Four sports editors were elected to Vice Chair positions for their APSE regions, APSE president Todd Adams has announced. With their elections, the organization’s nine regions are complete with chairs and vice chairs.
Region vice chairs serve two-year terms before ascending to region chairs for another two-year term. Region chairs who complete their two-year terms are automatically eligible to be nominated for national APSE office.
Monica Holland
Sports Editor of The Fayetteville Observer
Vice Chair, Atlantic Coast Region
Holland has been working her way up at the Observer since starting in 2002 as a part-time agate clerk on the Sports desk. Ultimately promoted to desk supervisor and then Assistant Sports Editor, she became Lifestyle Editor last year and added Sports Editor to her list of job titles in May.
A graduate of Fayetteville State University, Holland was a member of the APSE Diversity Fellowship class of 2012. That experience, she said, helped sharpen her focus and deepen her appreciation for the value of diversity as well as the passion for storytelling and reporting with integrity.
“I’m proud to serve the APSE and I look forward to learning more, getting better and helping others do the same,” Holland said.
Jeff Patterson
Deputy Sports Editor, The Oklahoman
Vice Chair, Great Plains Region
Patterson has been the Deputy Sports Editor of The Oklahoman since 2017. Prior to joining Oklahoma City, he served as a reporter, designer, editor and radio host at outlets including the Kansas City Star, Houston Chronicle, (Louisville) Courier Journal, (Newport News) Daily Press and Danville Register & Bee. He is a graduate of the University of Kentucky.
Erik Hall
Lead Producer, USA Today Network
Vice Chair, Southeast Region
Hall, a 2016 APSE Diversity Fellowship member, is the Lead Producer for sports with the USA Today Network’s digital optimization team. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. Hall was named the 2017 LGBTQ Journalist of the Year by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. Hall has been a member of APSE since 2012. He participated in winter judging six times and attended the summer conference six times. Since 2017, Hall has written APSE’s monthly “On the Move” story that tracks job changes within sports journalism, and he’s also a member of APSE’s diversity and scholarship committees.
Joe Baird
Sports Editor, The Salt Lake Tribune
Vice Chair, West Region
Joe Baird has run the sports department of The Salt Lake Tribune for the past 11 years, a span during which The Tribune has earned numerous APSE awards and other national and local accolades. He has been at The Tribune for the past 36 years, working as a sports reporter, news reporter and news editor before moving back to sports in 2008. Joe is married with two grown children and a very energetic dog. He can be found skiing, hiking, or just gazing at the Wasatch Mountains when not at the office.
