Our Team
President
Dennis Francis
Oahu Publications and
San Francisco Media Co.
Dennis Francis
Oahu Publications and
San Francisco Media Co.
Dennis Francis is CEO, president and publisher of Oahu Publications Inc. at Black Press Group Ltd. and oversees the company’s operations in Hawaii and San Francisco. He has more than 40 years of senior newspaper management experience in markets, including Ohio, South Carolina, Washington D.C., Vermont and Hawaii. For nearly 30 years, he has been one of the top media executives in Hawaii.
Editor & Publisher (E&P) magazine named Dennis “Publisher of the Year” in 2013, and he was recognized as “Sales Person of the Year” in 2015 by the Sales and Marketing Executives Honolulu. He has also served as chairman of the board for the Chamber of Commerce for two terms.
Oahu Publications owns the Star-Advertiser on Oahu, The Garden Island on Kauai and the Hawaii Tribune Herald and West Hawaii Today on the Big Island. It also prints and operates USA Today Hawaii, along with the direct-mail weekly newspaper MidWeek. The company also owns the San Francisco Examiner and SF Weekly.
Oahu Publications also operates a magazine division, which includes HILuxury, go Kailua, go Kapolei, Pacific Journey Our Hawaii, 101 Things To Do for all islands, and Drive Magazine for all islands. It also runs several in-room magazines, including Aloha Hilton Magazine for Oahu and the Big Island, Trump Waikiki Ho’okipa, Ho’onanea for Castle Resorts, Aulani for Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa and Kahala Life for the Kahala Hotel & Resort.
Oahu Publications also owns Hawaii.com and OMG (Oahu Media Group) Advertising Agency, and recently created a new division of digital billboards division, DBN (Digital Billboard Network).
Well known in Hawaii for his philanthropic endeavors, Dennis serves on numerous boards of nonprofit organizations, including Diamond Head Theatre, the American Red Cross and the Boy Scouts.
Editor & Publisher (E&P) magazine named Dennis “Publisher of the Year” in 2013, and he was recognized as “Sales Person of the Year” in 2015 by the Sales and Marketing Executives Honolulu. He has also served as chairman of the board for the Chamber of Commerce for two terms.
Oahu Publications owns the Star-Advertiser on Oahu, The Garden Island on Kauai and the Hawaii Tribune Herald and West Hawaii Today on the Big Island. It also prints and operates USA Today Hawaii, along with the direct-mail weekly newspaper MidWeek. The company also owns the San Francisco Examiner and SF Weekly.
Oahu Publications also operates a magazine division, which includes HILuxury, go Kailua, go Kapolei, Pacific Journey Our Hawaii, 101 Things To Do for all islands, and Drive Magazine for all islands. It also runs several in-room magazines, including Aloha Hilton Magazine for Oahu and the Big Island, Trump Waikiki Ho’okipa, Ho’onanea for Castle Resorts, Aulani for Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa and Kahala Life for the Kahala Hotel & Resort.
Oahu Publications also owns Hawaii.com and OMG (Oahu Media Group) Advertising Agency, and recently created a new division of digital billboards division, DBN (Digital Billboard Network).
Well known in Hawaii for his philanthropic endeavors, Dennis serves on numerous boards of nonprofit organizations, including Diamond Head Theatre, the American Red Cross and the Boy Scouts.
Publisher
Jay Curran
Jay Curran
Jay Curran is the publisher of the San Francisco Media Company which encompasses the San Francisco Examiner, The SF Weekly, SF Evergreen and our commercial printing press facility.
