Who’s Behind the Rochester Beacon?

We are a group of veteran journalists and others with deep ties to the Rochester, N.Y., community. Collectively, we have more than a century’s worth of experience providing local news coverage and analysis.

Four of the Rochester Beacon founders appeared Oct. 22, 2018, on WXXI’s “Connections” with Evan Dawson. Click here to listen to the program.

Meet the Rochester Beacon founders:

Publisher Alex Zapesochny is an experienced technology entrepreneur and attorney who co-founded iCardiac Technologies in 2006. As president and CEO, he led its rapid growth, guiding the firm to its acquisition by ERT in late 2017. Before that, he was general counsel and director of business development for Lenel Systems. As an attorney, he has provided legal and business counsel to early-stage companies and he was a trial attorney during his tenure as a New York City prosecutor. He also co-founded an award-winning non-profit that expands the national registry of potential bone marrow and blood stem cell donors.

Executive Editor Paul Ericson is an award-winning journalist with nearly four decades of editing and writing experience. He spent 30 years as editor of the Rochester Business Journal, where he also was vice president and part-owner. In October 2016, the business was sold at a substantial profit to GateHouse Media. Currently, he is a partner and member of the leadership group at Dumbwaiter Design LLC, a website and app development firm.

Managing Editor Smriti Jacob is president of Bold Letter Marketing, which develops and executes marketing and communications strategies for clients ranging from local nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies. She extends her expertise to WestEd, a nonpartisan research, development, and service agency, works with education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults. Previously, she was senior manager of marketing and communications for iCardiac Technologies, an Clario company. A seasoned journalist, Jacob grew up in India, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry and biochemistry at University of Pune. A research chemist for a pharmaceutical company, Jacob turned to her love for writing and switched careers to become a business journalist. She was an award-winning reporter and editor at the Rochester Business Journal for nearly 16 years. Jacob teaches journalism at the University of Rochester and St. John Fisher University.

Opinion Editor Kent Gardner joined the Center for Governmental Research in 1991 as chief economist and served as its president from 2002 to 2015. His public policy expertise ranges from public finance and public administration to health care and education reform. The media frequently seek his comments on matters of local and national significance, and from 2004 to 2017 he wrote the monthly Policy Wonk column for the Rochester Business Journal. In addition, he serves as adjunct professor of health care policy at Rochester Institute of Technology. He holds B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Senior Editor Sally Parker is an independent writer and editor who explores the past to better understand the present. Her writing has appeared in the Rochester Business Journal and alumni magazines at Duke, Cornell, Oberlin and other colleges and universities. As special projects editor at RBJ for 14 years, she led production of a dozen annual publications, including the official visitors guide, Explore Greater Rochester. Parker has won awards from the National Newspaper Association and the New York Press Association and was included in New York Archives magazine’s Best of 2001-2011 volume.

Senior Editor E.C. Salibian is a nonfiction writer whose work has appeared in The Sun, the Los Angeles Review of Books and numerous business publications. A former reporter and associate editor at the Rochester Business Journal, Salibian has worked as a freelance writer for the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, Xerox Corp. and Eastman Kodak Co. She currently writes business case studies, articles and brochures for companies including Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics and Dassault Systèmes. Salibian has won awards from The Alliance of Area Business Publishers, the New York Press Association, the Society for Technical Communication and the American Advertising Awards.

Senior Writer Will Astor is an award-winning journalist who has worked primarily in print but also in broadcast media. He concluded a 25-year career with the Rochester Business Journal in February 2017. For five years before starting at RBJ in 1992, he wrote for City Newspaper in Rochester. His broadcast experience includes five years as a reporter and on-air anchor for radio stations including WXXI Public Broadcasting in Rochester. He also worked for one year as assignment editor at WROC, Channel 8 News in Rochester.