Candidate for President
Randy Showstack
I am honored to run for reelection to continue to serve as president of the SPJ-DC Pro Chapter, a position that I have held since June 2019. I look forward to continuing to serve as president, and to working with all of the chapter members, to help the chapter maintain and build on its strong leadership role in support of journalism and journalists in the Washington, D.C. area. Our chapter has a wealth of talented members and a committed board, and I am both proud and humbled to serve you. I encourage all chapter members to become more involved with the chapter, and I would look forward to hearing from all chapter members to find out what are the journalism-related issues that are of most concern to you. For my day job, I am an independent journalist focusing on covering environmental and Earth and space science issues. Previously, I was senior staff writer for Eos, where I covered these issues for that online newspaper published by the American Geophysical Union.
Candidate for Vice President
Dee Ann Divis
Dee Ann Divis writes about commercial space, NASA and other technology sectors like robotics for Al Jazeera. She is also the editor of the Institute of Navigation newsletter. She has written extensively about science and technology—and in particular about space, satellite navigation and the aerospace industry—for outlets including Aerospace Daily, UPI, Aviation Week, the Los Angeles Times, Jane’s International Defense Review, GPS World and Inside GNSS. She also has broad experience as an editor and manager with a specialty in entrepreneurial companies. She relaunched and managed the global science and technology coverage for United Press International and was the founding editor of Inside Unmanned Systems magazine. She joined the Washington Examiner daily newspaper shortly after its launch in 2005, rising to become assistant managing editor. She was an MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow and was awarded the Robert D.G. Lewis Watchdog Award and several Dateline Awards for Washington Correspondent by SPJ’s Washington, D.C., Chapter. Her work has also been recognized by Military, Reporters and Editors and the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association.
Candidate for Corresponding Secretary
Amy Fickling
For several years recently, I served in the role of corresponding secretary, in addition to being chapter treasurer. Last chapter election, I was elected to the corresponding secretary position. In carving out a definition of this board officer role in the new digital world, this has involved putting together the chapter’s newsletter along with other membership correspondence.
I’ve also served on the chapter’s (and for a time, on national SPJ’s) SDX Foundation for a number of years, currently serving as vice president of the chapter’s SDX Foundation, its education arm that provides scholarships to undergraduate journalism students at area colleges. I felt very honored to be selected the chapter’s Distinguished Service Award winner in 2019, which is also the last time we have been able to meet in person for the annual awards dinner.
I have been active in the SPJ DC Pro chapter since 1985 while working as a reporter and/or editor at a variety of media outlets in the metropolitan area, including as assistant news editor at the McClatchy-Tribune News Service when it closed in 2014. I’m currently a copy editor at Warren Communications News, working on International Trade Today and Export Compliance Daily and the new Trade Law Daily.
Having been chapter president (1991) and a two-term national SPJ board member – as Region 2 director (1993 to 1997) – after moving “up the ladder” from recording secretary and Dateline editor positions locally, I’ve seen participation in the chapter wax and wane, and witnessed the rise of many other niche journalism groups that may have drawn away some of our potential new members. But the broad-based efforts for all journalists that SPJ stands for still have an appeal, and I want to see the chapter continue to attract new minds and voices that carry these efforts forward into the future. We work well with other journalism organizations, but would like to grow our membership – that is a task I will oversee, should I be elected.
As we anticipate a return to some semblance of what we last called normal, let us continue doing our jobs, continue getting out the news, and continue identifying with each other as journalists of talent, truth and energy. We have so much in common through SPJ DC.
Candidate for Recording Secretary
Kathryn Foxhall
Because she needed a job, Kathryn Foxhall inadvertently became a reporter on a weekly newspaper in her hometown of Selma, Alabama. Her addiction was irreversible within two weeks. She covered health in Washington for 40 years, including 14 years (1978-1992) as editor of the American Public Health Association’s newspaper.
After years of getting a dynamic education by speaking frankly with sources on Capitol Hill and in federal agencies, she became alarmed when, 20 to 25 years ago, federal workers gradually came under rules prohibiting them from communicating with journalists without the oversight of public relations offices-in reality, heavy censorship coming down from the people in power.
As SPJ surveys would later show, these restrictions have become entrenched through much of the U.S. culture with government staff, teachers, scientists, police officers and many other employees under coercion either to never speak to the press, or to never speak without notifying the authorities.
Kathryn approached SPJ about it and the society took up the issue even while many journalists acquiesced, saying nothing could be done. Among other things, that led to letters signed by dozens of groups to the Presidential Administrations and a meeting of an SPJ-led delegation with White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
For many years before COVID 19 hit, CDC blocked reporters and told us who we could talk to and allowed no contact that was not controlled.
“One question for journalists is whether this is corrupting us as much it is the leadership in government and the private sector. We are watching intense suppression of information, but we assume we are not publishing a very skewed picture. But gagged staff and closed doors will inevitably mean very bad situations and people being hurt,” Kathryn said.
Candidate for Treasurer
Dan Kubiske
I have been an SPJ member for more than 30 years and an active member of the DC SPJ Pro chapter for most of that time. I am seeking re-election as treasurer for the chapter.
