BOARD

SPJ Colorado Pro Leadership

SPJ Colorado Pro officers and board members work on behalf of the chapter’s approximately 75 members to improve and protect journalism in Colorado. They plan events, write advocacy letters, coordinate award programs, work with colleges and universities and much more. 

 

Officers

President Kristina Pritchett (Term Ends 2024)

Kristina Pritchett is the marketing & events specialist for the Colorado Sun. She previously was a marketing communications specialist for a nonprofit and a reporter for the Boulder Daily Camera and the Colorado Hometown Weekly.

Before moving to Colorado in 2017, she worked as a city editor for a weekly publication in California, and a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper in New Jersey.

She graduated from Rowan University with a degree in Journalism, concentrating on online and print journalism.

While in school, she served on the university newspaper for four years, and was editor-in-chief for two of those years.

She is in charge of communications for SPJ Colorado Pro.

Secretary Ali Watkins (Term Ends 2024)

Ali C. M. Watkins is a multimedia journalist and artist based in Denver.

She graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver with a degree in Social Documentary and a minor in Fine Art Photography. 

When she’s not reporting, she enjoys writing music and spending time with her cats.

She has been secretary for SPJ Colorado Pro chapter since February 2019.

Treasurer Dennis Huspeni (Term Ends 2025)

Dennis Huspeni brings more than 30 years of journalism experience to the Colorado Pro Chapter board, most from newspapers like the Denver Post, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Business Journal and now Denver Gazette, where he covers business.

He also has public relations, and media relations experience from Fidelity Investments.

Huspeni is the former president of the Colorado Pro Chapter, from 2012-14, and a Denver Press Club member. A Colorado native, Huspeni currently resides in Parker with his wife, Clare, and sheltie Finlay. 

Board Members

Deb Hurley Brobst (Term Ends 2024)

Deb Hurley Brobst is an editor and reporter for Colorado Community
Media, specifically working for the Canyon Courier and Clear Creek Courant.

Before coming to to the newspapers, she spent two decades as a
journalism professor at Metro State University of Denver, and prior to
that, she worked at newspapers in Wisconsin.

She has been an SPJ member for 40 years and has served in different capacities on the Colorado Pro board over the last 30 years. She also served on the SPJ national board from 1991 to 1996 and from 2004 to 2008.

Currently, she’s the coordinator for the Top of the Rockies Excellence in Journalism contest and is SPJ Colorado Pro’s elections chair.

Cara DeGette (Term Ends 2025)

Cara DeGette, a former president of SPJ Colorado Pro, is editor of the Greater Park Hill News, a monthly community newspaper in Denver. She has been an affiliate faculty member in the journalism department of Metropolitan State University of Denver since 2009.

DeGette was a founder and editor of Colorado Public News, housed at PBS member station Colorado Public Television. She also was co-founder and executive editor of the Colorado Springs Independent.

DeGette was an Annenberg National Health Journalism Fellow, and she has won awards from the Education Writers Association, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies and SPJ. She also served as a board member of the Denver Press Club. 

Katie Langford (Term Ends 2024)

Katie is the assistant editor at the Broomfield Leader, an online news outlet covering the city and county of Broomfield. 

She has worked in Colorado journalism since 2015, mainly reporting on K-12 and higher education at the Boulder Daily Camera, Grand Junction Daily Sentinel and Montrose Daily Press. 

She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Northern Colorado.
When not digging for scoops, you can find Katie on outdoor adventures with her dog, Cooper, trying new recipes in the kitchen, curled up with a book or planning her next trip. 

Katie is in charge of programming for SPJ Colorado Pro. 

Beth Potter (Term Ends 2025)

Beth Potter is the United States manager for the Journalism Trust Initiative, a nonprofit group affiliated with Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres) in France. The Journalism Trust Initiative is collaborating with the Colorado Media Project in Colorado to help local journalists.

She has a doctorate in media research and practice from the University of Colorado Boulder and worked for more than 25 years as a newspaper editor and reporter both domestically (mostly in Colorado) and overseas.

