Editorial Bios

EDITORS

Name: David V. Lyons
Title/Beats Covered: Editor-in-Chief
Phone Number: (305) 347-6694
Background, awards or recognitions for journalist work: David covered business and law 1983-99 at the Miami Herald. Impact of airline deregulation including demise of Eastern Airlines, aviation safety and consumer issues. Federal and state court system in South Florida including U.S. v. Noriega; Federal Law Enforcement; War on Drugs. He also worked at the Miami News, Fort Lauderdale News: as a business writer. David worked at both the Albany Times-Union, and Schenectady Gazette, both in New York: Copy editing, wire editing, production. He received a Bachelors degree in political science, at Siena College, Loudonville, N.Y.

Name: Jay Rees
Title/Beats Covered: Business Editor
Phone Number: (305) 347-6627
Background, awards, or recognitions for journalist work: Jay Rees oversees the Review's real estate and finance staff. Previously he was the news editor overseeing the print production of the Daily Business Review. Jay has also worked for the Sun-Sentinel/Fort Lauderdale News where he helped supervise story selection and the production of the daily front-page section, the sports section and the daily and Sunday arts and entertainment sections.

Name: Catherine Wilson
Title/Beats Covered: Law Editor
Phone number: (305) 347-6611
Background, awards, or recognitions for journalist work: Catherine Wilson oversees The Review’s legal staff and coverage after 24 years with The Associated Press in Miami and Fresno, Calif. At the AP, she focused on coverage of federal and state courts in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Notable cases included the managed care racketeering case filed by the nation’s doctors, the class action by Florida smokers against cigarette markers and Miami police corruption trials. As a business writer, she covered major players in South Florida, including Burger King, Ryder System, Blockbuster and the bankruptcies of Sunbeam, Pan Am and Piper Aircraft. She is a former president of the South Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and reported for newspapers in California and New England.

Name: John P. Hernandez
Title/Beats Covered: Web Editor
Phone Number: (305) 347-6642
Background, awards or recognitions for journalist work: John is responsible for the day-to-day operations of DailyBusinessReview.com. Prior to joining the Review, he was a senior reporter for Latincom, a technology industry newsletter covering Latin America. John was also the North American correspondent for Global Mobile, an industry publication based in London. For three years he covered Miami area business for LocalBusiness.com after about two years of writing business stories for the Miami Herald.

Name: Vala Lopez
Title/Beats Covered: Research Director
Phone Number: (305) 347-6646
Background, awards or recognitions for journalist work: Vala graduated from Syracuse University in New York with a master’s degree in social work (concentration in public policy, evaluation, & organizational development) and a master’s certificate in women’s studies in 2005. While in school she was a consultant for the Central New York Kidney Foundation and held the position of assistant director of two nonprofit organizations. Vala also worked with the Florida Supreme Court for three years as an evaluator/researcher on a project evaluating Florida’s jury system. As an undergrad Vala was the editor of the USF Law Review and interned at the 13th Judicial Circuit Court. Previous to her position at The Review she worked as a consultant for a private firm that specialized in evaluation for nonprofits and governments in South Florida.

Name: David Kaminski
Title/Beats Covered: Executive News Editor
Phone Number: (305) 347-6628
Background, awards or recognitions for journalist work: David spent four years as deputy news editor at the Bradenton Herald before moving to Miami with his wife, a Miami native. They have two daughters. A native of Tavares, Fla., David has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the University of South Florida. David started as a sportswriter and worked his way up to news editor during 14 years at the Daily Commercial in Leesburg, Fla.

Name: Stuart McMeeking
Title/Beats Covered: Copy Editor
Phone Number: (305) 347-6665
Background, awards or recognitions for journalist work: Stuart came to the Daily Business Review from The Miami Herald, where he worked for six years as a copy editor, page designer and community-news reporter. Before that, he worked for more than seven years at the Tallahassee Democrat. Stuart is a graduate of Florida State University, where he studied studio art, and has master’s degrees in journalism and English literature.

Name: Martha Sternberg
Title/Beats Covered: Copy Editor
Phone Number: (305) 347-6625
Background, awards or recognitions for journalist work: Martha has more than 15 years of media experience having worked on the news desks of major dailies and community newspapers, managed accounts for public relations and government relations firms and was the publicist for a nationally known meteorologist. Prior to joining the Review, Martha was a copy editor at the Miami Herald, the SunPost and a managing editor with the Sun-Sentinel Community News Group, where her work garnered recognition by the Florida Press Club and the Tribune Company. Her journalism career started in news radio as a producer and news director. She went on to manage national accounts and directed issue campaigns for Hill & Knowlton, the world’s largest government relations firm. Martha also contributed political and feature articles to a regional monthly magazine devoted to addressing issues of interest to women.

REAL ESTATE AND FINANCE STAFF

Name: Paola Iuspa-Abbott
Title/Beats Covered: Miami-Dade Real Estate
Phone Number: (305) 347-6657
Background, awards or recognitions for journalist work: Paola returned to the Review in October 2007 after an 18-month stint at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel where she covered western Palm Beach County. Prior to the Sun-Sentinel, Paola had covered real estate in South Florida since 1998. She initially joined the Review in April 2004 as the transactions reporter, covering residential and commercial real estate deals in the tri-county area. Paola previously reported for the South Florida Business Journal, where she covered real estate in Miami-Dade, and for Miami Today, where she covered local government, real estate and development. Paola graduated from Florida International University in 2000 with a degree in print journalism and mass communications.

Name: Eric Kalis
Title/Beats Covered: Commercial Real Estate Transactions
Phone Number: (305) 347-6651
Background, awards or recognitions for journalist work: Eric spent two years at Miami Today covering real estate and local government before joining the Review. Among his duties, Eric compile the Review’s popular daily real estate fixture —On Real Estate. Eric, who also interned with the Miami Herald’s Neighbors section covering the city of South Miami, is a graduate of the journalism school at the University of Miami.

LAW STAFF

Name: John Pacenti
Title/Beats Covered: Federal Courts
Phone Number: (305) 347-6638
Background, awards or recognitions for journalist work: Veteran journalist John Pacenti covers federal courts and justice issues. He spent seven years at the Palm Beach Post and a decade with The Associated Press in Miami and Phoenix. While at the Post, he covered numerous hurricanes and other breaking news stories. He worked on the paper’s investigative team and dug out award-winning stories about substandard medical treatment of inmates and prisoner detainee abuse in Iraq by a local National Guard Unit. At the AP, Pacenti was a political editor who covered two gubernatorial campaigns, the Versace murder in Miami Beach, the ValuJet crash in the Everglades, and all four of South Florida’s professional sports teams. John holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from the University of Arizona. He lives in Boca Raton with his wife, Charlene and their two young daughters.

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Name: Deborah España
Title/Beats Covered: Broward and Palm Beach
Phone Number: 305-347-6684
Background, awards or recognitions for journalist work: Deborah was a reporter for Miami Today where she covered business. She has also worked for the Associated Press and the Miami Herald’s Neighbor’s section. She has written features for Hispanic Magazine. Between 2002 and 2004, she also worked as a witness liaison for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office juvenile division. Deborah holds a B.A. in political science from Florida International University.