Slate of Candidates for the CMA Board of Directors Election
The CMA Board of Directors is the governing body of the association. The Board represents the broad diversity of our membership in terms of job responsibilities, communications formats, geography and roles within their organizations. We encourage you to get involved and vote for those who you feel will contribute to the organization’s continued success.
The CMA Nominating Committee has recommended a slate of candidates for officers on the Catholic Media Association Board of Directors, and the executive director has confirmed their willingness to serve. Officers serve a two-year term, beginning on June 28, 2025, at the conclusion of the Catholic Media Conference.
Additionally, there is a vacancy on the board that requires a special election. The CMA Nominating Committee recommended a slate of candidates to serve the remaining two years on the recently vacated Magazine Member at Large board seat.
Voting officially opens on April 25, 2025, and closes at the end of the day on May 10, 2025. Each voting member will receive an email with a link to the official CMA voting site where you log in to verify your right to vote. Organizational Media Members, Organizational Communications Members and Freelance Members are eligible to vote. We encourage you to be an active member and participate in the election.
Learn more about the Board nomination process by visiting our frequently asked questions page.
Paula Gwynn Grant is an Emmy Award-winning television and radio broadcaster and marketing/media professional, who currently is Secretary for Communications for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington (D.C.), home of the Catholic Standard and El Pregonero archdiocesan newspapers.
Prior to this position, Paula served for five years as Director of Communications for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta, home of The Georgia Bulletin. She is the media spokesperson and representative for the Cardinal Archbishop.
Paula is grateful to be of service to our Church as a professional Catholic communicator. Currently, for a second time, Paula is a Consultant for Communications Committee for The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Paula has served on several Catholic non-profit boards including the Ignatius House and Loyola Jesuit Retreat Centers, Catholic Charities of Washington, D.C., and the Mercy Care Foundation.
A former Miss Black America (1989) and honors graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, Paula has over 35 years of experience producing and hosting television and radio programs and working as a top Communications advisor for religious clergy/bishops, numerous politicians/government officials, doctors, professional athletes, and entertainers.
Paula considers it a great honor and privilege to be serving her second term on our Catholic Media Association Board.
Paula is grateful for the life journey God has her on professionally and personally with her husband, Ray, and their 28-year-old daughter, and 24-year-old son.
Describe the importance of Catholic media:
Given this time of extreme polarization both inside the Church and in our outside secular world, Paula is convinced that the need for reliable trustworthy Catholic media is critical. As journalists and communication professionals, Paula sees the role of Catholic media as one that informs, educates, and accompanies the People of God by sharing their diverse stories as encouraging signs of life and our mission of spreading the Good News of the Gospel in all the various formats and platforms that we can.
Kerry Weber is an executive editor for America, where she has worked since 2009. Kerry is the author of "Mercy in the City: How to Feed the Hungry, Give Drink to the Thirsty, Visit the Imprisoned, and Keep Your Day Job" (Loyola Press) and "Keeping the Faith: Prayers for College Students" (Twenty-Third Publications). Her writing and multimedia work have earned several awards from the Catholic Media Association, including Writer of the Year in 2023. She was part of the team from America Media that conducted an exclusive interview with Pope Francis in 2022.
A graduate of Providence College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she has previously worked as an editor for Catholic Digest, a local reporter in Greenwich, Conn., a newspaper reporter and television producer for the Diocese of Springfield, Mass., and as a special-education teacher on the Navajo Nation in Arizona. Kerry has also served as a board member for the Ignatian Solidarity Network and has been a Mercy Associate since 2012.
Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Sojourners, among other outlets. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and three children.
Describe the importance of Catholic media:
As local newspapers close and newsrooms shrink around the United States, strong Catholic journalism is increasingly crucial. We are part of a struggling industry, but the Catholic corner of the journalism world faces additional challenges. From culture wars to liturgy wars, the U.S. church is hurting.