Potter worked for about 10 years outside of the United States in the Czech Republic, Iraq and Kenya, among other places. While working overseeas, she held jobs at the Agence France Presse wire service in Iraq and at Reuters news agency in Kosovo, which is part of the former Yugoslavia.

Potter previously was the editor and publisher at Landmark Newspapers (Brighton, Fort Lupton and Commerce City); and a business reporter at the Denver Post. Before that, she was an editor or reporter at other newspapers in Colorado, including the Boulder County Business Report and the Daily Camera in Boulder, and the Times-Call in Longmont.

She loves to ski, hike and scuba dive in her free time.

Dr. Rhema Zlaten (Term Ends 2024)

Dr. Rhema Zlaten is an assistant professor of Mass Communication at Colorado Mesa University. She teaches courses in multimedia storytelling, journalism, persuasive communication, covering and promoting the arts, and the history of mass media. 

She worked professionally as a journalist at the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald before transitioning to academia, and she has continued to freelance for Front Range and Western Slope media companies. 

Her research focuses on media ethics, the future of digital journalism, science communication, and also metaphor in opinion and persuasive communication. 

Doug Bell (Term Ends 2025) 

Doug Bell, who retired from a 40-year career in journalism and 30 years as a college instructor, serves as the education chair with the Colorado Pro Chapter of SPJ. Bell also chairs the ethics/media literacy committee for the Colorado Press Association. Bell has been presented SPJ’s First Amendment Award, as well as the Keeper of the Flame honor for career achievement. As an SPJ board member, Bell concentrates on networking with the state’s journalism schools and mentoring student journalists who are entering the job market. He also has been a guest speaker at high school and college classes, and coordinates the chapter’s annual scholarships. In his spare time, Bell plays ice hockey and tennis, and volunteers at BookGive, a nonprofit that re-homes gently used books to locations and organizations in need. He lives in Denver with his wife, Christa, a communications specialist with the University Center for Atmospheric Research.

Lisa Schlichtman (Term Ends 2024)

Lisa Schlichtman is an award-winning journalist with three decades of experience as a reporter, editor, publisher and newspaper owner. Most recently, she served as editor of the Steamboat Pilot & Today in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and editor-in-chief at Colorado Community Media. She’s currently serving as faculty advisor for Metro State University’s student newspaper, The Metropolitan. She’s a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, past president of the Colorado Press Association and a founding board member of the Colorado News Collaborative. Email: lschlichtman@gmail.com.

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Region 9 Director, Past President Ed Otte

Ed Otte retired in August 2010 as executive director of the Colorado Press Association.

Before being named to that position in 1995, he served on the CPA board of directors from 1993-1995. Prior to becoming the CPA executive director, Otte worked at the Greeley Tribune from 1980-1995 as city editor, editorial page editor and editor (1990-1995).

While at the Tribune, he was on the adjunct journalism faculty at Colorado State University in Fort Collins from 1991-1995, and served one year as president of the Colorado Associated Press Editors & Reporters. He also won a number of state and national awards for columns and editorials while at the Tribune.

Otte worked in newsrooms from 1969-1980 at the Alamosa Valley Courier, Colorado Springs Sun, Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Santa Fe New Mexican and El Paso Times. On Feb. 18, 2011, Otte received the CPA Friend of the First Award “in recognition of his commitment to a free press and the public’s right to know.”

On Aug. 26, 2010, then-Gov. Bill Ritter signed a proclamation declaring the date Ed Otte Day in Colorado, citing his accomplishments in his journalism career. The Colorado High School Press Association gave Otte its Friend of Scholastic Journalism award on Sept. 11, 2004, “in appreciation of his work to improve journalism education.”

 

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Past Presidents

 

[Under Construction]

 

• Doug Bell
• Tony Flesor
• Sandra Fish
• Kara Mason
• Dennis Huspeni
• Ed Otte
• Fred Brown