Ohio Valley Chapter

Anthony Mirones is a six-time Emmy® Award winner. His most recent credits include Special Projects Producer/Editor for the nationally honored WCPO I-Team in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he has won four of his six Emmy® Awards. He is also the only three time Emmy® Award recipient for News Editor. Since being with WCPO, he has also been honored with a Sigma Delta Chi from the Society of Professional Journalists and a National Headliners Award.

He started his career in Findlay, OH and ran audio, camera, produced, wrote, reported and anchored the 10 O’clock news. From there, Mirones graduated with a B.A. in Communication from Bluffton College [now Bluffton University]. Before he finished his education, he started working part time at the ABC affiliate 21Alive in Fort Wayne, IN. There he won his first storytelling award from the Indiana News Photographers Association.

Later, he moved to the NBC affiliate WAVE 3 in Louisville. There Mirones exploded onto the scene with award after award including two of his six Emmy® Awards.

Now, Anthony is a partner with Louisville, Kentucky based full service multimedia production company, Clifton's Edge, LLC running a niche website called trischoolsports.com. Trischoolsports is a site geared towards teens and what activities they participate in and around.

Mirones believes in giving back to his profession. He currently is president of the Ohio Valley Chapter of NATAS, and has recently served Ohio News Photographers Association as Television Vice President, and for three years on the Kentucky News Photographers Association board of directors.

Julie Davis joined the staff of ThinkTV16 & 14 in November 2000 as a producer/director. She produces and directs ThinkTV's live on air Membership Drives and the station's annual six-day live GreatTVAuction. In addition, Julie has produced several 30-minute programs and acted as field producer for the weekly series “Our Ohio." Julie came to ThinkTV from WFWA-PBS39 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where she spent nine years as a producer/director.

Julie has received several awards including a Midwestern Regional EMMY® Award, an ADDY from The American Advertising Federation and top honors from the state-wide Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations Awards among others. She graduated from Bowling Green State University with a BA in Communications.

Jim Timmerman is a freelance Producer/Director and Operations Manager for Central Satellite, a mobile uplink truck company. Jim worked at WCPO for 23 years, starting as a studio camera operator, then he was promoted to Director then Program Manager. Jim graduated from BGSU many years ago with a RTVF degree. While there he worked at WBGU-TV. Prior to that he was employed at WLIO-TV in Lima. Jim is also an instructor at Brown Mackie College as well as a guest lecturer at other location universities.

Jim is a long-time member of NATAS and has served on the board in one capacity or another for 20+ years.

David Brinkley has been involved with television and video production for the past twenty years and has been in Bowling Green, KY since 1995. He worked as a videographer and field producer at KET for five years before joining the staff at WKYU-PBS on the campus of Western Kentucky University.

He currently serves as the Production Manager at WKYU and is responsible for the station¹s magazine program "MainStreet".  He also manages the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network, producing coaches shows and game broadcasts for WKU Football and Men¹s/Women¹s Basketball.  David has done free-lance crane and camera work for ESPN for the majority of his career. 

In 2010, he led the effort to open the first all-LED lit television studio in the Ohio Valley Region and the second nationally.  The effort has reduced lighting power consumption by 97%.

David, originally from Somerset, Kentucky, graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Science degree. He is an adjunct faculty member at Western Kentucky University and teaches Electronic Field Production, Directing for Television and Remote Sports Production.  He has four regional Emmy® Awards to his credit.

Cherie Housley is the owner of Panoramic Productions which produces a variety of videos from broadcast commercials to corporate marketing pieces to internal training videos. She also works as a producer/director/editor for projects with ThinkTV, the Dayton PBS affiliate. Prior to starting Panoramic Productions in 1991, Cherie was a promotions producer at WRGT-TV, the Fox affiliate in Dayton, Ohio and spent a couple of years as the head of the television department at the International College of Broadcasting revising the curriculum to meet the demands of the changing industry. She started her career at WOUB-TV in Athens, Ohio while still in college, and was fortunate enough to be one of the original staff hires when WDZL-TV was preparing to sign-on-the-air in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale in 1982.

