Publisher, The Holyoke Enterprise
bbholent@chase3000.com

Before beginning her newspaper career, Brandt earned a bachelor of science degree in education, with a double major in math and journalism from the University of Nebraska-Kearney in 1977. She taught high school math and journalism at Aurora, Neb. high school for two years, also serving as sponsor for the high school yearbook and newspaper.

Brandt joined The Enterprise in 1979 as news editor and added the managing editor responsibilities in 1980. In 1994, she assumed the advertising manager's role and became publisher. In 1999, Brenda and her sister and brother-in-law (Lori and Russ Pankonin) purchased Johnson Publications (Holyoke Enterprise, Imperial Republican, Grant Tribune-Sentinel and Wauneta Breeze) from Loral and Elna Johnson (Brenda and Lori's parents).

Brandt was appointed to the Board in September 2007 to fill a vacancy. She served as Board secretary in 2009 and treasurer in 2010.

Publisher, Craig Daily Press bjacobson@craigdailypress.com

Bryce Jacobson started in the newspaper business at age 8, delivering the Journal-Advocate in Sterling. He later worked in the newspaper's mailroom and circulation department, and was named circulation manager in 1998.

Jacobson worked in the circulation departments at the Star-Herald in Scottsbluff,Neb. and later was with the Denver Newspaper Agency until 2006 when he was named publisher of the Craig Daily Press.

He serves as President of the Board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northwest Colorado and is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Craig.

Jacobson married Jamey Elwood Jacobson in 1997 and is the father of two children, Peyton, age 11 and Bayley, age 7. Jacobson was elected to the board in 2009.

terri@pagosasun.com

Terri House began her newspaper career at The SUN at age 15, working in the mailroom. She held the positions of advertising manager, general manager and assistant publisher before purchasing the newspaper in 2003. 

Service to her community is of utmost importance to House. She received the Pagosa Springs Volunteer of the Year Award in 2008 and Citizen of the Year in 1996. She has served as President of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Colorado and received the Mashaw's Magic Moments Award in 2010. House has served as Council Chair of United Way, board of directors of Archuleta County Fair, Western Heritage Committee producing the Red Ryder Roundup Rodeo, Operation Helping Hand Christmas charity, the Prevention Coalition and Reach for the Peaks balloon rally among others. She is currently President-Elect of Pagosa Springs Rotary Club and serves on the advisory council of Southwest Colorado Community College. 

Terri was elected to the board of Colorado Press Association in 2009.

Publisher, Valley Courier, Alamosa
krcemail@aol.com

Keith Cerny is publisher of the Valley Courier in Alamosa. He is also a division manager for News Media Corporation with oversight of nine newspapers in Colorado and Wyoming, including a daily, six weeklies and a shopper in the San Luis Valley.

Prior to moving to Alamosa in 1992, Cerny served on the Wyoming Press Association Board of Directors while publisher in Evanston and Lusk, WY. Cerny sits on the Adams State College Foundation Board, is president of the ASC Grizzly Club Board, Alamosa County Economic Development Board, Creede Theatre Board, SLV Arts and Entertainment Committee, San Luis Valley Regional Council for El Pomar Foundation and the Alamosa Rotary Club.

He was appointed to the CPA Board of Directors in 2009 to fill a vacancy, and was elected to a four-year term in 2010.

Assistant Publisher and a member of the Editorial Board, The Pueblo Chieftain

Jane Rawlings is the fourth generation family member to work at The Pueblo Chieftain. She is currently Assistant Publisher and a member of the Editorial Board. Born in Pueblo, Jane attended Colorado College and graduated with a BA in English. For the next 30 years, she and her husband, David Dill, worked and lived all over the country from Colorado Springs to California and from New York State to Texas.

Since their return to Pueblo in 1996 to work at The Chieftain, Rawlings has been involved in Rotary, the Southern Colorado Community Foundation, Colorado College Board of Trustees and CSU-Pueblo's Foundation Board among other community organizations.

Publisher, Greeley Tribune
bsmith@greeleytribune.com

Smith began his newspaper career in 1971 as a U.S. Army correspondent in South Vietnam. A year later, he was hired as a reporter/photographer for the Rawlins (Wyoming) Daily Times. Smith spent three years as the editor of the Wyoming State Journal in Lander and a year as the publisher and editor of the weekly Dillon Tribune in Montana. He was the publisher, editor and part-owner of the weekly Whitefish Pilot for 10 years, followed by three years as the business editor at the Coeur d’Alene Press in Idaho. Immediately before moving to Greeley, he was the editor of the daily News-Review in Roseburg, Oregon.

Smith is currently the publisher of the Greeley Tribune and the general manager of Northern Colorado Communications Group, which includes the Greeley Tribune, the weekly Windsor Now, and four weekly agriculture publications: The Rocky Mountain Fence Post (Colorado), The Plains Fence Post (Nebraska), the Tri-State Livestock News and Farmer-Rancher Exchange (South Dakota) and their affiliated websites.