Catholic journalists are immersed in these painful stories as a matter of course. It is not easy to hold both the sins of the church and its sacred beauty—and by this I mean first the faithful and the charitable works, though I mean the churches and art, too—in tension all the time. It can be hard not to be overcome by despair or to turn a blind eye to its problems. But journalism is always about truth. And the truth is that the church has both inflicted pain and relieved it. Catholic journalists must bring both types of stories into the light.
Today’s church includes unique moments of pain and of hope—and it is more than any one of them. Part of the role of a Catholic journalist is to hold all this in tension.
“Catholic journalists have a great challenge before them,” Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington said in his homily at the Catholic Media Conference memorial Mass on June 9, 2023. “You must adhere to the highest principles of your profession. You must be diligent in research, honest in your editorial policy, competent in your use of the modern means of communication, but always motivated by the truth of Christ that is all too often only whispered in locked rooms or spoken in darkness.”
In its best moments, Catholic media helps people encounter Christ, whether through stories of work done in his name or through the revealing of evils that seek to tear it down. Being a part of the Catholic Media Association, along with colleagues from across the county, is a good reminder of our need to support one another in our shared mission. It helps me to feel hopeful that, together, our work might help build a church that challenges and loves and invites people to feel at home.
Marnie McAllister has worked in the Catholic press for 23-plus years. She leads a staff of seven as the editor of The Record. The Archdiocese of Louisville’s weekly newspaper has a circulation of 57,000 in central Kentucky. She manages the news and advertising departments, as well as the website and print and digital production.
With the support of her team and archdiocesan leadership, McAllister has navigated the challenges facing newspapers today, including the shrinking presence of quality presses, the growing burden of postage costs, dramatic shifts in the advertising landscape as well as the opportunities presented by digital media.
Under her leadership, The Record staff has won dozens of journalism awards from the Catholic Media Association and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
She currently serves on the CMA’s education committee. She is also wrapping up a second term as secretary of the board of the SPJ—Louisville Pro Chapter and works on its awards, communications and education committees. She also serves her parish, St. Frances of Rome Church, as a sacristan and is a wife and mother of three.
Describe the importance of Catholic media:
Catholic media must engage new generations of Catholics while continuing to serve our traditional audience. This presents an ever-changing balancing act between print and digital resources and revenue to effectively reach Catholics wherever they are. While there’s no road map for this, we can learn from one another. The Catholic Media Association provides an avenue to share our successes — what was effective for you; how did you respond to this challenge? We need to lean on one another if we want to see diocesan news media thriving in the future.
What remains the same is our mission to inspire, educate and inform our readers by providing quality, well-researched content – and we can’t compromise this to gain clicks. Pope Francis asked Catholic communicators on Jan. 29 to be worthy guests of the people who welcome them into their homes. This resonated with me; I often think of the people who’ve called or written to provide their feedback when I’m writing or editing stories. Communication is so personal, and communication about our faith is even more so. We must keep our brothers and sisters in mind with every decision, whether it’s an editorial decision, design decision or a business decision. And most of all, we need to be accessible to them all.
Emily Sanna is an award-winning editor and strategic leader in Catholic media, with more than a decade of experience. As managing editor of U.S. Catholic magazine, she oversees the editorial direction of one of the nation’s leading Catholic publications. Under her leadership, U.S. Catholic has received numerous honors from both the Catholic Media Association and the Associated Church Press, including multiple Magazine of the Year awards and Best in Class for denominational magazines.
Emily has played a key role in expanding U.S. Catholic’s reach through digital innovation, podcast production, and integrated multimedia strategy. She launched and co-hosts Glad You Asked, a theology podcast that answers listener questions with intelligence, curiosity, and pastoral care. She also led the successful redesign of uscatholic.org and developed the magazine’s first comprehensive digital engagement strategy, resulting in significant audience growth across platforms.
A strong advocate for editorial excellence and collaboration, Sanna mentors staff and freelance contributors and has helped cultivate an inclusive editorial voice that resonates with contemporary Catholic audiences. She brings a forward-thinking approach to Catholic publishing, balancing tradition with thoughtful innovation.
