The Daily Free Press is governed by Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc., a Massachusetts 501(c) nonprofit organization. BBPC’s Board of Directors is made up of four alumni of the Daily Free Press and five current students.
The board may be reached at board@dailyfreepress.com.
Board of Directors
Chair of the Board: Kyle Plantz
Kyle Plantz is senior program manager for the J+ professional development team at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. He runs their training programs for working journalists related to executive leadership, entrepreneurship, video business, and product development & management.
Kyle has been a fact-checker for 5 years, covering topics from politics to culture to science. His specialties include earth science, climate & environment, physics, astronomy, & behavioral sciences. He recently copy-edited, fact-checked, and researched for the new highly acclaimed book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. He also advises and consults with organizations like the International Center for Journalists for journalists and newsrooms on fact-checking, career journeys, and product thinking.
Kyle has a B.S. in Journalism from the College of Communication at Boston University with minors in History and Political Science.
You can read more about Kyle here.
Legal Chair: Robert Adelson
As an employment attorney, Adelson concentrates on getting important results for business leaders. Adelson represents and advises C-Level executives: CEOs, COOs, CMOs, CTOs, CFOs, presidents, vice presidents and other senior executives, primarily on matters related to their interests as employees and stakeholders in the companies they work to build and develop.
Adelson represents clients not only in Massachusetts, but around the United States. See, for example, some of his representative cases where he has successfully represented executive clients working for companies in New York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois and other states.
You can read more about Rob here.
Board Member: Samantha Gross
Samantha Gross is a politics reporter for The Boston Globe, covering state government and politics. Before joining the Globe in 2022, she was a government reporter at the Miami Herald. She was part of a team at the Herald that won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News in 2022 for coverage of the Surfside condo collapse in June of 2021. Her reporting on the Florida Legislature helped change state laws and triggered multiple investigations into misspending at a major domestic violence nonprofit. She was also named a Toner Prize finalist in local political reporting for her investigation into a “sham” Florida Senate candidate.
Samantha was born and raised in Northwest Indiana and graduated from Boston University with a degree in journalism. She served as the FreeP editor-in-chief during Spring 2016 and board chair for the 2017-18 school year.
Check out Samantha’s page at the Globe here.
Board Member: Josh Cain
Josh Cain’s interest in writing and reporting the news started as a kid growing up in Orange County, California. He attended journalism school at Boston University. Since 2016, he’s worked at what would become the Southern California News Group, first as a digital editor for SCNG’s San Gabriel Valley newspapers, then as a crime, cops and courts reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News.
He’s affiliated with the Asian American Journalists Association, Los Angeles chapter, for which he was elected a board member in 2019.
You can read more about Josh here.
Student Seats:
Andrew Burke-Stevenson: Editor-in-Chief
Ava Berger: President of the Management Committee
Ava Berger is a junior at Boston University studying journalism and Spanish. She is currently the President of the Management Committee for Back Bay Publishing Company where she facilitates all things FreeP. Previously, she was the Alumni Chair for BBPC and before that, she was the Fall 2023 co-features editor. She likes covering public education, courts, and of course, animals. Right now, Ava is the Express Desk co-op at the Boston Globe.
Check out Ava’s page at the Globe here.
Emily Stevenson: Vice President of the Management Committee
Brian Foisy: Secretary
Casey Choung: Treasurer