Members of the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists will elect new chapter leadership, as well as five new board of directors this month in its annual election.
The Board of Directors selected in this cycle will serve two-year terms. The President-elect, Secretary and Treasurer candidates on the ballot will serve a one-year term. Current President-elect Aleesa Kuznetsov will become President for the 2026-2027 term.
An electronic ballot will be distributed to current MNSPJ members via email on Saturday, August 22. Ballots will close at 5 p.m. on Monday, September 7.
If you do not receive a ballot and are eligible to vote, please contact us at minnesota.spj@gmail.com.
Results of the election will be announced at MNSPJ’s annual meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, September 14 at 6:30 p.m. (location TBD). There will be a remote option available. All members are welcome to attend the annual meeting. If you are planning on attending in person, please R.S.V.P. to minnesota.spj@gmail.com.
Here are the 2026-2027 candidates:
President-elect
Aaron Brown
Bio: I’m a columnist and editorial board member for the Minnesota Star Tribune. Based in northern Minnesota, I’ve spent 25 years covering the Iron Range region as a past columnist for the Minnesota Reformer and Mesabi Tribune, formerly the Hibbing Daily Tribune, where I was once the editor. I’m a longtime producer and host for 91.7 KAXE in Grand Rapids, Minn., where I created and hosted the Great Northern Radio Show among other programs. I spent 21 years as a full time communication instructor at Minnesota North College in Hibbing, Minn., formerly Hibbing Community College. I’m an author and historian. I hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and communication, respectively, from the University of Wisconsin at Superior.
Candidate statement: I have served on the Minnesota SPJ board for one year. During my time on the board, I’ve served on the rural outreach committee and was involved in the planning of our SPJ Annual Page One Gala, which I emceed. I’m also involved in planning the upcoming Sept. 17 Constitution Day Freedom of Information program as a join venture between the MN SPJ and University of Minnesota-Duluth journalism department. As president-elect, I would seek to build relationships across the state to better serve working journalists wherever they are. Our organization must be useful to all Minnesota journalists, providing resources and support. I am committed to protecting journalists in harm’s way and defending our First Amendment rights to do our jobs in service to the free people of the state of Minnesota.
Secretary
Imani Cruzen
Bio: My name is Imani Cruzen and I am a reporter with the Pioneer Press covering Ramsey County and education. Previously, I covered solutions-focused community work as a solutions reporter at the St. Cloud Times and have written for the Star Tribune, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal and MinnPost. I was elected to the MNSPJ board in the fall of 2025 and currently chair our student affairs committee. In college, I served as secretary on the board of the SPJ University of Minnesota chapter.
Candidate statement: I’m running for MNSPJ’s secretary position because I would like to further MNSPJ’s opportunities to best connect with journalists in the industry, from student journalists starting out to freelancers looking for more connections in the industry and others. As a current board member, I’ve seen the professionalism, accuracy and organization our current secretary brought to the role and would like to continue her work.
Treasurer
Tim Montgomery
Bio: My career in journalism began at the age of 19 with 4 years as a contributing editorial cartoonist and illustrator with the Minneapolis Star. I went on to work 20 years at the Pioneer Press where i began ‘graphic reporting’ – creating multi-media packages where i wrote a story and created accompanying interactive graphic elements to convey additional information online – and 16 years as a graphic designer at Hubbard Broadcasting (HBI). My work has also appeared on TPT, in Mpls/St. Paul Magazine, Minnesota Lawyer, Finance & Commerce, Asian American Press, the University of Minnesota, and I’ve produced community media programs for SWTV, SPNN, and Duluth Public Access Community Television.
Candidate statement: Along with being a multi-media Minnesota Journalist for over 40 years, I also have experience in the areas of contract negotiation, copyright law, non-profit management and tax preparation. As treasurer, I have tried to streamline MNSPJ’s financial reporting and nonprofit compliance responsibilities. As an MNSPJ Board member, I’ve helped in planning the Page One Awards Banquet, coordinating the annual intern night, professional networking and maintaining MNSPJ social media. With your support, I hope to continue in service to our MNSPJ membership.
Board Directors
There are four candidates for five open board seats.
Michael Anthony
Bio: Back in 2007, when I was offered a buy-out package, I left the Star Tribune after three busy decades at 5th and Portland as a music critic and arts reporter. When The New York Times got wind of it and called me, I said “They didn’t fire me; they fired my job,” a quote that has made it into at least two books on the culture of that era. A native of Minneapolis, I received my undergraduate education across the river at Macalester College in St. Paul, where I got my first taste of journalism writing a weekly column in the school’s newspaper. Later, among awards, I received the year-long NEH Fellowship for Journalists, which had me studying music and art history at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and more recently I was given a Page One Award from MNSPJ for an article in MinnPost on a labor dispute at the Minnesota Orchestra. As a freelancer, I have continued writing for various publications, among them the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe. I have also written two books: “Orchestra Builder,” a biography of the conductor Osmo Vanska, which received the Upper Midwest Publishers Association Award for Excellence, and a history of Minnesota Opera, “Minnesota Opera at 60,” named in 2025 by the Minnesota Star Tribune one of the year’s best books on music. In other words, I keep at it.