Cherie has served on the Ohio Valley Chapter's Board of Governors in various capacities since 1986. She was the Emmy® Awards Chairman from 1989-2000, Chapter President from 2000-2004 and National Trustee from 2004-2008. Currently, Cherie serves as the Emmy® Awards Administrator. In addition, she has been actively involved in her community serving over the years as the president of the Heights Community Theater and as a Board member for the Huber Heights Chamber of Commerce.

Cherie graduated summa cum laude from Ohio University in 1982 and is the proud recipient of several awards including a Silver Medallion from the International Film and TV Festival of New York, a local Telly Award and 3 Regional Emmy® Awards.

After a decade in television newsrooms, Dionne Miller currently serves as free lance Host/Reporter for various programs all over the Ohio Valley region, mainly working with Fox Sports Ohio, covering everything from High School Football, to the Buckeyes to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Miller began her career at KSVI/KHMT in Billings, Montana, serving as sports reporter before moving on to WPTZ in Burlington, Vermont as weekend sports anchor. After several years in New England, Miller then made the jump to XETV, San Diego before a stop in Florida, and an opportunity to return to her home state of Ohio, as Main Anchor of the Columbus Sports Network.

A graduate of Houghton College (Houghton, NY), Miller has earned Emmy® nominations for her professional work and has served the Ohio Valley Chapter since June of 2010, most recently taking over as Chapter Administrator co-ordinating the Silver Circle Awards.

Miller and her husband live in Columbus and are expecting their first child in December 2010.

Gary Anaple has been the Senior Promotion Producer for WSTR MY64 since January of 2008.  Prior to coming to MY64, Gary spent 10 years in the Creative Services department at WXIX -FOX19. In 2000, Gary was promoted to On-Air Promotion Manager at the Cincinnati station. Gary has been a member of NATAS since 1997. He is a 3-time Emmy® Nominee and was awarded an Emmy® for Editing. Gary graduated from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, earning degrees in both Dramatic Performance & Electronic Media. While a student, Gary received the Ohio Valley Chapter's Student Scholarship. He also serves on the CCM Alumni Board of Governors.

Don Crouse currently serves as Director, Public Relations and Marketing for UC Health and its flagship, University Hospital in Cincinnati. He has over 20 years experience in the communication industry, including stints at WLOS-TV Asheville, NC; WLWT-TV Cincinnati, OH; and work for WDTN-TV Dayton, OH and WAVE-TV Louisville, KY. He has also been writer, producer and creative director at several regional and national advertising agencies, where he has been recognized for his creativity with numerous industry awards.

A five-time regional Emmy® award recipient, he is currently responsible for the creative concepts and production of UC Health, and its subsidiaries University Hospital, West Chester Hospital, Drake Center, Lindner Center for HOPE and University of Cincinnati Physicians.

Susan Dinkel is News Director and Midday Anchor for News 10 - WTHI in Terre Haute, Indiana.

She joined the WTHI team in 1995 after graduating from DePauw University.

In 2008, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Ohio Valley Chapter awarded Susan with a regional EMMY® award in the Feature News Report-Series Category for "New Day, New Way." This series focused on the Indiana Air National Guard saying goodbye to its F-16s and its name and hello to two new high tech missions.

Susan's earned five Midwestern Regional Emmy® nominations. Her work has also been recognized by the Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists, Indiana Broadcasters Association and the Indiana State Teachers Association.

Susan was born and raised in Terre Haute, where she resides with her husband and two daughters. She is very active in her community.

Maria Durant is a 3 time Emmy® Award Winning Reporter for ABC 6 and Fox 28 News. She has also received numerous Associated Press Awards and has been honored with several awards from the Society of Professional Services.

A graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science, little did Maria know she would someday become a news story herself.

In October of 2005 Maria was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. But instead of hiding her diagnosis, Maria decided to share her story in hopes of helping others. Maria is involved with several cancer organizations and wants women to know - especially young Asian American Women - that it can happen to them. But that early detection is the key.

