Travel writer Laura Kiniry joins the BATW Board of Directors in 2025 as its newest member. You can read her bio below, along with profiles on the four other candidates who will fill the five open positions for the coming year. Since there were five candidates for five positions, BATW has implemented the California Bill 502 Process known as “Election by Acclamation”.
For those unfamiliar with that term, it essentially means that if you have an uncontested election where you have the same number of candidates running for election as there are open seats, then you already know the outcome of the election and don’t need to go through the process of mailing and counting ballots.
Here are the candidates who will start new two-year terms in 2025. (Brandy Collins, Nora Tarte, John Compisi, Erin Deinzer, Ed Walsh are all serving on the board through 2025.)
Laura Kiniry
I joined BATW in the summer of 2023 and am a long-time San Francisco resident (30 years in May 2025). Over the years I’ve written a lot about my adopted home city and the SF Bay Area, for such varied publications as VIA (where I’m a former intern), Westways, BBCTravel.com, CNN, American Way (American Airlines’ former inflight magazine), and SFGate.com.
I’m a regular contributor to Smithsonianmag.com, Atlas Obscura, and Conde Nast Traveler (as well as several of the aforementioned publications) and have made my living as a full-time freelance writer for the last 18+ years. My additional accolades include writing a 350-page Moon Handbooks guide to New Jersey (my home state), as well as the revision, mentoring numerous young writers, and winning a SATW Lowell Thomas honorable mention for my 2019 BBCTravel piece, “For Savadorans, Pupusas Mean Comfort.” Recently I also served as the managing editor for the Visit Oakland 2025 guide, which will be published this December.
In terms of travel, I’ve visited all seven continents at least twice and had such incredible experiences as harvesting olives in southern Italy, horseback riding over a mountain pass to a yurt camp in Kyrgyzstan, and going out to sea with Japan’s famous ama, elite female freedivers that scour the local waters in search of abalone and oyster pearls without additional oxygen.
I would love to be on the board so that I can assist in organizing events that are entertaining, enlightening, and fruitful, help recruit new members, and play a role in keeping our organization up-to-date and relevant in a publishing world that seemingly changes daily. Both travel and the Bay Area mean the world to me, and I’m thrilled for the possibility to pass my passion on to others.
Amy Sherman
I have been a member of BATW for five years, and have served as co-President for the last year. In 2024, we launched regional happy hours, focused our programming on professional development, and added more publications to our Pitchbook. I am eager to continue recruiting editors and to make BATW an even more valuable resource for members.
Laurie Armstrong Gossy
It has been a pleasure to serve on the Board of Directors and as Programs Chair for the past two years. BATW continues to be committed to serving the professional needs of its members, whether it’s networking with other writers, connecting with story resources or continuing to learn and expand our skills in the ever-expanding world of communications and technology. I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of this community and to bring intriguing and relevant topics to the members via our monthly programs.
Ruth Carlson
As co-president in 2024, I enjoyed arranging events such as: The Apple iPhone photo tour in San Francisco’s Union Square followed by snacks at the newly refurbished Starlite room, an Oktoberfest happy hour at the Radhaus brewery in Fort Mason, and a day exploring the revitalized North Beach Italian area of San Francisco. In 2025, I will join Laurie Armstrong Gossy in the position of co-chair of the BATW programming committee.
John Williamson
I joined BATW in 2015 and immediately volunteered to help with the transition to a new member management software (from Member Clicks to Wild Apricot) which was completed in 2016. Then I was then appointed to the board in 2017 to continue managing the database software and then elected to the board in 2018.
I have served as BATW Treasurer for the past 2 years as well as continuing to manage the BATW membership database. As treasurer, I have tightened down on our expenses and we are now running in the black again.