The election period for APSE third vice president is open. Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, April 10.
Only members from news organizations in the C and D contest divisions are eligible to vote for third vice president.
Each member organization that has paid 2025 dues has one vote. For those organizations with more than one member, please confer and cast one consensus vote.
The third VP is elected to a two-year term in even-numbered years. The third vice president will assume office at the closing meeting of the summer conference in July.
Read bios and platforms for the candidates and then email your vote to Bill Eichenberger at billapse707@gmail.com.
Lauren Jennings
Current position
Sports Editor/Content Coach, USA Today Co. Network
Journalism background
It all started in a two-person newsroom in 2018 in Ridgecrest, Calif., a community of fewer than 30,000 residents. My early reporting included everything from a board meeting in a town of just 45 residents to high school football in Trona, population 11 – experiences that shaped my love for small papers and rugged journalists.
I later moved to Visalia, Calif., where I spent three years covering multiple beats, serving a community of more than 140,000 residents. In 2023 I returned fully to sports after being hired as a content coach by Tommy Deas and Dan Spears as part of USA Today Co.’s Center for Community Journalism. In my current role, I oversee and support eight sports reporters working in small- to mid-sized newsrooms throughout the West.
APSE experience
After returning to sports, I was introduced to APSE by Tommy Deas and Dan Spears, who have helped shape my interest in leadership within the industry. The following year I was selected as one of six diversity fellows to participate in a nine-month leadership development program designed for working professionals. Since joining, I have been a judge for APSE’s yearly contest and once for its Billie Jean King Award for Excellence in Women’s Sports Coverage contest.
Objective
Small- to mid-size newsrooms are near and dear to my heart – it is all I have ever known, and something I would love to continue to represent.
As an organization, it is important to continue expanding our reach to achieve growth. I want to work alongside and highlight more one- and two-shop newsrooms to better reflect the reality journalists face as newsrooms continue to shrink or become nonexistent altogether. Achieve organizational growth backed by small newsrooms.
I would also like our C & D judges to provide feedback to our entrants. Thoughtful and constructive feedback is a valuable tool for development, and we should use our expertise to help reporters and editors grow. Develop an efficient way to provide and receive feedback.
Finally, I am interested in exploring opportunities for better access for our members, including the possibility of hosting an event in Los Angeles or Southern California ahead of the upcoming Olympics. It would provide an opportunity to connect with our members out West, especially our smaller shops that may not be able to attend or afford our events out East. Expand reach by providing additional opportunities.
Quotable
“Local journalism matters, and we are here to remind people of that.”
Patrick Obley
Current position
Senior Managing Editor/Sports, The Villages Daily Sun
Journalism background
I have been in newspapers since I was a teen, working as a sports clerk at the Topeka Capital-Journal in the late 1980s. Following college, I worked at newspapers in Kansas, Florida, Utah, South Carolina and North Carolina while freelancing for several other publications, print and online. Most of my experience has been as a sports editor with smaller-circulation newspapers, which allowed me to develop a passion for high school, small college and community sports. That said, I have covered my fair share of Super Bowls, World Series, The Masters and the Davis Cup, among other major sporting events as a college or pro sports beat writer. I am a proponent of long-form journalism while searching endlessly for ways to tell a good story in less than 500 words. I have won the usual smattering of honors and awards (APSE and otherwise), but by far the one for which I am most proud is a Public Service Award from the South Carolina Press Association for a project highlighting sudden cardiac death and the hurdles to providing AEDs to all South Carolina schools. The result of our work at The State newspaper (Columbia, S.C.) led to all schools attaining necessary funding for equipment and training.
APSE experience
Attended my first convention (and won my first awards) in 2000. While I haven’t attended all the conferences, I’ve been to a majority – both winter and summer. Currently, I am the APSE Southeast Region chair.
Objective
As hinted above, I am an advocate of the writing craft. Always working to improve. Doing so requires superb reporting skills and an open mind to where a subject might take you. My primary desire in this position would be to conduct a series of workshops that closely align with the categories found in the APSE contest: What goes into beat reporting? How best to prepare for major event coverage? What considerations must one take into account when a big story breaks? I’d like to have open discussions about the need for collaboration, both in the sports department and across newsrooms. My hope would be that everyone would be able to walk away from these (virtual) gatherings inspired to try something new, or reinvigorated to be a part of this noble pursuit. Organizationally, my hope is to be a networking conduit, pairing journalists with the best possible media company and/or mentor.
Quotable
“Get comfortable being uncomfortable.” This is something we all do without thinking about it, just by being in journalism. Gain strength and confidence in yourself from this realization.
