Participant information

John Ballance

John Ballance received his BFA from Louisiana Tech University and began his photography career in 1976 for a weekly newspaper. He moved to Baton Rouge in 1981 to manage a commercial photo lab and then joined the Advocate photo staff as a lab technician. He was promoted to assistant photo editor and now manages the photo department staff of nine photographers, two photo editors and an imaging specialist. Ballance operates a commercial photography business, specializing in weddings and portraits. He also does freelance commercial photography.

Mark Briggs

Mark Briggs is an author and entrepreneur. As the author of "Journalism 2.0: How to survive and thrive in the digital age," which was published by J-Lab and the Knight Citizen News Network in 2007 and downloaded as a PDF more than 190,000 times in English, Spanish and Portuguese, he helps students and professional do better journalism with technology. His new book, Journalism Next, was published by CQPress in December 2009.

As CEO and co-founder of Sierra Media, a Seattle-based technology company, he connects local publishers with interactive applications and digital platforms that power online innovations.
Previously, Briggs was assistant managing editor for interactive news at The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash. from 2004-2008 and new media director at The Herald in Everett, Wash. from 2000-2004. He was named to Presstime magazine's "20 under 40" list for 2007 and he earned journalism degrees from Gonzaga University and the University of North Carolina.

Harumi Gondo

Harumi Gondo is the international coordinator for UPIU. She received her bachelor’s in world religions from the University of Bridgeport and her master’s in sociology of religion from Harvard University. She went on to serve as a lecturer in world religions at Bergen Community College. Gondo gained overseas experience as an analyst for Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and later as membership directory editor for the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. She was a staff writer for her student newspapers throughout high school, college and graduate school. She received training with UPI Asia and transitioned to UPIU in July 2008. Gondo is interested in online and international journalism, development journalism and interaction between religion and media.

Rich Holden

Rich Holden has been the executive director of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, a private foundation that encourages students to consider careers in journalism, since October 1992. He began his career in 1973 as an editor at The Wall Street Journal in New York. He moved to Hong Kong in 1976 as one of the founders of The Asian Wall Street Journal. In late 1979 he returned to the Journal in New York where he worked as day news editor, night news editor, copy desk chief, national news production manager and financial editor. In his last position as a senior editor at the Journal, he was responsible for recruiting, hiring and training the editors at the paper. In 2007, he received the Pioneer Award from the National Scholastic Press Association for his work involving high school journalism. He also is a 2003 recipient of the Gold Key award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. In April of 1998, Holden received the “Innovator of the Year” award from the College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Nebraska for his work at the Newspaper Fund. He has a bachelor of journalism and a master of arts degree from the University of Missouri/Columbia.  

Ted Iliff

As the UPIU mentor, Ted Iliff edits and evaluates items submitted by UPIU contributors. His key function is as a news writing adviser--offering encouragement for good writing, suggesting options for improvements and pointing out errors in fact, language or story structure. He has spent four decades in journalism, most of that time as a copy editor or news manager. His resume includes executive editor for CNN, chief editor for CNN International, senior supervising editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (in Munich), assistant foreign editor for USA Today when it started, and associate director of Voice of America in charge of all central news division writing and editing. He even had some editing duties with UPI way back when. He co-wrote and edited a nonfiction book, wrote and self-edited a novel and conducted many writing seminars for journalists and practitioners in other professions. Ted taught broadcast reporting at a university in Istanbul. He collects stylebooks. And above all else, he thrives on helping new writers develop and good writers excel. For more on writing and media issues, see his Web site www.tediliff.com.

Dianna Laurent

Dr. Dianna Laurent teaches for both the Communication and English Departments at Southeastern Louisiana University. She researches Internet practicesfor the social and behavioral sciences as well as Internet publications. Dr. Laurent also assists in compiling the yearly ATTW bibliography and is the business manger of "19th Century Studies" for the Nineteenth Century Studies Association. Dr. Laurent teaches Technical Writing, Interpersonal Communication and Public Speaking to students at SLU.

Frank LoMonte

Frank LoMonte, Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center, is an experienced commercial litigation attorney who joined SPLC after practicing with the Atlanta-based law firm of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP and clerking for federal judges on the Northern District of Georgia and the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Before law school, LoMonte was an award-winning investigative journalist and political columnist in state Capitol bureaus in Florida and Georgia and in Washington, D.C., with the Morris newspaper chain. LoMonte graduated magna cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was a senior editor of the Georgia Law Review.

Heidi Rogers Kinchen

Heidi Kinchen was an attorney by trade but a writer and investigator at heart, so she went back to school to study journalism. Heidi now works as the city beat reporter for a daily newspaper, serving Hammond and the surrounding areas of Tangipahoa and Livingston parishes. She loves what she does and thinks there's no better job on the planet than getting paid to meet new people and talk about what's going on in the world.

Susan Mustafa

Southeastern Louisiana University Alumna Susan Mustafa has been a feature writer for 10 years. With as many years in the magazine industry, Mustafa's current endeavor is promoting her book, Bloodbath, the story of the South Louisiana Serial Killer. Currently, Mustafa is working on her second true crime book while continuing to edit and write for media in Baton Rouge.

Cheryl Settoon

Cheryl Settoon has 16 years experience producing programs for a cable network. Her programs have aired primetime before a daily audience of more than one million viewers in the United States and in 90 foreign countries. From Kiev to Beijing to Buenos Aires, she has produced long form and segments on location. She wrote the docudrama 1000 Years in the Killing Fields, which was taped on location in Cambodia.

Stacey Winokur

Stacey Winokur's college education at the University of New Orleans was nearly complete when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. After the storm took everything she had, she got a full time job, but then decided to go back to school. Southeastern Louisiana University gave her plenty of opportunities to be a broadcast reporter. She worked as a reporter, producer and anchor for the Southeastern Channel's "Northshore News." She now works at WVUE Channel 8 in New Orleans, a FOX affiliate where she is a production assistant and works from 4 a.m. until 9 a.m. every morning.

Melanie Zaffuto

Melanie Zaffuto is the communications coordinator at North Oaks Health System. She is the spokesperson representing the system's many clinics and hospitals and has worked during several crisis situations, including Hurricane Katrina. Zaffuto brings knowledge based on 16 years experience in hospital communication and public relations.

Aram Zucker-Scharff

Aram Zucker-Scharff was most recently hired as the New Media Manager for UPI's initiative for journalism schools and students, UPIU. As a student blogger for United Press International University's Voice of Young Voters feature, he crafted in-depth coverage of the Obama administration's economic plans and decisions during their transitional period with value-added social media. During this period he also covered the Israeli Embassy's Twitter-based citizen's press conference. 

Zucker-Scharff was responsible for the production of a print newspaper while he was managing editor at Broadside. In his position of copy chief at the student newspaper Broadside and student magazine VoxPop, he worked with numerous student writers to produce high quality journalism.