 425, 425 Business, South Sound, and South Sound Business magazines.

Madison knew she wanted to be a journalist ever since she was assigned the editor position of her fourth-grade class’s student newsletter. Her passion for storytelling led her to pursue internships at local Eastside newspapers, and eventually lead Northwest University’s online magazine.

Madison spent two years telling Eastside-oriented arts and education stories for seven Eastside newspapers, including the Kirkland Reporter, Bellevue Reporter, Issaquah Reporter, and Seattle Weekly. She also served as a co-adviser at her alma mater’s online magazine.

In her spare time, Madison can be found thrift shopping, perusing music stores, swing dancing at local ballrooms, and silently judging people who say “gesundheit” to a sneeze that did not occur in a German-speaking country.

 

Michael Whitney

Treasurer

Michael Whitney is the editor of the Snohomish County Tribune weekly newspaper in Snohomish. He has reported on Snohomish, Monroe and Everett issues with the Tribune since 2008, covering everything from city government to schools to food banks to regional economic growth. He lives in Monroe with Stephanie and a laundry list of animals, including a flock of backyard chickens.

The Tribune is a rare, independently owned newspaper; its office is in downtown Snohomish and it commenced publication more than 125 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Gruver

Secretary

Tim Gruver is a reporter for The Washington Observer covering labor, housing, and lobbying at the Washington Legislature.
A graduate of the University of Washington, Tim Gruver reported for Politico’s 2017 Journalism Institute and is the recipient of the 2017 Pioneer Award for News Reporting and the 2016 Deborah Kaplan Memorial Award for “story with a strong writing style.” His work has also appeared in The Oregonian and the Portland Mercury.

He was also a statehouse reporter and 2020 Poynter-Koch Media Fellow at the Center Square. 

 
 
 
 

Alex Bruell

Vice President

Alex Bruell is the editor of the Vashon-Maury Island, where he covers everything from orcas to transportation and housing. Alex previously worked at newspapers in Seattle, Longview, Enumclaw and Federal Way. 

Alex spends his free time writing fiction and music, running Dungeons & Dragons games and exploring the great outdoors.

 

 

 

 

Ellen Dennis

Board Member

Ellen Dennis is a journalist at the Everett Herald where she covers public safety in Snohomish County. She enjoys learning about the intricacies of the criminal justice system and using reporting as a tool to hold powerful institutions accountable.

She graduated from the University of Idaho in 2020 with a
bachelor’s in journalism and minors in Spanish and international studies. As a student, she worked at the school newspaper, The Argonaut, and served as president of the university’s SPJ student chapter.
 
In her free time, Dennis can be found hiking in the North Cascades, reading and having her heart broken by the Seattle Mariners.
 
 
 

Taylor Mirfendereski

Board Member

Taylor Mirfendereski is a special projects reporter at KING 5 in Seattle, focusing on digital storytelling. She uses video, photos, text, graphics, and emerging digital tools to produce multimedia stories that take a deep dive into complex issues – from the nationwide heroin crisis to the sex trafficking of American women and children.

Prior to moving to the West Coast, Mirfendereski was a digital reporter at WCPO in Cincinnati, where she covered public safety and justice. In 2014, she embedded with the U.S. military in Afghanistan to produce a special report about the military medical teams who treat the country’s most severely wounded soldiers.

Mirfendereski is a longtime SPJ member, who served two terms on the group’s National Board of Directors. She also led the SPJ Digital community and was the president of Ohio University’s SPJ chapter.

 

 

 

 

Renee Raketty

Board Member

Renee Raketty is a journalist with over two decades of experience. Her passion for the craft began with her high school newspaper and, later, completed assignments for the Mirror, a Seattle Times-owned teen newspaper. However, she cut her teeth as a staff writer and managing editor of the Seattle Gay News (SGN).

In addition to the SGN, she has written for the Seattle Gay Standard, Capitol Hill Seattle blog, Tacoma Weekly, Unite Seattle Magazine, and dozens of (now defunct) websites. She also holds the position of Field Producer for Malcontent News. In addition to the SPJ, she is a member of the Trans Journalists Association and the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists.