Maria is also involved with many other community organizations such as the Asian Festival, The Columbus International Program and The Central Ohio Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Maria came to ABC6 & FOX28 after working in Huntington/Charleston West Virginia.

A Kentucky native, Aaron Ellis began his career in news more than 13 years ago. During that time, he has been a news photographer, editor, and SNG/ENG operator. Aaron is currently the night side Assignment Editor for WAVE-TV.

Timothy M. Flaherty is the owner/producer/director/editor at Post House, a Columbus based production company.  Timothy is an Emmy® award winning editor and seven time nominee. He is also a three time Telly Award winner.

Timothy began his career in broadcast television at WSYX/WTTE in Columbus while working towards his BA in Communication at The Ohio State University.

With humble beginnings, Timothy quickly worked his way up to become the commercial producer and editor for ABC6/FOX28.  From there he went across town as the creative director and lead editor for WCSN, The Columbus Sports Network.

When economic conditions forced the startup sports station off air, Tim began to freelance for televised sports and other live events with clients such as ESPN/ABC Sports, NBC Sports, Fox Sports Network, Big Ten Network, Sports Time Ohio, ONN, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Miss Ohio organization. As an entrepreneur, he took his contacts and experience to begin focusing on his production company Post House.

Today Post House continues to grow as they are working with local, regional and national accounts providing high-end editorial, motion graphics and video production.  Tim¹s main focus is storytelling across traditional and new media platforms while providing compelling creative and attention to detail.

Timothy currently resides in Gahanna, Ohio with his wife Kimberly and daughter Isabelle.

Deborah Harbsmeier is currently the Executive Producer of University of Louisville sports and special programming for WHAS11 in Louisville, Kentucky.  She is a 1988 graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Radio/TV/Film. 

Debbie began her career in 1989 in Las Vegas, NV as a producer.  From Las Vegas, she moved to Denver and served as a producer/writer for KMGH. She joined WHAS11 in 1995 as a news producer and also served as special projects producer and executive producer in the newsroom.   She switched from news to sports full time in 2005.

Debbie is a three-time Emmy® Award winner.  She was recognized twice for her productions of "Thunder over Louisville."  She received her third award for the sports special, "This is it: A Silver Celebration," a look back at the 25th anniversary of the University of Louisville¹s 1980 NCAA Championship. She has also received numerous Associated Press Awards and has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists in Kentucky and Nevada.

Debbie is an Army brat, originally from Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.  She now calls Louisville home.  Debbie met her husband, Kent, while they were both at WHAS11.  They are the proud parents of a little girl.

Doug High is a nearly 20-year veteran of the broadcasting and video production industries. He is weekday morning news co-anchor on "Good Morning Kentucky" and a feature reporter for WTVQ, the ABC TV affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky.

He has worked on air for WKYT CBS 27 in Lexington and in Toledo, Ohio at WNWO NBC 24 and WTVG ABC 13.  In 2006-2007 Doug co-hosted the first season of the Think TV produced, Emmy award winning magazine program "Our Ohio" carried on all Ohio PBS affiliates.

He is also an award winning Executive Producer/Director and co-owner at High Impact Productions LLC and Witnessing History LLC, two video production studios that specialize in documentary and broadcast programming.  Doug currently has five documentary films in rotation on Kentucky's PBS affiliate, KET; and in 2008, he served as Associate Producer on the Sundance Channel film "Nick Nolte: No Exit" that screened at Cannes Film Festival marketplace. His most recent production "Beyond the Stone Fences" broadcasts statewide on KET and nationwide on HRTV throughout the fall of 2010.

From 2002 to 2008, Doug was General Manager for Lexington based studio Post Time Productions, and recently has worked as a regional sales manager and producer at The PPS Group in Covington, Kentucky.  Additionally, Doug is a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy Reserve where he serves as a Public Affairs Officer. He is a graduate of Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.

Michele Hill is the Executive Producer at WKYT-TV, in Lexington, Kentucky.

