SPJ/LA announces newly elected board members

The Society of Professional Journalists Los Angeles Chapter is pleased to welcome its new board officers and associate board member.

During the December election, SPJ/LA members casted their ballots for the six available seats on the chapter’s Board of Directors. SPJ/LA is thrilled to welcome Gretchen Macchiarella, Gwen Muranaka and Tom Nelson to the Board of Directors. George Keeler will serve as an associate board member.

SPJ/LA members also re-elected three incumbents: Frank Mottek, Richard Saxton and Robi Wax.

New board members began their three-year terms on Jan. 1, 2024.

Read their full bios below.

Frank Mottek (incumbent)

Frank Mottek is known as "The Voice of Business News in Los Angeles." An award-winning broadcast journalist with more than 30 years of experience, Frank currently hosts Mottek On Money weeknights live on the air at 5 p.m. on 790 KABC in L.A. and worldwide on demand podcast. Mottek On Money received the 2020 Golden Mike Award from the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California for Best Business and Consumer Reporting. Frank joined CBS in Los Angeles in 1992 when he served as news reporter and anchor on KNX, host of the KNX Business Hour during the 2008 financial crisis, Mottek On Money during the 2020 pandemic, morning drive Senior Money Anchor, anchor on KCAL9-TV and spot reporter for KCBS-TV CBS2. For ten years, he also worked as reporter and business news anchor on the KTLA Channel 5 News @ 10 and the KTLA Morning News. He joined 790 KABC in 2021. Frank is also a longtime board member of SPJ/LA.

Richard Saxton (incumbent)

Richard Saxton became an SPJ/LA Board member in 2006, and has organized numerous panels and mixers, and served as secretary, membership chair and for the past six years scholarship chair. He strongly believes in attracting new journalists to SPJ/LA to build the membership. He worked on producing the virtual banquets during the pandemic and helped organize the post-Covid SPJ/LA regional conference. Saxton's journalism career started as a radio and television sportscaster in Vancouver and continued at KGTV in San Diego. He moved to Los Angeles to become a financial newscaster on FNN (now CNBC) followed by KWHY-TV The Business Channel and KFWB & Bloomberg Radio. He became a multimedia digital journalist at Edmunds.com and then with his own website and YouTube channel, SaxtonOnCars. He’s enthusiastic about SPJ's legacy and future role in journalism and FOI.

Roberta Wax (incumbent)

Roberta Wax, a former reporter with United Press International, is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Westways, Emmy, Los Angeles, UCLA Magazine, Animation and others. She teaches nonfiction writing through UCLA Extension’s Writer's Program. Wax, a recipient of SPJ’s national Howard S. Dubin Outstanding Pro Chapter Member award, has been on the SPJ board longer than she wants to admit, serving as president, vice president, secretary, and banquet chair. She has also served on various national SPJ committees and has been a speaker at several conferences, some of which she helped organize.

George Keeler

George Keeler is a professor of journalism at the University of La Verne. For 25 years, he has led as Communications Department Chair and also as Program Chair of Journalism. He is proud of his students' accomplishments and the many media leadership roles they hold as alumni. Keeler is a cheerleader for involving his students in SPJ. He holds distinction as a David L Eshelman Outstanding SPJ Campus Adviser. He led as the newsroom supervisor to an SPJ National Conference where scholarship students covered the convention utilizing the web, video, and produced a daily 16-page newspaper. He is a national Mark of Excellence judge. At ULV, he is the adviser to La Verne Magazine, which, multiple times, has swept the Region 11 magazine writing and general excellence categories. Keeler is the faculty adviser to the La Verne student chapter, which, at the 2023 SPJ National Conference, won national finalist honors for "Outstanding Campus Chapter of the Year." He says, "SPJ is the soul of journalism. Membership in SPJ says you are passionate about the First Amendment, you strive for professional excellence, and you are serious about journalism ethics. By joining SPJ, you have moved from being an audience member to being a stage participant.”

Gretchen Macchiarella

Gretchen Macchiarella is an assistant professor of Digital Media and Emerging Journalistic Practices at California State University, Northridge. She worked her industry career in newspapers finishing up as the managing editor for digital at the Ventura County Star. Macchiarella has a professional and research interest in innovation and digital news production. She earned a master's degree in digital journalism and design from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, and her BA from UCSB despite her job at the Daily Nexus. A boundless student media supporter, Macchiarella started at CSUN as the advisor of the Daily Sundial. She believes the connection between student journalists and the industry is invaluable and she hopes to be a key conduit for that connection in Los Angeles. She serves on several boards for nonprofits both inside and out of journalism, which has given her extensive experience in governance and leadership. Combining her interests and professional connections, Macchiarella believes a position on the board would allow her to support the SPJ/LA community in the movement toward a more sustainable future.

Gwen Muranaka

As a journalist, artist, and newsroom manager, Gwen Muranaka’s experience has spanned more than 20 years and two continents. She oversees both editorial and production as senior editor of America’s oldest and largest bilingual Japanese community daily, The Rafu Shimpo, now entering its 120th year. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UCLA, she maintains that community newspapers are the front line of information and must continually evolve to reflect the diversity of its readers. She began as a reporter for Pacific Citizen, the Japanese American Citizens League house organ and later channeled her creative side as a cartoonist for the Japan Times in Tokyo.

Tom Nelson

Tom Nelson is the Director of Student Media at Loyola Marymount University where he has advised students for more than 20 years. Tom supervises three award-winning college media outlets: the Los Angeles Loyolan student-run newspaper, ROAR Studios documentary film and podcast house, and The Tower yearbook. In addition to his day-to-day work with media students, Nelson is a recognized expert in college media and journalism education and is a frequent presenter at national conferences. He serves on the College Media Association’s Diversity and Inclusion committee and Associated Collegiate Press’ Conference Planning Committee. Prior to entering the field of education, he worked for newspapers, magazines and websites as a writer, editor and content creator. Nelson firmly believes in experiences over possessions; in friends who are family and family who are friends; and that the value of puppy therapy is vastly underrated.