He joined the company four years ago, and has been in the newspaper business for the past 21 years. He worked with the Los Angeles Newspaper Group for more than five years and at the Antelope Valley Press for 12 years. He has served on the board of directors for several community organizations. Jay has a passion for helping our customers grow their business and he is committed to providing excellent in-depth and compelling news coverage for the communities our publications serve.
jcurran@sfmediaco.com
He joined the company four years ago, and has been in the newspaper business for the past 21 years. He worked with the Los Angeles Newspaper Group for more than five years and at the Antelope Valley Press for 12 years. He has served on the board of directors for several community organizations. Jay has a passion for helping our customers grow their business and he is committed to providing excellent in-depth and compelling news coverage for the communities our publications serve.
jcurran@sfmediaco.com
Vice President / General Manager
Aaron Barbero
Aaron Barbero
Aaron Barbero is the Vice President / General Manager for San Francisco Media Company. The Lancaster, CA. native came to San Francisco in 2015 after working 24 years at the Antelope Valley Press. He brings more than 30 years of printing experience to the company and has managed and overseen nearly all areas of the newspaper industry including creation, production, and distribution.
abarbero@sfmediaco.com
abarbero@sfmediaco.com
Sara Gaiser is managing editor for the San Francisco Examiner. She has lived and worked in San Francisco, covering the Bay Area as a reporter and editor, since 2000.
sgaiser@sfmediaco.com
sgaiser@sfmediaco.com
San Francisco Examiner’s arts and entertainment editor Leslie Katz has been assigning, editing and/or writing news stories about the Bay Area’s rich cultural scene since 1997.
lkatz@sfexaminer.com
lkatz@sfexaminer.com
An East Bay native, Kevin graduated from San Jose State University in 2010 with a Bachelor’s in Journalism and received a Master of Journalism degree in Multimedia and Photojournalism from the University of California, Berkeley in 2015. He previously worked as a photographer at the Herald and News in Klamath Falls, Oregon from 2015 to 2017, and as a reporter/photographer at the Lake County Record-Bee in Lakeport, Calif. from 2011 to 2013.
khume@sfmediaco.com
khume@sfmediaco.com
David is responsible for the configurations and maintenance of all IT systems, including computers, networks, phones, software programs and automated workflows. He’s worked in the IT field for 18 years and has been in the newspaper industry for more than 40 years.
dhernandez@sfmediaco.com
dhernandez@sfmediaco.com
Designer
Melissa (Ming) Vong
Melissa (Ming) Vong
Designer Melissa (Ming) Vong has a long history in the newspaper business. In her first position at Asian Week in late 1980, she was a master doing layout with glue and an X-Acto knife at the Fang family-owned publication. She has worked at the San Francisco Examiner longer than any of her current co-workers, with a history going back to the San Francisco Independent, and later, San Francisco Examiner.
Michael Barba is the crime reporter for the San Francisco Examiner.
mbarba@sfexaminer.com
mbarba@sfexaminer.com
Staff Writer
Joshua Sabatini
Joshua Sabatini
Joshua Sabatini covers City Hall for the San Francisco Examiner.
jsabatini@sfexaminer.com
jsabatini@sfexaminer.com
Sales Manager
Michael Toronto
Michael Toronto
Michael has been in the newspaper business since he was 12, helping with errands at a small Machias, Maine publication owned by the father of a friend. He ventured from there into cartooning, graphic design, writing and finally advertising, and spent 20 years at Hearst’s San Francisco Chronicle before joining the San Francisco Media Company. As he puts it he has ink in the blood and loves what he does.
Advertising Account Executive
Katherine Mackinnon
Katherine Mackinnon
Katherine Mackinnon has been in sales for eight years and in advertising for over three years now. She started her sales career selling fine jewelry at the Shane Company in San Mateo before moving to San Francisco to work in advertising. She loves helping clients grow their business.
A Bay Area native, Katherine loves the many delicious restaurant options in The City, and enjoys traveling. The beach town of Cassis in the south of France tops her list of favorite places she has visited. When not travelling, she enjoys spending time with friends and watching Netflix at home with her cat.
Advertising Account Executive
Tina Nguyen
Tina Nguyen
Tina has a degree in mass media communications and a background in business management. She enjoys meeting new people and helping clients grow their business. In her spare time, you’ll most likely find her hanging out with her cats and dog.
Graphic Artist
Dina Kuhar
Dina Kuhar
Dina moved to the Bay Area in 2009 by way of Washington D.C.. A believer in thoughtful design, Dina is always looking for ways to convey more with less.