She¹s been in television for 20+ years, spending the past 10 years as the EP at WKYT. Michele has served several roles in her career, from reporter and photographer to Assignments Manager and Producer. She is a member of NATAS and RTNDA and has been the recipient of Associated Press and Edward R.

Murrow awards as well as receiving various Emmy® award nominations. Michele was especially proud to represent WKYT in New York in 2007 when the station was presented a national Edward R. Murrow award for coverage of the Crash of Comair Flight 5191.

Before moving to Kentucky, Michele spent 5 years at WTWO-TV in Terre Haute, Indiana where she was both a producer and Assignments Manager.  She is excited about the opportunity to serve on the NATAS Board of Governors and hopes to continue working with the Academy in rewarding the outstanding work of regional journalists while working to ensure the next generation continues to follow the ideals of ethical and impactful journalism.

Brooks Jarosz works as a multimedia journalist at WSAZ NewsChannel 3 in Charleston, West Virginia. He is a Toledo, Ohio native and a graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University in Athens.

Jarosz attributes his first experiences in television to his high school, St. John's Jesuit. Since then, he has spent four years as an anchor and reporter for WOUB News, the PBS and NPR affiliate in Athens, Ohio.

In 2008, he worked with the award-winning Brian Ross Investigative Unit at ABC News in New York. He was one of four nationally selected as a Carnegie Fellow. He's had lead stories on abcnews.com and assisted in producing investigative segments for Nightline and Good Morning America.

In March 2009, Jarosz founded a news-magazine show for WOUB titled, In Focus, integrating consumer, investigative and human-interest stories produced by journalism students enrolled in an advanced television production class.

Jarosz also has experience freelancing as a videographer and assistant director for FOX, CBS, and ESPN networks. In addition, he's directed a local football show, Gridiron Glory, in Athens, Ohio, which landed a Student Production Award from the Ohio Valley Chapter in 2006.

When he's not chasing the news he's exploring around town and always looking to experience what really makes West Virginia "Wild and Wonderful."

Jarosz hopes to increase membership and assist in moving NATAS into the future of the ever-changing media industry. He hopes to help publicize and encourage more multi-platform journalists to apply for the regional Emmy® Awards.  Jarosz is excited and looks forward to working with other talented journalists associated with NATAS.

Michael E. Keating is a staff visual journalist at the Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannet publication.

A native Hoosier, Keating joined the staff of The Enquirer in 1978. He lives in Lakeside Park, Ky. with his wife, Sarah. They have two grown children.

Keating has won numerous national, regional and state awards, including his first regional Emmy® Award in 2010 for an editorial compilation of photography.

Mark has been the Sports Director for WCHS and WVAH in the Charleston-Huntington market since December of 2000. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Radio and Television in 1983 and began working in the industry in 1984.

Since then, he has become a go-to freelancer for ESPN Regional. Martin has also been honored several times for his work in television, radio and newspaper. In 2005, he captured a prestigious Midwestern Regional Emmy® Award for his anchor work, marking the first time in the history of the Charleston-Huntington television market that an individual has won an Emmy® in the anchor category. Mark was the recipient of the National Sportswriters and Sportswriters Association's West Virginia "Sportscaster of the Year" award in 2003. In the fall of 2006 he was inducted into the Ripley High School Viking Football Hall of Fame.

Mark is the author of one book and is in the process of completing his second. He and his wife, Lisa, reside near Ripley.

Tony Mastriani has worked in radio and television news for over 30 years. His broadcasting career started in 1973 at an FM station in Carrollton, Ky. Tony was News Director. Next came radio jobs at WCNW, Fairfield, Ohio, WKRC-AM, Cincinnati, and WUBE, Cincinnati. After teaching for two years at the University of Cincinnati, and a 2nd master's Degree, Tony went to work in news at WLWT-TV. Tony was a writer, reporter, and producer. In 1975, Tony joined WCPO-TV as a writer/producer. After 27 years at Channel 9 he took early retirement.