She has extensive knowledge of issues of importance to the LGBTQIA+ community, having covered a wide range of stories: legislation in Olympia, marriage equality, and Supreme Court decisions. More recently, she is best known for her interviews with Dr. Anthony Fauci and for her coverage of the Seattle protests for racial justice. Raketty makes frequent appearances on podcasts and local media, such as KUOW’s Week in Review.

Raketty hopes to use her post on the board of the SPJ’s Western Washington Pro Chapter to highlight the perspectives of Seattle’s diverse media landscape and foster accurate portrayals of the region’s transgender community of which she is a part.

 

 

Nicole Jennings

Board Member

Nicole Jennings worked as a journalist in the Seattle area for seven years, most recently as a broadcast reporter at KIRO Radio from 2020-2023. She is currently the assistant director for communications at Seattle University School of Law and editor of the school’s Lawyer Magazine. Nicole got her journalism start writing for her hometown newspaper, the La Conner Weekly News, while studying at Western Washington University (class of 2015). As a student at WWU, Nicole majored in history, minored in German and French, studied abroad in Austria, and was part of the Honors Program. In between college and joining the workforce, Nicole spent a Fulbright year teaching English in two high schools in Salzburg, Austria. 

Despite living abroad, Nicole, who was born and raised in Mount Vernon, is a true Puget Sounder (she met JP Patches, remembers cheering on Ichiro during his first season, and can tell you where she was during the Nisqually Earthquake – in her 2nd grade math class). In whatever spare time she has, Nicole enjoys reading historical fiction, running, going to the theatre, swimming and sailing in the summer, skiing in the winter, and travelling at any time of year.

 

 

Lauren Gallup

Board Member

Lauren Gallup is a reporter for Northwest Public Broadcasting, where she covers labor, the environment, the occasional northwest book, and everything else under the sun. She’s based in the South Sound and she’s passionate about telling the stories of and reporting on her community.

Lauren found journalism through a love of storytelling, fostered when she hosted live storytelling events for her community in high school. She graduated from Western Washington University where she was managing editor of the student newspaper, and yes, she loves Bellingham. When she’s not working, she can be found away from screens, cooking elaborate foods meant for outdoor consumption or annoying her neighbors with her very amateur drum playing. 

 

 

Teodora Popescu

Board Member

Teo Popescu is the Creative Manager at KUOW, Seattle’s NPR station. She manages all data visualizations, graphics, illustrations, and video projects across KUOW’s website and social accounts. In addition, she leads the design and development of KUOW’s new interactive graphics team. In a previous era, she was a state political reporter covering Olympia.

She is a firm believer in the power of great news design to make media more inclusive, build context for complicated stories, and stick in our memories. When not designing or collecting data, you can find her reading unnecessary books about the history of obscure things.

 

 

Charter

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The Western Washington Professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists received its charter on Nov. 14, 1947.

The charter was presented by John McClelland Jr., national secretary of Sigma Delta Chi and editor of the (Longview) Daily News, in a ceremony in the Communications Building at the University of Washington.

One professional and 14 student chapter members were initiated at the same event, according to a 1948 Quill magazine story.

The welcoming address was made by Sol Lewis, editor and publisher of the (Lynden) Tribune and a past national president of Sigma Delta Chi, later renamed the Society of Professional Journalists.

First Members

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The account doesn’t give the number of chapter members at that time, but said a group of them met informally every morning at the Boeing Airplane Company. Carl Cleveland, another chapter member mentioned, was advertising manager there and was perhaps one of the earliest members in the area. He joined the national society in 1926.

The initial organization of the chapter actually began in the first decades of the century. In 1935, the national fraternity “approved” the chapter, and finally granted the charter 12 years later.

The chapter’s members come from all areas of journalism, including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, wire services and on-line news. The roster includes reporters, editors, publishers, media owners, freelancers, educators, students and nearly every kind of journalist, as well as some who have moved to other fields and some associate members.