Candidate statement: In our troubled society, with newspapers playing a diminished role in people’s lives, we are in danger of losing our understanding of what high- quality, independent journalism is and does and why it matters. At the same time we are seeing efforts from government and certain corporations to squelch our vital First Amendment rights. SPJ has an important role in addressing and perhaps even eradicating these problems. I have taught journalism students at the University of Minnesota and in seminars elsewhere on such subjects as labor and arts reporting, working with each of them on writing skills, on the ethics of journalism, on First Amendment issues and on the intricacies of building a career at a time of greatly reduced entry-level opportunities. If elected to the MNSPJ board, I will continue to help recruit and train the next generation of journalists.
Ellen Finn
Bio: Ellen Finn is a producer for the Minnesota Public Radio news show “Minnesota Now,” where she brings perspectives of Minnesotans statewide to a live radio show.
Her work has been recognized by the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Before joining MPR News in 2022, Ellen got her start in radio journalism on a magazine show with KALW Bay Area Public Media in San Francisco.
Candidate statement: I’ve spent the last year as a new board member and am excited to continue my work on the board, especially after attending an inspiring summit for SPJ local chapter leaders earlier this summer. There, I got connected with chapters across the country and brainstormed ways to protect journalists’ First Amendment rights and keep our industry strong. It opened my eyes to how important SPJ is and made me excited to keep our chapter resilient.
During my year on the board, I’ve seen how MNSPJ has the power to make careers in journalism accessible to young people through training and networking events. I’m looking forward to working with board members new and old on these goals.
Alex Malm
Bio: My name is Alex Malm, a reporter with the Steele County Times and Dodge County Independent.
My start in journalism began as a college student traveling across New Hampshire – and the rest of the country – covering the 2016 presidential election for the Boston Herald and my college’s news outlet.
In 2017 I moved to Minnesota from my home state of Rhode Island to work for the St. James Plaindealer, a newspaper 45 minutes west of Mankato.
At the end of 2018 I went to work as the editor of the Dodge County Independent.
I went back to Rhode Island right before the pandemic for a job opportunity outside of journalism.
After a year, I decided it was a mistake, and returned to journalism. I worked on the East Coast as a journalist for a couple of years, until 2022, when I moved back to Minnesota.
After working for the chain of papers known as Southwest News Media for close to two years, the papers closed; my former boss at Bussler Publishing hired me the same day I got laid off.
I’ve covered communities the size of Butterfield, Minn, to my hometown, Warwick, R.I., the second largest community in the state.
For the past year I have served on the MNSPJ Board as a Director.
Candidate statement: Greater Minnesota is home to so many vital community newspapers, covering issues in communities most people have never even heard of.
I believe it’s important to have a voice and advocate for smaller news outlets on the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists Board of Directors, which I could provide.
Since serving on the SPJ board for the past year, I have done that.
Shortly after being elected, I pitched and helped implement a Data Practices Act/ First Amendment workshop.
This took place in Mankato, and the long-term goal is to bring similar events like this throughout Minnesota. If elected, my goal would be to help implement and run these events.
I was able to connect our Board with connections I have formed over the years to help make this possible.
Currently, we are planning a similar event in Duluth.
By having these events this promotes our SPJ chapter, recruits new members, and recognizes the importance of journalism.
As the only person on the Board this past term who works for a weekly newspaper, I have also had conversations with the Minnesota Newspaper Association to come up with ways for both our organizations to work together to provide a stronger future for journalism.
If elected, I hope to continue this work.
Scott Winter
Bio: I paid my way through college by covering Section 8 hockey and college sports for the Fargo Forum and Grand Forks Herald. Then I oscillated between making journalism and teaching it. But in the end, I chose professor jobs at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Bethel University and now at the Hubbard School of Journalism at the University of Minnesota. I love project stories, documentary storytelling and the vibrant Twin Cities journalism market. I also love a perfect left-handed tennis serve, Frogtown pho and Natalie Merchant. I don’t love being introduced as Deena Winter’s husband.
Candidate statement: In my 11 years in this market, at Bethel University and now the U, I’ve been consistently floored by the quality of Twin Cities media and the way colleagues and competitors rally around each other through tough times. I’m also impressed with the same cooperation among journalism educators in the Minnesota High School Press Association, Journalism Three-Sixty and university programs. I also have strong relationships with the Minnesota News Association. What I want to see is more connection between the pros and the students/academics to help us further diversify newsrooms and ensure our state media future. I also want to continue the efforts of people such as Meg Martin and Becky Dernbach in providing spaces for journalists to relax, destressify and healthily smack talk.