Andrew Fefer is currently the Social Media and Video Production Specialist at Group Health Cooperative of Eau Claire. He brings 17 years of journalism experience to the CVPost Board, including a stint as news director at an Eau Claire TV station. He also worked in TV newsrooms in Green Bay and Wausau, after earning a degree in broadcast journalism from UW-Milwaukee. Before joining the Board, Andrew worked as a reporter/editor for the CVPost, covering stories on education, community events and issues in both local and state government.
David Gordon (chair) is an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he chaired the Communication & Journalism Department from 1997-2002. Earlier, he was an administrator and faculty member at Emerson College in Boston, the University of Miami (FL) and Northwestern University. Dave is the senior author of Controversies in Media Ethics, a textbook for upper-level students, and has also written about protecting confidential sources. Before entering academia, he spent five years as a reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison and three years as an administrative assistant to the city’s mayor. He is a past president of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors and is co-adviser of the UW-Eau Claire chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Robbie Joern (shown with her grandson) brings to the Board an extensive list of nonprofit organization experience, with particular interests in homelessness, human trafficking, immigration and poverty. She recently retired as Coordinator of Mission & Outreach at Spirit Lutheran Church, and before the merger that created the church held a similar position at the former First Lutheran Church. Her duties included producing bi-annual “Community Conversations” that covered such topics as Understanding Islam, Bullying Awareness and Racism in the Chippewa Valley.
Glen Mabie has been a multimedia specialist at UW-Eau Claire since 2011. Prior to that, he spent 25 years working in broadcast news as a producer, executive producer, newsroom manager and news director in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nebraska. He is the recipient of the Society of Professional Journalists Ethics in Journalism award, the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism from the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, and the President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Northwest Broadcast News Association. He received his degree in journalism from UW-Eau Claire.
Sandra McKinney (treasurer) recently retired after serving 13 years as minister at Eau Claire’s Unity Christ Center. In January, 2017, she was elected president of JONAH (Joining Our Neighbors, Advancing Hope), a faith-based organization focused on Chippewa Valley social justice issues. An Eau Claire resident since 1993, she is a past president of Junior League Eau Claire, a member of the Northern Spirit Radio board and the Great Lakes Unity Region board of trustees and was elected to the Eau Claire County Board in April, 2016. Sandra has an associate’s degree in hospitality management from Chippewa Valley Technical College, a bachelor’s degree in business management from Cardinal Stritch University, and a master of divinity degree from the Unity School of Christianity.