San Jose Mercury News

Geri Migielicz is the Director of Photography at the San Jose Mercury News, a newspaper with a national reputation for its innovation and excellence in photojournalism, photo editing and multimedia. She was a 2004-05 Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford, where she studied multimedia narratives. She is a founding board member of Associated Press Photo Managers, an organization committed to the sharing of best practices and the professional development of photo editors and managers. She has been visiting faculty at the Poynter Institute for Journalism Studies, the Missouri Photo Workshop, the Stan Kalish Picture Editing Workshop and a lecturer at Society for Newspaper Design and National Press Photographers Association workshops. She has also taught multimedia to communication graduate students at Stanford University. Geri has been an annual winner of awards for photo editing in the Pictures of the Year International, NPPA's Best of Photojournalism and Society for News Design annual contests. Under her direction, the San Jose Mercury News has won POYi's Angus McDougall Award for Excellence in Picture Editing and its coverage of the California recall election was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography.

Michael Jung, director of national advertising for the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times, agrees. He says that the skills gained in advertising are compatible with advancing to highest levels of newspaper management.

Camille Mojica Rey, PhD has a B.A. in biology from the University of Texas at Austin and a doctorate in integrative biology from the University of California Berkeley. She also completed the science communication program at the University of California Santa Cruz. Since then, she has worked as a reporter for the Monterey County Herald and the San Jose Mercury News. She is the former health editor for New York-based Latina Magazine and is the senior women's health editor for AlSofa.com, a bilingual mental health website for Latinos. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is working as a freelance health and science writer.

Jeff Faerber is a freelance illustrator whose work has appeared in the San Jose Mercury News, the Progressive and other publications. He has a BFA in Graphic Design from San Jose State University. He started working for Youth Communication in 2000.

Just call him the Man from Rescue. New Prosper Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Young comes to the post with a resume a mile long, bringing global experience in editorial and creative management. Stints as Forbes Silicon Valley editor, reporter for the San Jose Mercury News and correspondent for the Hollywood Reporter stand alongside his best-selling book on Steve Jobs: "iCon." When it comes to enhancing Prosper's online presence, it's a match made in heaven. Young co-founded Forbes.com in 1997, earning himself a solid reputation as a pioneer in online media. He's charged with defining the next generation of design and content for all Prosper Media properties and expanding Prosper's presence in the community and beyond. Young currently hails from Rescue, California, where he makes a mean Cabernet Sauvignon on his five foothill acres.

Meri Simon has been making news pictures for 25 years. For the last seven years, she has been a staff photographer for the San Jose Mercury News, where she has won acclaim for her work documenting domestic violence and for her studies of life in the intellectual treadmills of Silicon Valley. She is the only woman to twice be named San Francisco Bay Area Press Photographer of the Year.

Meyer has been a staff photographer for the San Jose Mercury News since March 2000. He previously worked at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia for three years. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri in 1995.

Michael C. Nieset is the Managing Partner for Heidrick & Struggles' global Software Practice, as well as a member of the global Board Services Practice. Previously, he was a partner and managing director with another major search firm, and was a leader in that firm's technology practice. Michael brings more than 15 years of leadership and business experience to his search practice, and demonstrated success building high performance leadership teams for his clients. He has been interviewed by and is frequently quoted in major business publications including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, The Boston Globe, WORTH, Corporate Board Member, BoardRoom News, San Jose Mercury News, and others.