Jill Stewart, Managing Editor at LA Weekly, President
Robert Kovacik, Anchor/Reporter, NBC4LA, Vice President
Beth Barrett, Investigative Reporter, Treasurer
Jane Engle, Writer/Editor/Online Content Manager, Secretary
Diana Ljungaeus, Writer/Producer, Executive Director
Will Lewis, President Emeritus
Maria Armoudian, KPFK, Producer/Host, KPFK
Tina Daunt, The Hollywood Reporter
Barbara Gasser, International Journalist, Director
Joseph Kapsch, The Wrap, Managing Deputy Editor
Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times and KPCC
Tony Pierce, KPCC, Blog Editor
Jill Stewart, Deputy Editor at LA Weekly, Director
Christina Villacorte, LA Daily News, Reporter
Gloria Zuurveen, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher, PACE News, Director
Student Representative: Inae Bloom, Los Angeles City College
Beth Barrett: In recent years she was an investigative reporter for the LA Daily News. In addition to getting to cover many big stories, she has gotten to know and appreciate most of the city’s media institutions as well as many editors and reporters, and more recently as a freelancer, a number of independent writers and bloggers. She believes the Press Club continues to be an important organization connecting journalists in an increasingly fragmented industry. Her interest in joining the board stems from her commitment to journalism as well as to volunteerism on behalf of nonprofits.
Jane Engle is a freelance editor, writer and online content manager specializing in health and travel. Her clients have included Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UCLA Health System, Yahoo! Travel, the Los Angeles Times, Westways Magazine and Lifescript.com. Before launching her freelance career, she was on staff at the Los Angeles Times for more than two decades as an editor, writer and blogger in the travel and foreign departments. She has served on the Los Angeles Press Club Board since 2007 and been a member of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Assn. for 20 years.
Will Lewis, KCRW: has a unique blend of experience in radio/TV news and public affairs, as well as in print media. Recently, he was part of the KCRW management team that helped shape the station as a powerful voice in news, cultural affairs and music, as well as an online leader. He will continue to use his years in building membership in public radio to expanding membership in the Press Club.
In his first term on the board, he helped secure candidates and presenters for the club’s major awards, represented the board at a number of events, helped plan for a new website and successfully urged the board to speak out on freedom of the press issues. He believes Southern California needs a strong Press Club, especially in this critical period where the media landscape is rapidly changing.
Diana Ljungaeus, Writer/Produceris also a foreign correspondent for Swedish media. She runs the day to day business of the press club, produces most club events and has produced or co-produced the annual awards gala for six years running. She has been involved with the club since 1999.
Ljungaeus is an award-winning journalist with a broad background as a reporter, editor, researcher and producer. She has lived and worked in Sweden, England and the USA.
“I want to continue to improve and grow the stature of the press club and make it the most vibrant, exciting organization for journalists in California.”
Tony Pierce is an Online News Editor at KPCC. An innovative and award-winning blogger since 2001, Pierce became editor of LAist in 2006. After 16 months, LAist’s traffic had increased 15 times over. Soon Pierce was overseeing the blogs at the L.A. Times where he helped traffic soar from 3 million to 72 million pageviews a month. Along the way he helped launch dozens of blogs from “LA Now” to “Hero Complex” to “Framework.”
Robert Kovacik, Anchor and Reporter at NBC4LA. Robert Kovacik is co-anchor of NBC4’s weekend newscasts at 6PM and 11PM. He also serves as a general assignment reporter. Kovacik joined the station in July, 2004. Kovacik is an award-winning journalist, known for in-depth and comprehensive reporting. For the past six years he was the lead morning reporter on “Today in LA.”
Maria Armoudian, KPFK Producer and On-air Host, The Scholars’ Circle and The Insighters, insight into today’s most pressing issues. Maria is a journalist, legislative consultant and board member of LA League of Conservation Voters and Southern California Americans for Democratic Action. She has been syndicated by the NY Times and the LA Times. She has written for Salon.com, Daily Variety, Billboard, the Progressive and Business Week.
Jill Stewart is the deputy editor of the Los Angeles Weekly, the largest alternative weekly newspaper in the Western U.S. Before making the switch to editing, she was a political columnist who regularly appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Daily News. Previous to that, she was a columnist for the now-defunct Buzz magazine and New Times L.A., and for seven years worked as a metro reporter for the Los Angeles Times covering urban affairs, government, poverty and politics. Her work in recent years has been published by L.A. Weekly, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Wired. As a board member of Los Angeles Press Club she has been instrumental in reviving the club and has produced and moderated several of the most well-attended workshops and panel discussions.
Joseph Kapsch is the Managing Deputy Editor at the Wrap .
Barbara Gasser, International Journalist
Gloria Zuurveen, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher at Pace News
Christina Villacorte, Reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News where she covers politics and Metro Los Angeles. She is an award-winning reporter with nearly 15 years of experience in covering the news for television, radio and print media in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Manila.
Tina Daunt, Contributing Editor, politics at Hollywood Reporter, she has years of experience as a political reporter and columnist at the Los Angeles Times. There her reporting focused on everything from the County Sheriff’s Department to profiles of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars like Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Colin Firth.
Patt Morrison, is a Columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and is heard regularly on KPCC. She is a past president of the LA Press Club and winner of the Quinn award for lifetime achievement. She’s heard frequently on NPR. Founder of KCET’s Life & Times, she won six Emmys for the program she hosted for eight years.