Tony has been an adjunct instructor at UC, NKU and Xavier since 1978. Tony is currently teaching broadcast journalism and speech communication at various colleges and universities in the greater Cincinnati area.

Kelly Mercer recently joined the staff of Hafenbrack Marketing after 6 years as a Creative Services Producer at WBDT-TV Dayton’s CW.  While at Dayton’s CW, Kelly produced on-air promos for syndicated and primetime programming as well as client related web content. She was part of the team that launched the CW in Dayton and was an integral part of helping make Dayton¹s CW the #1 CW affiliate in the nation in 2007.

Kelly is a 3-time Emmy® recipient. She has also received two gold, one silver and two bronze Hermes awards from the Dayton Advertising Club and top honors as a producer in the national affiliate group for Acme Communications.

Kelly Mercer graduated from The University of Dayton in 2004 with a degree in Communications/Electronic Media. While there, she served as the Promotions Manager for Flyer-TV, as well as an editor and host of various programs.

Jane Owen began her television career in Montana over 20 years ago. After graduating with a degree in Film and Television production from Montana State University, she worked for KUSM Public Broadcasting in Bozeman. She continued her career in the San Diego/Los Angeles area freelancing and on staff at local San Diego cable channels. Her experience ranges from directing and technical directing live broadcast shows to producing, directing and editing field packages.

Upon moving to Evansville, Indiana, Jane began her own production company, One Chick Productions. Her work with non-profit organizations has earned her an Emmy® nomination and an AVA Award. Jane has also been featured in Evansville Living, the local lifestyle magazine, and she has recently been awarded a grant from the Indiana Arts Commission.

In addition to running her production company, Jane is the busy mother of three young children, who occasionally serve as grips during shoots.

Michael Rodriguez has proudly served in public broadcasting for over 15 years.   Since 2000, Michael has been a part of the WOUB Center for Public Media team at Ohio University.  As Director of Production Services and Student Development, he leads a team of very skilled multimedia production professionals. He also is the point person for more than 250 students who arrive at WOUB each year seeking practical, hands on experience in support of their academic classes.  Michael enjoys engaging and challenging students at every level. 

Michael has directed, produced, written, and participated in just about every form of video production native to public broadcasting.  One of his favorite assignments is being facilitator/Executive Producer for the multiple award-winning Gridiron Glory. He is proud of the many alumni that have moved on to high profile industry jobs. 

Originally from the desert southwest, Michael currently resides in Athens, Ohio, nestled in the scenic Appalachian Mountains.   He holds a Masters of Public Administration degree from Ohio University and a Bachelors degree from New Mexico State University.

Michael is active in community service events around the region and highly values his time as a single parent to three children.

Paul Smith is the On-Air Promotion Manager for KET, the multi-channel PBS and Educational statewide network for Kentucky. A native of Monterey, California, Paul received his B.A. from Santa Clara University in Communications.  Prior to joining KET in 2007 he worked at WKYT-TV, the CBS affiliate in Lexington, for fourteen years.  His career there included stints in master control, camera, audio, graphics, technical director, director, Production Manager and Promotion Manager.  During his career Paul has received two Emmy® nominations along with 6 Addy awards and 2 Telly awards.

Deb Warmuth has served as Producer / Projects Manager since 1992 when her first project was the production of 2 weekly series for young people, which aired on WV PBS. Since that time, she has successfully managed numerous broadcast documentary and non-broadcast media projects.

Prior to working with The Walkabout Company, she was a content specialist for the NASA Classroom of the Future at Wheeling Jesuit University. Deb holds as MA in instructional design from West Virginia University.

She is currently managing the company’s media projects for the National Road Association of Illinois, Ohio National Road Association and the National Coal Heritage Area. Her recent broadcast productions include a documentary on the National Road in West Virginia, which received a 2006 Emmy® nomination for Achievement in Writing and the Videography Award for Achievement in production. For 2008 – 2009, she is managing the development of two multi-part series for broadcast on WV PBS and two historical documentaries.