At top left is Justin Gunn; top right, James Joyce III; bottom left, David Herfferman; bottom right, Meighann Helene. The men recently joined the TV Santa Barbara board of directors. Ms. Helene is the board chair.
TV Santa Barbara, the region’s community media access center since 1975, has added James Joyce III, Justin Gunn and David Hefferman to its board of directors.
In addition, TVSB announces the continuation of the Executive Council with Meighann Helene as board chair, Tracy Beard as treasurer and Michael Mongold as secretary.
These three new board members along with the Executive Council join Dean Noble, Regina Ruiz, Laura Treat, Gary Dobbins, Rebecca Brand and Courtney Frazier as the nonprofit’s stewards.
“David, James, and Justin are great additions to an already outstanding diverse and talented board,” said Ms. Helene. “Each member brings something unique to our organization, and we are very excited to welcome these new members to our growing team. As we approach our 50th anniversary, we are continually looking for ways to better serve our community, and I know the contributions of our new members will be sure to support these efforts.”
Mr. Joyce III is the founder and chief visionary officer of “Coffee With A Black Guy,” in which he facilitates conversations about race and perspective for local organizations.
He is a former award-winning journalist and a runner up in the 2021 Santa Barbara mayoral election.
For much of the past decade, Mr. Joyce served as district director for state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, who represented nearly 1 million constituents within Santa Barbara and Ventura counties until terming out in December 2020. Before working in the public service sector, Mr. Joyce, a Maryland native, served as a newspaper journalist in several diverse communities across the country, covering subjects varying from education to crime and local politics.
Mr. Gunn got his start in television production at age 14 at his local public access station, BHTV, in Beverly Hills. That experience helped launch what became a 30-plus year career in television news and documentary production as a reporter, anchor and producer at MTV, Channel One, Inside Edition, American Journal, CNET, Food Network and Fox.
He later served as a founding executive and producer at the Emmy-winning Current TV, where he led the Viewer Created Content division and online programming, both initiatives centered on empowering audience members to participate in the creation of the network’s content.
Mr. Hefferman, a senior broadcast and digital account executive at KEYT, is also a former radio morning show host, news and public affairs director, marketing director and television weatherman.
“I am honored and excited to be a member of the TVSB board,” he said. “TVSB is a vital information and cultural link to the community.”
Ms. Helene has served on the board since 2015, previously holding the role of treasurer. An internationally recognized video producer and artist-in-residence at the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science and Technology, she is a cognitive scientist serving as a business technology leader on the IBM Client Engineering team
She has a long track record supporting STEAM in the community and is currently serving as Fishbon’s Board Treasurer.
“We are excited to see the continued growth of the TV Santa Barbara board as we progress through an exciting time in community television,” said Erik Davis, executive director of TV Santa Barbara. “Adding three new members with a deep background in the local community and in media will help us lift up local voices and air programming that is most relevant to the lives of our families, friends and neighbors.”
TV Santa operates two community access television channels, 17 and 71. With studios at 329 S. Salinas St. in Santa Barbara, TVSB provides members with access to video production equipment and electronic media resources to facilitate public dialogue, free speech and participatory democracy, according to a news release.
For more information, visit www.tvsb.tv.
email: mmcmahon@newspress.com
