Troy Niday

Board Chair

Served more than 10 years as COO of Sonoma Media Investments, overseeing production, distribution, consumer revenue and audience development for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and its affiliate publications. A Nebraska native, Troy got his start in newspaper circulation at the Omaha World-Herald before moving on to direct circulation at the Arizona Republic, the Oklahoman and then running circulation and production operations at four Newhouse newspapers in Alabama. He is a past president of the International News Media Association's North American board and was active in several industry associations in leadership roles. Troy is currently CEO of TLC Child & Family Services of Sonoma County.

Executive director of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Sonoma County, where his work earned him Executive Director of the Year 2026 honors from the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Hector is also owner of Nexo Media, a full-service Latino advertising agency in Santa Rosa. In 2026 he also launched B-OSS (Business One Stop Shop), a coordinated resource hub for small businesses. Hector has served on the board of the CTE Foundation since 2023. A professional entrepreneur, Hector studied Business Administration and Marketing at Universidad de Guadalajara, Napa Valley College and Santa Rosa Junior College.

Gina Baleria, EdD

Advisory Board

A former journalist, a communications strategist, and an Associate Professor of Journalism, Media Writing, Podcasting and Digital Media at Sonoma State University. Gina is host and producer of the News in Context podcast. She is also author of The Journalism Behind Journalism: Going Beyond the Basics to Train Effective Journalists in a Shifting Landscape (Routledge 2022), and co-author of the award-winning Writing & Reporting News for the 21st Century (Cognella, 2018). Prior to teaching, Gina was an award-winning digital and broadcast journalist. She helped create and manage a digital newsroom at California Forward, a nonpartisan governance organization, and serves on news advisory boards for AllSides and Santa Rosa Junior College. Gina earned her doctorate from San Francisco State University; her Master's in Communication: Media Studies from Stanford University; and her Bachelor's in English with emphases in Film & History from UCLA.

Anne Belden

Advisory Board

Teaches reporting and editing courses and advises a newsroom of aspiring journalists at Santa Rosa Junior College. Before joining the SRJC faculty, she worked as a reporter and editor on the San Francisco Peninsula, where her news, feature and investigative articles were recognized by the California News Publishers Association, San Francisco Peninsula Press Club, and Parenting Publications of America. Anne holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication from UCLA and a master's in media studies from Stanford University. She co-authored the investigative journalism book Inflamed: Abandonment, Heroism and Outrage in Wine Country's Deadliest Firestorm, which won the Investigative Reporters & Editors Book Award for 2023. A Sebastopol resident, Anne is passionate about dogs, travel, writing, photography and paddle boarding. She sees nonprofit news sites as the future of journalism and the key to a better-informed citizenry.

Jim Bettinger

Advisory Board

Director emeritus of the Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford. After his retirement in 2016, he and his wife moved to Santa Rosa, where they quickly came to appreciate the high quality of news coverage here. He spent 20 years covering local news as a reporter, editorial writer and city editor, first at the Riverside Press-Enterprise and then at the San Jose Mercury News. As director of the Knight Fellowships he championed journalism innovation and entrepreneurship, and committed the program to diversity and inclusion. He is currently vice president of the 82-household Branger Mutual Water Company, where he is learning water issues drip by drip. He's been a San Francisco Giants fan since they came West: he was 11 years old, which is the perfect time to fall in love with a baseball team.

John Burns

Advisory Board

A lifelong journalist who has worked as a reporter, editor, columnist and publisher at multiple North Bay news organizations in Petaluma, Sonoma, Sebastopol and Novato. John served as president of the California News Publishers Association, a trade group advocating for public policies protecting journalism and a free press. He is past chair and continues to serve on the board of the California Press Foundation, which funds scholastic journalism programs and internships for college students working at California media organizations. John has served as president of the Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce and the Petaluma Valley Rotary Club, where he enjoys staying active in community service projects. John lives with his wife, Jayne, in Sebastopol and writes a monthly column for the Petaluma Argus-Courier.

Scott Pritchard

Advisory Board

Co-CEO of Blue Skies Aviation, a private air charter and aircraft management company based in Reno, Nevada. Scott previously owned Transplant Transportation Services of Petaluma, which operated organ-transplant flights. Scott's aviation career began as a helicopter pilot in the early 1990s, before he went on to learn the charter-flight business as VP of Sales & Marketing for Sunset Aviation. A Petaluma resident, Scott also served as board chair of nonprofit Social Advocates for Youth, and as vice chair on the board of TLC Child & Family Services.

Chris Smith

Advisory Board

A semi-retired journalist who spent most of his 45-year career with the Press Democrat. A native of Riverside, he cut his teeth at the Riverside Press-Enterprise, where he'd started as a newspaper carrier at the age of 14. At the PD, he worked as a general-assignment and beat reporter before jumping at the opportunity to succeed Gaye LeBaron as the paper's full-time news-side columnist. He lives in Santa Rosa with wife, fellow PD newsroom veteran Diane Peterson. Deeply involved in the community, he serves on the board of Legal Aid of Sonoma County.