– Floridian F
// Moderator: Aminda Marqués Gonzalez, Executive Editor & SVP, News, Miami Herald
// Panelists: Avido Khahaifa, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Orlando Sentinel; Joe DeLuca, VP & Publisher, Tampa Bay Times (Tampa edition); Kevlon Kirpatrick, Master Police Officer, Orlando Police Department
Speakers
Joe DeLuca
Joe DeLuca joined the Times in 2001. He is a vice president of the Times Publishing Company and is publisher of both the Tampa edition of the Times and tampabay.com. He has overall responsibility for leading strategic growth initiatives in Hillsborough and central and east Pasco counties, and he also serves as publisher of tbt*, the Times’s weekly young reader publication.
In addition to those responsibilities, Joe’s current leadership portfolio also includes Consumer Marketing, Operations and Distribution.
Joe has broad newspaper experience beginning his career as a sports writer and general assignment reporter for Imprint Newspapers, where he later held the positions of Copy Editor, Circulation Manager and Operations Manager. He spent five years as General Manager of Imprint Printing for Capital Cities/ABC in North Haven, Conn., responsible for production and distribution of 70 weekly newspapers and 50 monthly publications as well as catalogs and periodicals. Joe then spent several years as Production Director of the Hartford (Conn.) Courant, where he also managed the newspaper’s commercial printing division.
In the Tampa Bay community, Joe is currently a member of the regional board of directors for the Junior Achievement of Tampa Bay, where he is board secretary, and he is a classroom instructor for the JA public high school Success Skills and Financial Literacy programs.
He is a member of the Tampa Downtown Partnership’s board of directors, and the steering committee for the Clutch Hitters of Tampa Bay and the board of directors for the Tampa Bay Times Fund. He is also a member of the Florida Press Association board of directors and a past board chair.
Avido Khahaifa
Avido Khahaifa became Publisher and Editor-in chief of the Orlando Sentinel in March 2016. He joined the Orlando Sentinel in 2005 as Senior Vice President and General Manager before becoming Editor in 2013.
Prior to joining the Orlando Sentinel, Khahaifa was with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel for 20 years and held various positions including vice president/managing director, president of Forum Publishing Group, director of Cross-Media Operations, and various management positions in the Editorial and Advertising departments.
He began his career as a news clerk for the Tallahassee Democrat in 1982 and had a brief stint as a replacement reporter at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Khahaifa is active in the community and is currently on the board of directors for the Heart of Florida United Way and Florida Press Association. Previously he was a member of the Newspaper Association of America’s talent management and diversity committee and involved in several boards and organizations while in South Florida. He is also the 2006 recipient of the Thelma Thurston Gorham Distinguished Alumnus Award from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.
Born in New York City, Avido is a 1984 graduate of Florida A&M University.
Kevlon Kirkpatrick
Kevlon H. Kirkpatrick is a Community Liaison for District #3, and is currently assigned to the Downtown Community Policing Division of the Orlando Police Department, in Orlando, Florida. He has over twenty one years of experience working as a Law Enforcement Officer and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the College of Staten Island.
He is certified by the Office of the Attorney General as a Florida Crime Prevention Practitioner, a Florida Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Practitioner (CPTED), a School Resource Officer (SRO) and Convenience Business Inspector. The Valencia College Criminal Justice Institute has also certified him as a Physical Fitness Trainer, a General Instructor and a Defensive Tactics Instructor. He is certified by the National Self Defense Institute (NSDI) in Self Defense Awareness & Familiarization Exchange Instructor (S.A.F.E.).
Kevlon has completed such courses as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), Advanced Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, Basic Crime Prevention, Residential Security Applications, Commercial Security Applications, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design for Hospitals and Carver Vulnerability Assessment and Autism Awareness Training for Law Enforcement Officers.
Kevlon is the 2010 American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) Crime Prevention Officer of the Year Award winner and is an active board member of Florida Design Out Crime Association (F.L.D.O.C.A.).
Kevlon has conducted several hundred residential security surveys, as well as CPTED surveys for commercial institutions.
He is the President of the Orlando Police Department Benevolent Association (OPBA).
In addition, Kevlon instructed for the Florida Crime Prevention Training Institute (FCPTI) and taught at the Florida Crime Prevention Practitioner Update class (Feb. 2015). He was a speaker at the 17th International Crime Free Conference (July 2015). He was a speaker at the 2014 Church Network Conference (formally called National Association of Church Business Administration) and the 2014 Southern States Crime Prevention Conference. Kevlon also teaches at the Florida Department of Health annual training sessions and at the 2013 and 2017 Preventing Crime in the Black Community Conference. He presented at the Louisiana Hospital Association Trust Fund Workplace Violence Symposium (Aug. 2017). Kevlon consistently provides the faculty and staff of the Adventist University of Health Sciences with Workplace Violence presentations.
Aminda Marqués Gonzalez
Aminda Marqués Gonzalez is the executive editor and senior vice president for news at the Miami Herald. She was named editor in 2010, the first Hispanic and only the second woman to hold the post. A veteran of the Miami Herald newsroom, she began her career there as an intern after graduation from the University of Florida. She also worked as the Miami Bureau Chief for People Magazine. Her staff shared the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. A graduate of the University of Florida, she was recognized as an Alumni of Distinction. She also serves on the board of the Pulitzer Prizes.
Event Timeslots (1)
– Track 3 –
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Floridian F
Panel: Avido Khahaifa, Orlando Sentinel;
Joe DeLuca, Tampa Bay Times;
Kevlon Kirkpatrick, Orlando Police Department
Moderator: Mindy Marquez, Miami Herald
