Editorial Board at Kentucky.com

Editorial Board

Tim Kelly - Publisher, president

• tkelly@herald-leader.com
• (859) 231-3257
• Eleven years as publisher, more than 16 years on editorial board, 18 years at paper.
• Background: Born and raised in Ashland, graduate of Ashland Holy Family High School. B.A. with honors from University of Miami (Fla.), 1970.
• Career: Executive editor, then editor of the Herald-Leader, editor of Daily News of Los Angeles, managing editor of The Orange County (Calif.) Register and The Denver Post, deputy managing editor of the Dallas Times Herald, executive sports editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Twice a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes. Staff members in Denver and Orange County awarded Pulitzer Prizes during tenures there. Began newspaper career as a part-time sports writer at the Ashland Daily Independent 40 years ago this fall.
• Personal: Married 38 years, two children, one grandchild.
• Affiliations: YMCA of the USA: board development committee chair, board and extended executive committee member.
    • YMCA of Central Kentucky: past chair.
    • John S. and James L. Knight Foundation: chair, Lexington Community Advisory Committee.
    • Downtown Development Authority: former chair, Downtown Master Plan Citizens Advisory Committee.
    • Commerce Lexington Inc.: board member, former vice chair/communications.
    • Lexington One Team One Vision: board and executive committee member.
    • Central Kentucky Blood Center: board member, former capital campaign co-chair.
    • Fayette Education Foundation: board and executive committee member.
    • Partnership for Successful Schools: secretary of the board.
    • Lexington Industrial Foundation, Bluegrass Tomorrow, Lafayette Club: board member.
    • Business and Education Leaders group, Triangle Foundation: member.
    • Blue Grass Community Foundation: board and nominating committee member.
• Honors: Ida B. Wells Award for diversity achievements in the news industry, 1999; Knight Ridder Excellence Awards, 1995 and 2003; YMCA of Central Kentucky Red Triangle Award (Volunteer of the Year), 2000 and 2002; Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, 2000.

Jacalyn Carfagno - Editorial writer

• jcarfagno@herald-leader.com
• (859) 231-1652
• Joined editorial board April 2005 after 14 years at the paper. Areas of focus include business and development, downtown, higher education.
• Background: Born and reared in Atkins, Ark., a town of about 1,300 in the Arkansas River Valley. Attended Catholic schools through high school, B.A. in history from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock; master's degree in journalism from Columbia University; Certificate in Business and Economics from Columbia. Career: Before entering journalism, worked in state government in Arkansas in the attorney general's office and for several years later in the historic preservation office. As a business reporter in Arkansas covered Wal-Mart, Dillard Department Stores and Tyson Foods.
• Personal: Married, one daughter.
• Affiliations: Member of the boards of the Newman Foundation and the High Street YMCA. Lector at the Catholic Newman Center at UK.
• Honors: Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Business and Economics at Columbia University, 1997-98; New York Financial Writers' Association, Ben Weberman Scholarship, 1998. State and national writing and editing awards.

Rita S. Gatton - Commentary editor

• rgatton@herald-leader.com
• (859) 231-3235
• On editorial board since 1999 (selecting and editing local and syndicated commentaries) after 20 years as a copy editor for various sections of the paper, religion writer and news assistant.
• Background: Lexington resident, native of Louisville, bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Kentucky.
• Career: Former reporter for The Jessamine Journal, Corbin Times Tribune and Paris Daily Enterprise.
• Personal: One adult son.

Vanessa Gallman - Editorial page editor

• vgallman@herald-leader.com
• (859) 231-1393
• Joined paper and editorial board April 1997.
• Background: Born in Charlotte, N.C., and graduated with bachelor's degree in journalism from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Career: National correspondent, Knight Ridder Washington bureau; assistant city editor, The Washington Post; assistant journalism professor, University of Maryland-College Park; metro editor, The Washington Times; assistant city editor, The Tallahassee Democrat; reporter, The Charlotte Observer.
• Personal: Mother of one, grandmother of two.
• Affiliations: President, National Conference of Editorial Writers; board member, Society of Professional Journalists-Bluegrass Chapter.
• Honors: Several teaching and reporting fellowships; various individual and staff reporting awards in state and regional contests.

Larry Dale Keeling - Columnist/blogger, editorial writer

• lkeeling@herald-leader.com
• (859) 231-3249
• www.kykurmudgeon
• On the board 26 years and with the newspaper for 30 years. Major areas of focus: politics, state government and civil liberties issues.
• Background: Born in Anderson County and grew up in Washington County. 1965 graduate of the former Willisburg High School. 1969 graduate of the University of Kentucky, B.A. in journalism.
• Career: Air Force information officer, 1969-72. Reporter, Henry County (Va.) Journal, 1972-73. Reporter, Martinsville (Va.) Bulletin, 1973-74. Reporter, Bradenton (Fla.) Herald, 1974-75.
• Personal: Married and lives in Franklin County.
Affiliations: Member of the National Conference of Editorial Writers, the Society of Professional Journalists Bluegrass Chapter, University of Kentucky Alumni Association and Golfaholics Anonymous.
• Honors: National Headliner award for editorial writing; national Sigma Delta Chi award for editorial writing; the regional Green Eyeshade award for editorial writing; finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing; and has won numerous Kentucky Press Association awards for reporting, editorial writing and column writing.

Jamie Lucke - Editorial writer

• jlucke@herald-leader.com
• (859) 231-3340
• Joined the editorial board in 1997, after 10 years as a Herald-Leader reporter. Areas of focus: education, energy. environment, farm policy, public health, local and state government.
• Background: Born in Lexington, grew up in Morehead, educated at the University of Kentucky. Lived with a family in Greece and studied at the University of Lancaster in England on Rotary-sponsored fellowships.
• Career: Worked as a reporter at newspapers in Flemingsburg, Lebanon, Elizabethtown, Owensboro, Jacksonville, Fla., Birmingham, Ala.
• Personal: One daughter.
• Honors: 2005 National Headliner Awards, second place, for editorials supporting Lexington's smoking ban. Green Eyeshade Awards for editorial writing, 1999, 2000, 2001.

Joel Pett - Cartoonist

• jpett@herald-leader.com
• (859) 231-3443
• Joined paper as cartoonist April 1984. Also does video commentaries on Kentucky.com.
• Background: Born Bloomington, Ind., Sept. 1, 1953. Lived in Ibadan, Nigeria, 1959-1964. Free-lanced after college in Bloomington for nine years. Traveled to more than two dozen countries on five continents. Proudest moments include winning a college intramural golf title, skunking a former UK ballplayer in a game of HORSE, a two-second quarry-dive-Frisbee-grab cameo on national TV, and winning a Pulitzer. Maybe not in that order.
• Career: Nationally syndicated, draws weekly for USA Today, and writes weekly for the L.A. Times.
• Honors: Pulitzer Prize winner in 2000, finalist in 1989 and 1998; Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 1999; president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists 1999, brought the national convention to Lexington in 2004. Global Media Award for population cartoons 1995, 2007. Conducted cartooning seminars in Doualla, Cameroun, and Sofia, Bulgaria for U.S. State Dept. Won regional Emmy for television commentary.
• Personal: Married, no children, just three dogs and occasionally fleas.