I became active in the local chapter shortly before I moved to Taiwan and China in 1991. Many SPJ members offered suggestions and leads for freelance work while in Taiwan. When I returned from China in 1994, I wanted to repay the benefits I got from being a member of the SPJ. I volunteered to work on the chapter newsletter and later stood for election to the board.
I also served as vice-president and president, before once again moving overseas. While in Hong Kong I began serving on the national SPJ International Committee – now International Community. During that time, I was instrumental in setting up a live link between Hong Kong and the SPJ national convention that allowed journalists on both sides of the Pacific Ocean to discuss issues of mutual concern. (And please note: This was way before ZOOM and other teleconferencing software was stable for the public.)
Besides my responsibilities to the local chapter, I am also the co-chair of the International Community. I help organize bi-weekly webinars with journalists and experts around the world. These sessions regularly bring in new members to the SPJ as well as informing US journalists about the important issues facing journalists and press freedom around the world.
Since becoming treasurer last year, I have worked to implement the reasonable proposals made by the 2019-2020 Audit Committee. I have streamlined and modernized many of our financial operations, based on the audit review. Getting more of the Audit Committee proposals done has been limited by COVID-19 restrictions. I am asking for your support the opportunity to finish the changes we need to ensure continued transparent and effective financial management of our chapter.
Board Candidates
Celia Viggo Wexler
Celia Viggo Wexler is an award-winning journalist and nonfiction author. She currently covers the Biden administration for the new media site, BlueTent.us. She also is a regular contributor to the NBC News opinion site, THINK. She was first elected to the SPJ DC Pro board in 2019.
Wexler’s first book, Out of the News: Former Journalists Discuss a Profession in Crisis (McFarland) won an SPJ national award in 2013. Her second book, Catholic Women Confront Their Church: Stories of Hurt and Hope, was published in September 2016 by Rowman & Littlefield.
Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Columbia Journalism Review, Salon, Fodor’s Travel Guide, Crain’s NewsPro, and The Nation.
She won a Dateline award for commentary in 2019, and was a finalist for the commentary award in 2020.
She was a labor, business, consumer and banking reporter for the Lafayette (IN) Journal & Courier, the Buffalo Courier-Express, and the trade daily, American Banker. She did reporting and editing for the Rochester (NY) Times-Union, Empire State Magazine, Albany, City Newspaper, Rochester, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She also was Albany bureau chief for American City Business Journals.
During her time on the board, Wexler organized and moderated a panel for the 2020 virtual national SPJ convention. She also worked with other chapters to successfully win a membership vote last year that ensures that the values of SPJ national conference sponsors better align with SPJ’s values. She also has helped the chapter’s work advocating for more transparency in government.
She’s a member of the National Press Club, where she served for one term on the club’s board of directors. She also belongs to Journalism and Women Symposium and the Religion Newswriters Association.
She wants to continue to use her contacts to better connect Washington-based journalists to one another, and to encourage the chapter to increase its collaborative efforts to enhance press freedom and mentor student journalists.
She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Toronto, where she earned the Governor-General’s Medal in English Literature. She earned a graduate degree in journalism from Point Park University, Pittsburgh.
Denise Garner Dunbar
Denise is publisher of the Alexandria Times, a weekly community newspaper in Alexandria Virginia with a print run of 19,000 and another 8,000 digital subscribers. The Times is in a city of 160,000 residents just outside of Washington, D.C. and is aided by having a well-educated population with many people who care deeply about their community.
Bucking the generally negative trends in the newspaper industry, the Times posted its best sales year ever in 2018, had another strong year in 2019 and rebounded after the second quarter’s COVID-19 pandemic hit to post normal sales levels in the second half of 2020.
The Times staff generally win a dozen or so Virginia Press Association Awards each year, and Denise has won first place awards for column writing and editorial writing, and other awards for investigative and feature writing.
Denise graduated from North Texas in 1982 with a B.S. in Journalism and a double minor in political science. She greatly enjoyed working for the N.T. Daily. Highlights of her time there included interviewing the singer Michael Martin Murphy for her sophomore reporting entertainment beat when he performed in Denton and serving as sports editor and page 1 editor for the Daily.
After leaving North Texas, Denise went to work for the Charlotte Observer in Charlotte, North Carolina. She spent two years there, then went to the University of Georgia, where she received a M.A. in Political Science (international relations). From there, she and her husband settled in Alexandria, and Denise spent six years working as an intelligence analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, where she was Boris Yel’tsin’s biographer. She then spent five years working for the Commonwealth of Virginia on welfare reform development, implementation and operation. After staying at home for eight years until her three children began school, Denise joined the Alexandria Times in 2009 as Editorial Page Editor.
Selma Khenissi
Selma is an Editorial Assistant for i3 Health. She has written about local Washington, D.C. news for The Northwest Courier, The Georgetowner and Washington City Paper.
In the past, Selma lived in Bangladesh, Sierra Leone and Japan. She also studied abroad in Sweden. Selma is bilingual in English and French.
Selma has degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Maryland.