The election period for APSE second vice president is open. The second vice president will assume office at the concluding meeting of the summer conference in Boston in June. Each news organization has one vote. To vote, send your choice to Executive Director Jack Berninger at jackapse@aol.com. The deadline is June 1. Bios of the candidates are below in alphabetical order.
Josh Barnett
Philadelphia Daily News
Background: Began my career as a writer and page designer at The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y. Also have worked at the Utica Observer-Dispatch as a writer and editor, including a period as interim sports editor, and the Syracuse Newspapers (back when there were two papers put out by one staff) as the assistant sports editor in charge of the night desk. Left for the Philadelphia Daily News in 1999 and worked on the sports copy desk as an editor and page designer with some supervisory responsibilities for special sections. Was promoted to sports editor in 2004 and executive sports editor in 2008.
APSE experience: Joined APSE in 2004. Currently serving as the Mid-Atlantic regional chair and organizing my second regional meeting. Have been a contest judge six times. Attended three national conventions. Was a panelist at the national convention in Pittsburgh in 2009 on “Covering the Big Event” and co-moderated the annual “Best Ideas” session at the national convention in Salt Lake City in 2010.
Objective: We need to keep changing and evolving as an organization, just as the roles in our newsrooms continue to change. More than ever, as partnerships among newspapers develop and content sharing becomes more prevalent, we need to be resources for each other as we all strive to make our content better every day, often with less people, less space or less money. The camaraderie that is on display when we get together should continue year-round. Any sports editor should feel comfortable picking up the phone or dropping an email to another sports editor for advice or to lend an ear. The mentoring program that is being re-started should be used as a selling point to potential members at smaller papers. I also would like to see APSE aggressively pursue members among college journalism students and professors at universities noted for sports journalism programs in order to build the next generation of membership. The success of the judging in Indianapolis was an example of what we can do on this issue.
Quotable: “No one knows what a sports editor does every day than another sports editor. APSE should be an organization where we share ideas, innovations and strategies to make our ever-increasing range of products the best they can be. Times might be tough, but we can get through them and thrive with help from each other.”
Mike James
Los Angeles Times
Background: Got into the business in 1974 at the grass-roots level, as the writing staff of the Stowe Reporter, a 5,000-circulation weekly paper in Stowe, Vt., covering whatever was going on in that New England ski town. At the same time, I was a sports freelancer for the Burlington Free Press, the largest daily in the state. I learned fairly quickly that I wasn't interested in covering school-board meetings and local government as a career and ended up as sportswriter at the Free Press by 1977, covering everything from high schools and area colleges to the Montreal Expos. Those were the days when local Gannett papers had enough money to be 
adventuresome and travel. Was named Sportswriter of the Year for the state by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Assn. in 1980. After three years, moved to the Hartford Courant on the copy desk, graduated to the slot and assistant sports editor before moving west to the L.A. Times Orange County Edition as assistant sports editor in 1985. Oversaw a writing staff of about 20 in Orange County, then moved downtown to the main office of the Times in 1989. Worked as the copy desk chief before becoming an assistant, working primarily with writers, line editing, coordinating special sections and occasional writing. In 2000, left the Times to become coordinating producer of FoxSports.com, helping ramp up that website. Our staff grew to almost 200, but when Fox switched gears and began de-emphasizing its website, I moved to Fox Sports Net to become managing editor of the National Sports Report, the network's national hour-long nightly sports news show. A year later, Fox switched gears again and began phasing out its national TV news presence. So I returned to the Times for, hold your laughter, the security of daily newspaper journalism. Became deputy sports editor in 2006 and sports editor in July 2009.
APSE experience: Member of APSE since 1986. I've been on several panels at regional meetings, generally focusing on various stages of the editing process. I've been a pretty regular member of the contest judging and served as group chairman the last several years.
Objective: I'd like to play a significant role as we continue to refine contest judging so that we're reflecting the changes in news and information distribution all of us are going through.
Quotable: "We are all continually evaluating what we do as we wade through the most challenging time in newspaper and journalism history. I'm not as young as most of the people on my staff (and my staff is not a young one), but because I've spent time away from The Times, working for an Internet site and for a
television company, I've become pretty good at adapting to new challenges and embracing new technologies. I think that willingness to change, to try new methods of gathering and presenting information, and to encourage the people who work for us to do the same is something all of us in APSE can foster. We have to opportunity to help each other by sharing experiences and helping our businesses remain viable and relevant."
Jeff Rosen
The Kansas City Star
Background: I’ve been assistant managing editor/sports at The Kansas City Star since December 2010. Before that, I was deputy sports editor at the Houston Chronicle, where I’d worked since 2004. Earlier career stops included the Kitsap Sun in Bremerton, Wash., Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho, Journal of the San Juan Islands in Friday Harbor, Wash., and Chaffee County Times in Buena Vista, Colo. Along the way, I’ve been a reporter, copy editor, columnist, photographer, assistant sports editor and sports editor.
APSE experience: I’m committee chair for the APSE commissioners meetings. I’ve been attending APSE events since 1998; my first convention was in Seattle in 2002. My first judging experience was in 2004 at the WorldGate hotel in Orlando, Fla., where I got stuck in the elevator.
Objective: In markets large and small, my career has been marked by an ability to bring people together to work toward common goals. This track record of emphasizing commonalities rather than differences would serve APSE’s changing constituency well. We’ve done a great job of attracting new members, including many from smaller papers. But I think we can do a better job of bridging the divide between the big guys and the little guys. Great journalism is great journalism regardless of platform or circulation size. Finally, we need more minority and women leadership atop our nation’s sports departments; I’m committed to making that happen.
Quotable: “I believe in APSE as a grass-roots network of support, continuing education, fellowship and advocacy for the rights of the working sports press. My candidacy is about giving back to an organization that has given me so much.”
Tim Stephens
Orlando Sentinel/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Background: I joined the staff of the Orlando Sentinel in 2003, working as copy editor, assistant sports editor and deputy sports editor before being named Sports Topics Manager in 2009. In 2010, I was named Florida Sports Topics Manager overseeing the Sentinel and the South Florida Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale. Before that, I was at the Birmingham Post-Herald, where I began as a $25-a-story freelancer in 1993 and worked up from intern to reporter/copy editor to 
sports editor to co-managing editor. I got my start as a correspondent in high school for my hometown Fort Payne (Ala.) Times-Journal and in college for the Mobile Register and Post-Herald. One of my career highlights is serving as executive director of the Orlando Sentinel High School Sports Reporting Institute, a summer mentoring program that has seen many of its students go on to top journalism programs across the nation.
APSE experience: I attended my first convention at Dallas in 2003 and served as a judge in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011. I participated in a Triple Crown roundtable session at the 2007 convention in St. Louis and led sessions on social media and blogging at the 2010 convention in Salt Lake City. I’ve have worked for or with four past APSE presidents: the late Van McKenzie, John Cherwa, Lynn Hoppes and Steve Doyle.
Objective: Help APSE continue to provide guidance, training and resources to help sports editors position their staffs for digital success while still producing quality sports sections.
Quotable: “If elected, I’ll work to help sports editors share ideas, recruit and develop talent and grow this organization. From access issues to digital standards, sports journalists need APSE to lead more than ever.”