Sanna holds a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and a B.A. in religion from Oberlin College. She currently serves on the board of the Catholic Media Association. She lives in Western New York State with her husband and preschooler.
Describe the importance of Catholic media:
Catholic media plays an essential role in helping the church understand and respond to the world. We cannot apply Catholic social and moral teaching if we don’t know what’s happening in our communities, in our parishes, and in society at large. At its best, Catholic journalism connects the dots: between policy and people, theology and daily life, local ministry and global impact.
In an era when secular journalism is underfunded and religion reporters are increasingly rare, Catholic media fills a critical gap. We provide context and clarity about what’s happening in the church and why it matters. We tell the truth, whether good or difficult, because honesty is a core value of both journalism and our faith.
Catholic media should not serve as public relations for the institutional church, nor should it be driven by political or ideological agendas. Our role is to speak truth to power with integrity, balance, and care. We need both investigative reporting and pastoral storytelling. We need to amplify the work of ordinary Catholics and examine how major decisions—like Supreme Court rulings or papal encyclicals—affect real lives.
The witness of figures like Oscar Romero reminds us that telling the truth, especially when it’s inconvenient or risky, is a moral act. Catholic journalists are called to that same courage, not to shape the narrative, but to report it faithfully.
Marybeth Hicks joined FAITH Catholic as Director of Strategic Communications in 2015 to lead the company’s internal marketing efforts, as well as consult with its many publishing partners to develop strategic integrated marketing and communications plans. In addition to her role within the company, she serves as managing editor of Content Evangelist, FAITH’s magazine for Catholic communicators.
Prior to joining FAITH, Marybeth was a successful parenting author, columnist, and speaker whose feature, “Then again…” ran in newspapers, magazines, and online. Marybeth also appeared on national television outlets including ABC News, Fox News, EWTN, the Christian Broadcasting Network, and on dozens of national and regional radio programs, including for several years as a regular weekly guest on Relevant Radio’s “Morning Air.” She was also a frequent guest host for the late Al Kresta on Ave Maria Radio.
Marybeth began her career as a writer in the White House, and later was a communications specialist in the educational, healthcare, and corporate sectors. She and her husband Jim are the parents of four young adults and grandparents to one grandson. They make their home in Florida and attend St. Joseph Catholic Church in Bradenton.
Describe the importance of Catholic media:
When Pilate asked the Lord, "What is truth?" he might as well have been living in 2025. In this confusing and divisive time, our world still desperately longs for the Truth which all hearts seek - and can only find in Jesus Christ. Catholic media has the great privilege and responsibility of bringing what is true - as well as the good and beautiful (thank you, Bishop Robert Barron) - to the masses in response to Christ's great commission to "go and make disciples of all nations."
Elisha Valladares-Cormier is senior editor of Columbia, the monthly magazine of the Knights of Columbus. In addition to writing, editing and assisting with the magazine’s layout each issue, Elisha contributes to the publication of related digital content, including social media and a weekly newsletter.
As a journalism student at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Elisha first experienced the benefits of the Catholic Media Association by participating in the Student Journalism Awards program. He wrote his senior thesis on the role and importance of the diocesan press. A contributor to the Catholic press since 2015, he interned for the Catholic Sentinel in Portland, Oregon, and worked as a communications coordinator for a local Catholic parish and school before joining Columbia in 2022.
He lives in northwestern Ohio with his wife, Chloe, who also works in Catholic media, and their two young daughters.
Describe the importance of Catholic media:
I first became passionate about Catholic media and journalism through the diocesan press, which is equipped to do what no one else can: to tell the story of the local Church. I believe it’s our job as Catholic communicators to share stories of hope and charity, as well as news both good and bad, bringing the perspective of faith to people both in and out of the pews. By covering the issues and stories that impact not just the lives, but also the faith of our audiences, our work becomes a means to inform, inspire and evangelize.
The association’s members have audiences that range from local to international, but we all share in a mission, as Pope Francis said in his message to communication professionals earlier this year, to produce work “capable of focusing on beauty and hope even in the midst of apparently desperate situations, and generating commitment, empathy and concern for others.”