"The Media and Sustainability"
 

Joe Barr, News Director - Capital Public Radio
Joe Barr has been News Director for Capital Public Radio since 2004.  During that time he’s overseen significant growth of CPR’s news operation and led it to numerous awards, including a national Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting. Barr also developed CPR's statewide news service, California Capitol Network which reaches about two-million listeners a week on more than two-dozen public radio stations in California, Oregon and Nevada. National Public Radio President and CEO Vivian Schiller called CPR News a “role model” for the rest of the public radio system.

Before joining Capital Public Radio Barr was a Senior Producer for the news division of the largest radio network in the world, Westwood One. Barr managed news coverage used by more than a thousand radio stations around the country as part of the Metro Source News service.  He coordinated coverage from dozens of reporters and bureaus around the country. Barr also wrote stories on everything from the impeachment of President Clinton and the massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School to the tumultuous 2000 Presidential election. 

Barr was an award winning reporter at NPR affiliate station KJZZ in Phoenix and he's also worked at commercial radio news stations in Western Pennsylvania. Barr's stories have aired on NPR, Marketplace, ABC Radio, Monitor Radio, Voice of America and others.


Ben Ilfeld, Co-Founder and Operations Manager - The Sacramento Press
New media pioneer Ben Ilfeld co-founded Castle Press, LLC, the company behind the Sacramento Press. Ben focuses on operations. He is responsible for overseeing every department and department head. Ben sets the vision and process for the online media outlet and runs customer service.

With direct input from his team, Ben defines the business and technology road map for the organization and works to continually refine the “hyper-local” model to reclaim community. Ben also develops and implements processes to recruit new writers as "recruitment manager." 

Prior to his current position, Ben founded No Snakes Agency and managed Brooklyn-based rapper/producer P.Casso.  He previously interned with California State Assembly Member Darrel Steinberg, who is now Senate President pro tem. Ben also grew up in Sacramento and graduated from The University of Rochester with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science.


Michael Sanford, VP of Content Creation - KVIE Public Television
Michael has been an accomplished award-winning producer of television news and programming for nearly 30 years.   As V.P. for Content Creation, he oversees the production of KVIE’s America’s Heartland, an award-winning national series on agriculture seen on more than 250 public television stations. The half-hour series is now starting its sixth season.

Michael also manages all of KVIE’s local production content, including its successful weekly local ViewFinder series, which covers topics as diverse as regional history, the arts, health and medical research, and regional civic issues. He also works with local and regional producers to create quality content for KVIE and for distribution to other public television stations. Michael also produced two seasons of the successful series, Central Valley Chronicles,  segments for KVIE’s national PBS Money Moves series, statewide series California Heartland, and the documentary The Great Valley.

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, with two B.A. degrees in Journalism and Rhetoric, Michael's career began in his hometown of Fresno, California, where he worked as a news anchor, reporter and bureau chief for the ABC and NBC affiliates. In 1985, Mike became a state capitol reporter at WWL-TV in New Orleans. Michael’s varied career also includes producing for CNN, the Discovery Channel, and the Travel Channel.


Ron Trujillo, Editor - The Sacramento Business Journal
Ron Trujillo has been the editor of the Sacramento Business Journal since February 2006. He joined the Business Journal after serving as business editor of The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, a 195,000-circulation daily newspaper in Southern California. He also has been business editor of The Fresno Bee, a 150,000-circulation daily paper in Central California. He is a veteran journalist, covering business during much of his 20-year career. His daily business reports can be heard on KXJZ Public Radio during “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” 


Mary Lynne Vellinga, Business Editor - The Sacramento Bee
Business editor Mary Lynne Vellinga joined The Bee in 1991 as a staff reporter. She left for a short time to work in the office of state Sen. Fran Pavley. But Mary Lynne and  the journalist in her returned to the newspaper business last July.

“I’m thrilled to be coming back to The Bee as Business Editor. In these uncertain and difficult times, I believe more than ever that our society needs newspapers to look out for the public good, explain important issues, expose wrongdoing and make people smile. Newspapers may evolve over time from print to online, but I don’t think they’re going away. The Bee is filled with hard-working people dedicated to their profession, and I’m honored to rejoin them. We’re going to have a great time,” Vellinga said when she returned to the newspaper.

A graduate of Calvin College and Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Vellinga began her journalism career in Marion, Indiana, where she covered labor, workplace and economic development issues. She worked at newspapers in New York and Massachusetts before joining The Bee. In 2009, she won a Sierra Club award and a Best of the West award for her outstanding reporting on growth issues.
She will oversee a 10-person department that covers regional and statewide business issues.


Jeff von Kaenel, CEO - The Sacramento News & Review  
Jeff vonKaenel is the president and chief executive officer of the News & Review.  He has worked with alternative newspapers for over 30 years.

Jeff went to college in Santa Barbara from 1969-1973 at UC Santa Barbara.  He was involved in one of the first alternative papers in the country in the fall of 1973, The Santa Barbara News & Review, working as a reporter and advertising manager until 1979.

In 1980, Jeff took over the Chico News & Review as publisher and over the next eight years, grew the paper from the initial circulation of 9,000 to a circulation of 40,000.  The Chico paper was selected as the best weekly newspaper in California by CNPA, California Newspaper Publishers Association.  In 1989, Jeff came to Sacramento and started the Sacramento News & Review and then in 1995, took over the Reno weekly newspaper and created the Reno News & Review.

The News & Review newsweeklies have been recognized for journalistic accomplishments in their field since 1987 and have won over 150 awards, including multiple awards for general excellence, outstanding community service and editorial coverage.


Here are photos from the Media Panel during the California Green Summit at the Sacramento Convention Center Event.