Minutes
Meeting of the Society of Professional Journalists, Valley of the Sun Pro Chapter
P.O. Box 1488, Phoenix, AZ 85001-1488
. Jan. 18, 2026, 10 a.m.
Meeting called to order: 10:21 a.m.
Attendees: Tim Eigo (President), Mark Scarp (Secretary), Kerry Fehr-Snyder (Treasurer). Absent: Nicole Greason (Vice President), Deb Krol (Board Member).
NOTE: Board actions, either votes or assigned tasks, are in italicized type.
Opening
- Secretary’s report/approval of minutes from Nov. 9, 2025 – Board action: Moved (Tim) and seconded (Kerry). Unanimously approved.
- Treasurer’s report – Kerry reports our investments with Russell Life Points/Northwestern Mutual as of Jan. 15 lost $85.93 in the past quarter, to $22,224.47. Our checking account as of the same date contained $2,108.39, compared to $1,852.90 on Nov. 5, 2025. The savings account contained $1,700.18 on Jan. 15, compared to $1,400.16 on Nov. 5.
- Mark’s Mighty Minute –
- Mark said he and Tim met with Morgan Loew in late December to resume efforts to restart the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona. Morgan said he would arrange for him, Mark and Tim to have lunch with the new executive director of the Arizona Media Association, Tregg White, to discuss applying for a grant from the AMA to support the coalition.
- Mark also said he discussed with the Publicity Summit Committee Josh Weiss’ idea of holding a separate panel discussion of media representatives about a month before the Summit (Summit registrants before that can go to the maybe-online panel free and those who don’t want to go to the Summit will pay a one-time admission fee for the panel only). Committee members reacted favorably. Board members agreed with the idea for the 2026 Summit.
Old Business
- Holiday mixer recap, Tuesday, Dec. 9, at Arizona Wilderness Brewing/Miracle Mile – Tim said we had about 25 people attend. No complaints about parking. Food was good and we were able to get a corner of the room for our group without paying a reservation fee! We will be seeking out places to hold our social events without reservation fees from now on.
New Business
- SPJ AZ hosts the SPJ Region 11 conference, April 10, 2026 – The date of Friday, April 10, for the one-day conference was chosen and its location is the Flinn Foundation in central Phoenix. Tim and Mark have begun to assemble panels and once they are secure, we’ll begin publicizing the conference online and on Eventbrite. Mark and Kerry have sent out letters to various Arizona media outlets requesting financial sponsorship. Deb will ask Republic editor/ VP of news Greg Burton to be part of the lunch Q&A with Painted Desert Tribune editor/publisher Shawn White and to pay for food and beverage at the post-conference reception at the Republic’s Park Central newsroom.
- Deb will inquire with the Republic about space for vendors at the reception at Park Central.
- Chapter signed on to letter to FBI and Attorney General: Tim announced that the chapter accepted SPJ national’s invitation to join in a letter from SPJ and other media professional groups to FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi condemning the recent FBI search and seizure of the home of a Washington Post reporter. The letter was delivered to Patel and Bondi Jan. 16.
Adjourned: 11:22 a.m. (61 minutes) — NEXT BOARD MEETING: 10 a.m., Sunday, March 8, 2026.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark J. Scarp, Chapter Secretary
SPJ: Phoenix, Arizona Chapter 