Blair Barna has worked in the world of alt-weeklies for 20 years and is the advertising director of the Charleston City Paper in Charleston, S. C. He founded and co-owns the paper -- now in its sixteenth year -- with his two business partners, publisher Noel Mermer and editor Stephanie Barna. One of them is also his life partner -- he'll leave it up to you to guess which. Barna has two children, three cats, two dogs, and no time to himself. Prior to blazing trails in Chucktown, he worked for Creative Loafing in Savannah and Atlanta.

Leanne Cindea is vice president/employee benefits at Evesham Capital Management. She helps small to mid-size businesses in the Delaware Valley area with health and welfare benefits packages.  In addition, she helps individuals and business owners protect their assets through the use of life, disability and long-term care insurance. Leanne began her now 15-year career in the insurance industry as a marketing representative and sales manager for US Healthcare and continued her career in the brokerage community working for Reimbursement Services and USI Consulting Group before joining ECM. She is a graduate of Rutgers University where she earned a BA in Communications and English and a minor in Business Administration.

Mark Mensack is a first vice president/wealth management with Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC where he currently manages in excess of seventy million dollars. He provides financial planning and investment advisory to individuals, businesses, and charitable organizations. Before he began his professional financial services career in 1995, Mark was a Commissioned Officer in the US Army for eleven years, serving in both the U.S. and South Korea. While he spent most of his time as a helicopter pilot, his final assignment was as an instructor of Philosophy and Ethics at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point.  Mark finished his twenty-two year military career in the US Army Reserves. He has earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Scranton, a Master’s from the University of Pennsylvania, a commercial pilot’s license from the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Accredited Wealth Management Advisor (AWMA) designation from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mark is an adjunct faculty member with Camden County Community College where he teaches bio-medical ethics. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the USO of Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey and the Board of Trustees for the West Point Society of Philadelphia. Formerly he has served on the Board of Governors for the University of Scranton, as well as on the University’s National Planned Giving Council; and the Camden County College Foundation Board. Mark is an active member of the Tri-State Human Resources Management Association and chairman of their Sponsorship and Preferred Vendor Committee. Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, he lives in Cherry Hill with his wife Nancy, and three children, Kelsey, Joey and John.

Scott Michaud is general manager of MindComet's Southeast Region and director of strategic accounts. He is responsible for business development, market & competitive analysis, customer acquisition strategies, consultative/solution selling and management of cross-functional teams for the Southeast Region. Scott uses his ten years of interactive experience to build strong client relations and creative initiatives for marquee clients such as FOX Television, Cunard Lines, APM Terminals and the Walt Disney Company. Previously he was senior strategic account manager and interactive media director with Hemisphere Creative. Scott has recently been named Web Chair for the inaugural year of the Charlotte Interactive Marketing Association.

Seija Goldstein is a nationally recognized expert on regional publishing. Her consulting firm, Seija Goldstein Associates, Inc. (SGA) designs and conducts comprehensive financial standards surveys for several regional publishers' associations, including the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, and maintains an extensive database covering all aspects of regional print and online publishing. In addition, SGA provides a wide range of financial and operational consulting services to media companies and entrepreneurs in magazine, newsletter, newspaper and book publishing industries, as well as in internet and direct marketing. Prior to the founding of SGA in 1992, Ms. Goldstein had twenty years of experience in financial and operational management of media companies. Her past assignments include Director of Acquisitions and Development for CBS Magazines (now Hachette Filipacchi Magazines), General Manager of Home Mechanix and World Tennis magazines and Chief Financial Officer of Communications International, a privately held multi-title magazine and educational publisher. Ms. Goldstein holds a BBA degree from the Helsinki School of Economics and an MBA from Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York. She is an advisor to the University of Missouri School of Journalism on the development of magazine business plans as well as a frequent speaker at publishing conferences.

Alan Leveritt is the publisher of the Arkansas Times.

Alisa Cromer is group publisher for Metro Newspapers.

Jeffri-Lynn Dyer found her passion at age 15 with her first byline.  She moved from Maine to attend Oklahoma City University where she earned both a bachelor's degree in Mass Communication and an MBA, and uses all that she learned there working for the Oklahoma Gazette (since 1990!) and OKCBusiness newspapers in central Oklahoma.  Jeffri-Lynn also consults with newspapers nationwide, facilitating retreats and providing analysis and solution possibilities.  In her free time, she coaches soccer and tee ball for her childrens' teams, plays soccer and softball, is a tutor/mentor for Oklahoma City schools, is active in PTA and is past president and chair of Oklahoma City Advertising Club.

