SPJ Oregon members are welcome to attend the Board of Directors’ monthly meetings, which are usually at 6 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month. Email the board for more information about the next meeting, or view agendas and minutes.

Penny Rosenberg, President

Penny Rosenberg is a regional editor at Lee Enterprises, managing three newspapers in the Pacific Northwest, including the Albany Democrat-Herald and Corvallis Gazette-Times in Oregon. She earned a Master of Legal Studies from UCLA School of Law. Recent awards include Best Limited Podcast from Online News Association (national); regional awards for podcasting from SPJ; and Best Editorial Page and Best Editorial from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. She currently serves on the ASUCLA Communications Board overseeing the university's student media and on the Alumni Council of the UCLA School of Law MLS Alumni Association.

abbey mcdonald, vice president

Abbey McDonald is the community, homelessness and housing reporter at Salem Reporter, where she’s worked since October 2022. Before that, she worked at The Astorian. Abbey graduated from the University of Oregon and Clark Honors College in 2021, with degrees in journalism and anthropology. She had summer internships with the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week. Abbey joined the Oregon SPJ board to help build community among journalists and protect public records access.

YASSER MARTE, Secretary

Yasser Marte is the editor of the Confederated Umatilla Journal. He previously worked as a general assignment reporter and regional photojournalist for the East Oregonian, a weekly newspaper covering Umatilla and Morrow counties. On the board, he aims to represent rural journalism and advocate for the preservation of local newspapers.

Julia Shumway, TREASURER

Julia Shumway is the editor-in-chief of the Oregon Capital Chronicle, a nonprofit news organization founded in 2021 to fill a growing gap in state government and political coverage. She previously reported on state and local government in Arizona, Iowa, Nebraska and Bend. Julia lives in Salem and serves as president of the Oregon Legislative Correspondents Association, or Capitol press corps, leading the group’s efforts to maintain and expand access to the Legislature, governor and state agencies.

Nick Budnick, Freedom of Information Committee Chair

Nick Budnick is an editor for The Lund Report, a nonprofit news organization covering health care in the region, and before that worked as a reporter for several newsrooms. He aims to be a resource and likes to hear about the challenges reporters are facing with public records. He assists with SPJ’s open government advocacy, and has seen how input from talented journos around the state has fueled important records reforms.

Ben Botkin, BOARD MEMBER

Ben Botkin is a politics and policy reporter for Lookout Eugene-Springfield, where he covers the impact of government actions on Lane County residents. Prior to that, he covered state government for the Oregon Capital Chronicle. He started his two-decade career in eastern Idaho and worked for four years in Las Vegas, covering government and state politics. In Oregon, he has worked for newspapers in Bend and Salem and The Lund Report, a nonprofit outlet that covers health care.

steven white, board member

Steven White is the news operations manager at KATU and has more than 20 years of experience in the journalism industry. He’s on the board to help speak up for all journalists to be able to do their jobs and continue to tell the stories that shape our communities, culture and our state.

Lily Raff, board member

Lily Raff has been an Oregon journalist for more than 20 years, and is currently helping teach the next generation as an instructor at Central Oregon Community College. Prior to teaching, she worked at The Bulletin for over a decade. She is also an alumna of the Knight-Wallace Fellowship and a freelancer whose work has been featured in top national publications, including The New York Times, The Atlantic and Rolling Stone.

andrew devigal, EDUCATION SEAT

Andrew DeVigal is a professor and the director of the Agora Journalism Center at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, where he works to support local journalism throughout the state. Prior to teaching, he worked as a multimedia editor at the New York Times.