Smith received a journalism degree from the University of Wyoming in 1975.

He is past president of the Montana Press Association and past chair of the News Education Committee of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association.

Smith is married to an elementary school teacher and his oldest daughter is the editor of a quarterly beer magazine in Shanghai, China. His youngest daughter is a college student in Greeley.

mdrudge@cortezjournal.com

Mark Drudge started his newspaper career in 1986 with the Glenwood Post as a Circulation District Manager and soon moved to the advertising department working as a Sales Account Executive for several years. In the late 90s, he moved back to the circulation side working as Circulation Director for the Western Slope Publishing Group. He held is first Publisher position at the Rifle Citizen Telegram in 2000.

Drudge left Colorado for a few years where he worked as both a publisher and a sales manager in York, Nebraska and Newton, Iowa.

Following his desire to return to the mountains and be closer to his children, Drudge joined the Cortez Journal as sales manager in March of 2010.

Drudge hold a BS from Ball State University. He loves to trout fish, and to get off road in his 1971 Toyota Land Cruiser. He has played the banjo since very young and he played and recorded in several working bluegrass bands over the years. He has two daughters, Kelly, in Battlement Mesa and Katie, in Guam with the US Air Force.

laurena.davis@gjsentinel.com

Laurena Mayne Davis was appointed in May 2011 to fill the position vacated by Harrison Cochran.

Mayne Davis began her journalism career as a graduate assistant writing and editing stories for Northern Arizona University's Graduate College magazine. She later was a full-time journalism lecturer at NAU with a news writing focus.

Mayne Davis was hired as a copy editor at The Grand Junction Sentinel in 1994 and was promoted to features editor in January 2000. Mayne Davis left The Sentinel in 2003 to be an instructor of mass communication at Mesa State College (now Colorado Mesa University), where she continues as adjunct faculty. She spent time working at Community Hospital as a pool writer and editor.

Mayne Davis is currently the managing editor at The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

She holds a BA in Humanities from Mesa State College and an MA in English from Northern Arizona University.

President & Publisher, Sterling Journal-Advocate
dmcclain@journal-advocate.com

David McClain is Publisher of the Journal-Advocate in Sterling and VP of Prairie Mountain Publishing. He is the Regional Director for seven Colorado community newspapers owned by Media News Group. He joined the Denver Post in 1994 as VP Community Newspaper Group.

Previously David was VP of the New Mexico Group of eight papers. He has also been publisher or group supervisor for newspapers in Searcy, AR, Rockford, TX and Carrolton GA. He started his career in classified advertising and advertising manager roles.

David was drafted and served as a Captain in the Army Artillery and a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. Following the war he returned to The Ohio State University for a bachelor degree. He continued flight status with the Ohio National Guard and the US Army Reserve during his college years.

David was previously on the CPA board for 9, but moved to New Mexico as part of his corporate responsibility just before he assumed the role of board President.

He is married to Dona for 41 years. They have two grown children and a Colorado grandson.

Publisher, Trinidad Times Independent
paulamurphy@ratonrange.com

Trinidad Times Independent and Raton Range publisher Paula Murphy was appointed to the Colorado Press Association Board of Directors in October 2011 to replace Bob Moore who resigned when he accepted a position in El Paso, Texas.

The CPA appointment – Murphy’s first in Colorado – follows her New Mexico Press Association board membership from 1998-2001 and presidency in 2001. She sits on the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government Board of Directors.

Murphy began her newspaper career in 1985 when she joined the staff of The Raton Range in Raton, N.M. She worked with The Range until 1989 when she left to pursue other opportunities. In 1991, she returned to the Range and accepted the position of Advertising Director. In 1997, she was promoted to publisher.

Murphy and her husband Tom purchased The Raton Range and Trinidad Plus in 2001 from Boone Newspapers. She turned the weekly Trinidad Plus news/shopper into the twice-weekly subscription-based Trinidad Times Independent.

Murphy and her husband also own and operate a cablecast television station, Trinidad Times TV in partnership with the newspaper.

chubbard@denverpost.com

Curtis Hubbard oversees The Denver Post's daily editorial and opinion pages and Sunday Perspective section. He was elected to the board of directors in 2012 for a two-year term.

A Colorado native, Hubbard has covered news and politics in the Interior West since 1993. Prior to joining The Post, he worked as a local news editor at the Boulder Daily Camera and as editor at the Jackson Hole (Wyo.) Guide. He joined The Post in 2004 as state editor, where he oversaw the paper's out-state bureaus and Denver-based reporters and columnists. From 2007 until January of 2011, he served as the paper's politics editor, handling the newspaper's election coverage and reporters covering federal and state government, Denver City Hall and transportation.

Hubbard served on the Wyoming Press Association Board of Directors during his time at the Jackson Hole Guide.

Hubbard earned a bachelor's degree in Creative Writing from Beloit (Wis.) College, where he minored in journalism, and is a graduate of Cherry Creek High School.

He lives in Louisville with his wife and two daughters.