Kenneth Neill is the CEO of Contemporary Media, Inc., and publisher of Memphis Flyer, Memphis Magazine, Memphis Parent, the Memphis Business Quarterly, and Midsouth Bride, among other publications. He graduated from Yale University in 1970 and from Trinity University, Dublin, in 1972. He served as president of AAN from 2005 to 2007.

Michael Newquist is the associate publisher at the Fort Worth Weekly.

Nancy Spittle is the advertising director at the Boise Weekly.

Todd Stauffer is the publisher of the Jackson Free Press, as well as the author or co-author of over 35 books on computing, technology and the internet, including his latest, "How to Do Everything with Your Web 2.0 Blog" (McGraw-Hill/Osborne). He's been a television host and writer, radio host, magazine editor and trainer, mostly about techie crap, but sometimes about cars and travel.

Alden Loury is the editor & publisher of The Chicago Reporter. He joined the magazine in 1999 as a reporter and won local and national awards for his work examining the effectiveness of community policing and projects documenting racial disparities in drug sentencing, jury selection and jury verdicts. As senior editor from 2002 to 2007, Loury led more than 50 investigative projects examining the impact of race and poverty in lottery ticket sales, retail leakage in black neighborhoods, residential development surrounding the sites of demolished public housing and home mortgage lending, among others. He became editor and publisher of the magazine on Jan. 1, 2008. Prior to joining the Reporter, Loury covered government and social services for three years at The News-Gazette in Champaign, Ill. He also spent a year as a radio anchor and reporter for WDWS-AM in Champaign. Loury is a 1997 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A Chicago native, Loury grew up in the LeClaire Courts public housing development and the South Side’s Auburn-Gresham neighborhood.

Laura Dell strengthens organizations and leaders. Her long-standing consulting practice, focused on developing leaders and expanding capacity, is informed by a startlingly long and varied history serving a wide array of businesses, including several AAN members. Laura holds an M.A. in Organization Development, and her expertise has evolved through 35 years of leading in and consulting to workplaces. She is currently the C.O.O. of a mid-size not-for-profit in the Chicago area where she enjoys ample opportunity to practice what she preaches.

Rick Schreiber is publisher of Orlando Weekly, which was voted by Time Shamrock's owners and other property managers in 2005 as the company's "flagship publication." He began his newspaper career in 1995 at Baltimore City Paper, starting as a classified line rep and working his way up to classified manager before being promoted to the City Paper's sister paper in central Florida in 2003. Before joining the City Paper, he worked at Walt Disney World and Frito Lay. Rick is a former high school badminton champion who also happens to hate paper cuts and country music. He guest starred on a few episodes of "Saved By The Bell" in the early 90's.

Chris Sexson is publisher of the San Antonio Current. Chris got his start in the alt-weekly business in 1995 when he began working for the Dayton Voice (now called the Dayton City Paper). In 2003, he joined Times Shamrock Communications as the advertising director at the San Antonio Current. He was named publisher of the Current in 2005.

Don Farley is publisher of the Baltimore City Paper, and group publisher of the Times Shamrock alternative weekly division, which includes the City Paper as well as Metro Times (Detroit), Orlando Weekly and San Antonio Current.

Kim Mac Leod is a seasoned media investment banker and consumer magazine publishing executive with over 30 years of publishing experience, including direct experience in M&A, editorial, advertising and circulation. Prior to launching Regional Media Advisors, an M&A advisory firm dedicated to the regional media sector, she was managing director for consumer magazines at DeSilva & Phillips, a New York-based investment bank. Before that she co-founded FamilyFun, which was acquired by the Walt Disney Company, and over the years has acquired, sold or launched 18 national magazines, two of which -- FamilyFun and Men's Health -- have grown to circulation levels of nearly two million. Ms. Mac Leod has served as vice president, magazine group development, domestic and international, and vice president, group publisher at The Walt Disney Company; publisher of Working Mother; publisher of Children; circulation manager of Spring; managing editor of Practical Homeowner; co-founder of House Plants & Gardens; and publisher and director of new ventures at Rodale. She has a BA with honors from Western New England College and serves as a Trustee of the College.

Robert Wilson is a full-time professional speaker and marketing consultant who has entertained audiences in 32 states and Canada. He works with companies which want to be more competitive and with people who want to be more creative. Over the past 20 years, he has assisted hundreds of businesses with their advertising efforts. He served as senior copywriter for Target Market Team, one of the nation's top direct response advertising agencies. His advertising efforts have earned eight SouthStar awards from the American Marketing Association. The many companies and advertising agencies Wilson has served include Federated Department Stores, Morrison's Cafeterias, Prudential, St. Joseph's Hospital and Wachovia Bank.