Staff Bio
At JEA, we are a small but mighty team of dedicated employees, volunteers and donors who contribute to support our mission.
Veronica Purvis, DBA, CAE
Executive Director
Veronica Purvis, DBA, CAE, is the executive director of JEA since being appointed in July 2022. She leads all operations and business management including partnering with the board on governance in guiding the association, establishing policies and procedures, structuring the organization and directing the staff, leading the financial responsibilities (including auditing, budgeting, reporting and investing), ensuring legal compliance and handling all contracting, and overseeing execution of all the business activities, events and programs.
Purvis is a Certified Association Executive who earned a Doctorate in Business Administration, a Master of Science in Management (with a specialization in Marketing), and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. She is an award-winning, strategic association executive and brand leader as well as a speaker and author with decades of experience leading staff and driving missions within professional member associations.
Since 2000 and prior to joining JEA, Purvis served mainly as director of marketing-communication at STEM associations, launching several international open-access publications and new products, developing advertising sales, branding, communications and marketing programs.
Purvis is a Washington, D.C., native who believes in lifelong learning and paying it forward. In her spare time she’s a mentor and an adjunct professor for a master's integrated marketing communications program. She’s committed to the nonprofit industry’s advancement and volunteers with multiple organizations and serves in various capacities, including on the board with the American Marketing Association DC chapter as the DEIA officer.
Her desire to develop others is apparent from her background as an image consultant, which evolved to include helping others chart their paths. She also enjoys exercising/running, family time (including with her husband and three kids), movies, trying new restaurants and exploring new experiences.
Cindy Horchem, Ph.D., CJE
Business and Projects Coordinator
Cindy Horchem, Ph.D., CJE, works half time in the JEA office at her alma mater, Kansas State University, in Manhattan, Kansas. She retired in May 2018 after teaching journalism for 24 years at the high school and college levels. She also was a feature reporter at a newspaper for a couple of years and spent eight years working in public relations (university and hospital).
During her senior year of high school — the first year that journalism classes were offered there — she decided that she wanted to study journalism in college. Her passions in the field have been interviewing, editing and sports. As a teacher, the best memories are the teamwork and camaraderie of her student publications staff members, and she loves seeing students do amazing things after graduation.
She joined the JEA staff in July 2019, where she helps with proofreading C:JET magazine, newsletters, programs and other documents. She coordinates payments for most of the organization's expenses, plays backup for the office manager as needed and often works on those ever popular "other tasks as assigned."
She and her husband, Brad, enjoy attending as many K-State sporting events as possible. They have a daughter and son-in-law in Kansas City, a daughter in the Denver area and two spoiled dogs at home.
Amber James joined the JEAÂ staff in Sept. 2024 as the events and programs manager. She manages programming and project functions within the organization for National High School Journalism Conventions, Advisers Institutes, and other related programs, events, awards and contests. James is a marketing, communications and events specialist originally from Mesa, Arizona. She spent seven years as a Virginia resident before making the move to Chicago in the fall of 2024. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in classical acting from Southern Utah University and her Master of Fine Arts in Shakespeare and performance from Mary Baldwin University.
James joined JEA after spending five years as the marketing manager for the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia. Before her tenure with ASC, she spent over two years as a sales manager with PSAV, now Encore, working on events in high-profile hotel locations in and around Washington, D.C. Additionally, James has over a decade of experience as a professional theatre practitioner with acting and directing credits from all over the country, including Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Indiana and Utah.
When not hard at work, she enjoys traveling, reading fiction, attending concerts and spending time outdoors with her dog and husband. James was raised by a journalism educator and has been taught from birth to fiercely value civic engagement, news literacy and freedom of speech. She is honored to join the staff of JEA and provide support for all of its upcoming programming.
Amber James, MFA
Events and Programs Manager
Loryn Clauson, Ph.D.
Association Assistant
Loryn Clauson, Ph.D., started as the association assistant for JEA in 2026. Before joining the team she worked in the Nebraska Department of Education assisting with SkillsUSA Nebraska as well as the American Society for Virology. She has also served as the assistant to the editor and reporter for her local newspaper.
Clauson earned her doctorate in history from the University of Toledo and her Bachelor of Arts and Master’s degree from Kansas State University.
She enjoys early American history and historical research and writing. She lives in Wamego, Kansas, with her husband and daughter.
While not at JEA she enjoys being active in her community by volunteering at school and church. She reads in her spare time, particularly history books related to her research interests, but her favorite thing is spending time with her family.
Bradley Wilson, MJE, Ph.D.
Business Specialist
Bradley Wilson, MJE, Ph.D., received his doctoral degree in public administration with research work in media agenda-setting and local governments.
While he has worked for JEA as a volunteer and magazine editor for 30 years, he joined the staff full-time in 2026.
He got his start working as a photojournalist for a weekly newspaper in Austin. Along the way, he has worked as an executive director, public information officer and director of marketing for various companies.
In 2020, the Scholastic Journalism Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication gave him the David Adams Educator of the Year Award. He has received the Gold Key from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the Pioneer Award from the National Scholastic Press Association, the Star of Texas from the Association of Texas Photography Instructors, the Trailblazer Award from the Texas Association of Journalism Educators and the Carl Towley Award from the Journalism Education Association. In 2014, the National Press Photographers Association named him the Robin F. Garland Educator of the Year and the College Media Association named him a Distinguished Adviser for newspaper advising at a four-year college or university. In 2017, he received the Edith Fox King Award for contributions to scholastic journalism in Texas.
Publications he advised at North Carolina State University for a decade, including a yearbook, a daily newspaper, a weekly newspaper, a literary magazine, a 25,000-watt radio station and video outlet, won numerous awards including six Gold Crown awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (four for yearbook and two for literary magazine) and nine Pacemaker from the Associated Collegiate Press (four for yearbook and five for literary magazine).
He worked for more than 20 years as an emergency medical technician — intermediate, the last 11 of them at Cary Area EMS where he was awarded that organization’s highest honor, Squadsperson of the Year, and life membership. He plays euphonium and other low-brass instruments and has been active in numerous community bands.
