Image by Mariakray from Pixabay
Meet our 2025-2026 chapter officers & board
Our chapter officers serve one-year terms that begin July 1 and end the following June 30. Our bylaws call for chapter members to vote to elect a president, at least one vice president, a secretary and a treasurer at an annual meeting to be held in June.
These officers, all incumbents, were nominated by the chapter nominations committee for another one-year term to run from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026. All four were re-elected by voice vote of members present at the chapter’s annual meeting and Summer Solstice Soiree social event on June 18, 2025:
President, Tim Eigo; Vice President, Nicole Greason; Secretary, Mark Scarp; Treasurer, Kerry Fehr-Snyder.
ELECTIONS: Elections for 2025-2026 officers was held by voice vote of chapter members in good standing at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday evening, June 18, 2025, at the annual member meeting and social, the Summer Solstice Soiree, 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the State 48 Brewery in downtown Phoenix location. As always, admission to the annual social is free and the appetizers are on the chapter (you pay for your own beverages), but we request RSVPs to learn how many appetizers to buy.
Chapter members in good standing as both members of the chapter and of the national SPJ organization as of May each year may also run for an officer position. If you want to be a candidate, send an email to phoenixspj@cox.net with your member ID number for verification. Member ID numbers are available at spj.org or on the mailing label of print editions of SPJ’s Quill magazine, sent to members.
OTHER BOARD MEMBERS: The rest of the chapter board members are nominated by the president and are seated with the approval of the officers. If you are interested in serving as a board member (which probably takes 2-3 hours of volunteer time per month), please email Tim Eigo at spjphx@gmail.com with your photo, current job description/title, and brief bio.
Below are the names and short biographies of 2025-2026 chapter officers and board members:
President: Tim Eigo
Tim Eigo has served as Valley of the Sun SPJ chapter president since 2017. In 2025 he was named chief communications officer of the State Bar of Arizona. For 25 years before that, since 2000, he was the editor of Arizona Attorney, an award-wining monthly magazine that serves the bar’s membership, and he serves in leadership positions in a national legal organization. Tim is also the current chair of the national SPJ Legal Defense Fund committee. According to SPJ, the fund was created “to initiate and support litigation that enforces public access to government records and proceedings.” Litigants apply for funds and the applications are considered by the six-member committee, aided by SPJ’s attorney. Tim chairs the Phoenix Board of Adjustment, which hears and decides zoning and land-use appeals. He was a founding member of the Downtown Phoenix Inc. board of directors, where he served for more than four years. A former California lawyer, he also has edited and written at a variety of publications, including the Orange County (Calif.) Business Journal.
Email: spjphx@gmail.com
Vice President: Nicole Greason
Nicole Greason retired in December 2024 after 10 years as the director of marketing and public relations for Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University. Prior to joining the university’s staff, Nicole was the marketing administrator for Fennemore Craig, a business law firm in Phoenix, Ariz., for over five years. She has worked in communications, marketing and public relations for many years in the areas of K-12 education, higher education and health care for organizations including the Tempe Union High School District, Kyrene Elementary School District, Maricopa County Community College District, Maricopa County Department of Public Health and University of Texas at El Paso. Nicole also worked as a reporter and assistant business editor at the Tucson Citizen. She is the past-president and current vice president of the Arizona Latino Media Association and a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Email: greasonnicole@yahoo.com
Secretary: Mark Scarp
Mark Scarp has served as secretary of the Valley of the Sun SPJ chapter since 2019. He served as chapter president from 1993 to 1997 and from 2003 to 2006, and as regional director on the national board of SPJ from 1997 to 2003, representing Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and the Pacific Islands. He served five years as president of the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona, a consortium of the state’s media dedicated to open government and access to public records and meetings. Mark worked as a newspaper journalist for more than 25 years in the Phoenix metro area, most recently for the daily East Valley Tribune and Scottsdale Tribune. For four years, he was communications manager for the world-class Heard Museum in Phoenix. Mark taught journalism as a faculty associate at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication from 2008 to 2021. In September 2025, Mark retired after serving for six years as media relations officer for Arizona State University’s Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions.
Email: phxspj@gmail.com
Treasurer: Kerry Fehr-Snyder
Kerry Fehr-Snyder was appointed treasurer in January 2024 to succeed Teri Carnicelli, who retired from the post and continues to serve as board member. Kerry is an award-winning journalist with 35 years of experience covering news in the Phoenix metro area. She began writing news and features in the Southeast Valley for The Arizona Republic before getting promoted to the business section of The Phoenix Gazette to create a technology beat. She was selected as one of eight journalists nationwide for the yearlong Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT. There, she audited courses in astronomy, biotechnology and creative writing at MIT and Harvard while attending twice weekly science seminars. She also got a first-hand lesson in physics by sculling on the muddy Charles River. After the fellowship ended, she returned to the Republic to cover science, including public health and medical research. Kerry recently was the managing editor for science, health and technology at KJZZ, the NPR member station in Phoenix. She also edited general news and features for the station. Most recently, Kerry was editor of the Yellow Sheet Report at the Arizona Capitol Times. For fun, Kerry can be found in the gym working out or playing with her two adorable rescue dogs. She also is an avid reader and jigsaw puzzle player.
Email: kfehrsnyder@gmail.com
Board Member: Debra Krol
Debra Utacia Krol has served as vice president of the Valley of the Sun SPJ chapter since 2017. An award-winning journalist, since 2019 she has been a reporter covering Native issues, environmental and science issues for The Arizona Republic. She is also owner of Jolon Indian Media, her part-time freelance journalism business, which produced articles in Arizona Capitol Times, Native Peoples Magazine, Indian Country Today This Week and other publications. Debra is also a member of the Native American Journalists Association. For nine years, she was senior communications manager for the world-class Heard Museum in Phoenix.
Email: djkrol@cox.net
Board member: Teri Carnicelli
Teri Carnicelli served for many years as treasurer of the Valley of the Sun SPJ chapter. She has been on the chapter board since 1998, during which time she has also served as president and secretary. For two years, she served on the national board of SPJ as regional director representing Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and the Pacific Islands. From 2003 to 2019 she was editor of North Central News, a monthly community newspaper serving north central Phoenix. Teri currently is a content writer for Oxnard, Calif.-based Quality Innovative Solutions Inc., which serves communications needs in association with U.S. Navy installations at Point Hueneme, Calif.
Email: t_carnicelli@yahoo.com
SPJ: Phoenix, Arizona Chapter 