Category: Featured Class Notes

Renee Cordes, deputy editor at Mainebiz, won three Gold Awards from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers in the 2025 Editorial Excellence Awards. Her first-place finishes were for Best Feature Single Story, Best Explanatory Journalism and Best Beat Reporting, Economics and Finance. Mainebiz, part of New England Business Media, is based in Portland, Maine. Renee, who spent most of her professional career in Europe, joined Mainebiz in 2017 as a senior writer and was promoted to deputy editor in early 2025.

Carrie A. Liberante was named Vice President of Communications and Strategic Initiatives at Thriving Mind South Florida. She previously served as Senior Director of Communications for the organization. Before joining Thriving Mind, Liberante worked in communications at medical schools in Florida and as a health writer and city editor at newspapers in the Northeast.

James was selected as a 2025-2026 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He will be among 24 journalists spending the academic year at Harvard where he plans to study documentary theatre and how the stage can be a medium for investigative journalism and storytelling. James is also the host and reporter of the new investigative podcast Heat Listed, from Wondery and Vespucci Group. The series follows a Chicago family’s journey out of the cycle of violence and a police initiative — ripped from the pages of science fiction — that sets out to stop gun violence and help break such cycles.

On April 1, 2025, David Jakubiak was elected to a four-year term on the board of the Linda Sokol Francis Brookfield Public Library in Brookfield, IL. David is a Senior Vice President at the Chicago public releations firm Aileron Communications and lives in Brookfield.

David Plazas joined the staff of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on May 5 as deputy managing editor, opinion, serving as an editorial board member. He is leading the esteemed publication’s opinion and engagement efforts, including editorial writing, editing opinion submissions, and conducting community conversations on topical issues.

Plazas previously worked at Gannett Co. for 25 years, most recently as opinion and engagement director for The Tennessean and the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He led the publication’s Civility Tennessee campaign, coordinated the Black and Latino Tennessee Voices initiatives, wrote nationally award-winning editorials, and moderated multiple federal, state, and local candidate political forums. He started his career as a reporter at The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida shortly after completing his MSJ at Medill. He rose the ranks, including serving as Spanish-language community editor, community conversations editor and digital engagement editor.

James was selected as a 2025-2026 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He will be among 24 journalists spending the academic year at Harvard where he plans to study documentary theatre and how the stage can be a medium for investigative journalism and storytelling. James is also the host and reporter of the new investigative podcast Heat Listed, from Wondery and Vespucci Group. The series follows a Chicago family’s journey out of the cycle of violence and a police initiative — ripped from the pages of science fiction — that sets out to stop gun violence and help break such cycles.

Kristin Thorne won her third Emmy award during the 67th Annual New York Emmy Awards on October 26, 2024. She won for her investigative piece on unidentified human remains at the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office. Missing of the Morgue can be streamed on Hulu or Disney+ under Kristin’s original true crime series, Missing.

Justice for Migrant Women hired Argelia Martinez as the Chief Communications Officer to join the leadership team in advancing the organization’s vision of building a world where all migrant and rural women have equity, dignity, and safety. She will develop and lead the Communications practice, support J4MW’s narrative change campaigns, and increase public awareness of the experiences and priorities of migrant and rural women. Argelia will report to Monica Ramirez, the Founder and President.

Jane E. Wilcox, professional genealogist with her company Forget-Me-Not Ancestry in Albany, NY, recently finished writing her first book, New York State Archives Guide: For Family Historians, Biographers, and Historical Researchers, published by the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society. This robust reference book has more than 500 pages of carefully curated information for researchers, including an introduction and comprehensive overview of NYSA’s holdings; a spotlight section; 21 detailed chapters; 2 appendices; and an index. Ms. Wilcox serves on the New York State Archives Advisory Committee and the NYG&B’s Family History Advisory Committee. Specializing in colonial and early national New York and area research, she speaks at national and regional genealogy conferences and institutes and local societies.

Kalyn Kahler reported and hosted an investigative podcast series called “Spiraled” which tells the story of Packers legend Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila and several other ex-NFL players, like Colts star Robert Mathis, who joined an extreme religious group and left their wives and children behind to follow the group’s charismatic leader. Gbaja-Biamila was a local hero in Green Bay until a very strange and public incident turned him from a Packer to a pariah. As she figured out what happened to Kabeer, Kahler dug into the controversial history of the group, and uncovered more ex-NFL players who had a similar spiral. The podcast is an extension of Kahler’s three-part investigative series for Sports Illustrated, which was named an honorable selection in Best American Sports Writing, and won the Pro Football Writers Association’s annual enterprise award.

You can find “Spiraled” wherever you listen to podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spiraled/id1763809519?i=1000666769306