Newsmakers

Promotions and new staff additions at Texas newspapers.

Kaley Branch, Mark Goodson, Wade Wilson
The Gatesville Messenger

The Gatesville Messenger recently announced changes to the news and editorial team. 
Following the retirement of longtime news editor and assistant publisher Larry Kennedy, Kaley Branch was named editor. 
Born and raised in Arlington, Branch relocated to Gatesville with her husband, Taylor, a Gatesville native, in 2015. Branch joined The Messenger staff in February 2017 as a news reporter and assistant to Kennedy. Previously, she worked as an analyst for XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil in Fort Worth, and was a corporate recruiter in Dallas. Branch studied journalism with an emphasis in broadcasting in Arlington, where she was also involved with theater. 
Mark Goodson recently joined the staff as sports editor. Goodson was born and raised in Fort Worth and graduated from Mansfield High School, where he played basketball and football. After attending Tyler Junior College, Goodson majored in journalism at the University of Texas in Austin. 
He previously worked as a sports editor in Sherman, with stints at the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He came to Central Texas in 2004. Most recently, he was sports editor in Marble Falls. 
The newest addition is reporter Wade Wilson, who recently moved to Hamilton from Santa Fe, NM, where he was president and owner of the Wade Wilson, LLC galleries in Santa Fe and Houston. 
Wilson was raised in Fort Worth where he attended Paschal High School. He studied prelaw for two years at Baylor University before transferring to the University of New Mexico where he majored in architecture and minored in art history. Wilson later earned his master’s degree in English from Texas Christian University. 
Following an internship with Artspace Magazine, Wilson has worked as an interim art critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and a visiting professor of honors humanities at Houston Baptist University. Wilson also taught at TCU for 11 years, spanning a variety of subjects such as writing, composition, art history and literature.

Mike Forman, Rey Castillo
Victoria Advocate

Award-winning journalist Mike Forman is the Victoria Advocate’s new sports editor. 
Forman brings 35 years of experience at the Advocate to the job. Earlier this year, he was honored with the Fred Hartman Award for Excellence in Sports Writing from the Texas Press Association. 
Forman graduated from Hillcrest High School in Dallas and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and a master’s degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. He worked briefly in radio before starting at the Advocate in1982. 
He also has written for Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine and Friday Nite Football magazine. 
During most of his 35 years at the Advocate, Forman has covered professional, college and high school sports while writing a weekly column. Recently, he has covered high school football, basketball, track and field, baseball and swimming, and the UHV baseball team. 
Also moving into a new role is sports writer Rey Castillo, who is being promoted to assistant sports editor.
Castillo has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Texas A&M-Kingsville, where he covered Division II football, basketball, baseball and volleyball. He also was sports editor and editor of the university’s award-winning newspaper. 
Before coming to the Advocate in 2016, Castillo also did free lance work for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, worked as a sports reporter for the Alice 247 print and online editions and served as sports editor for Houston Community Newspapers. 

BARNEY KANE, ERIKA VELA
Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post

Two new employees were recently welcomed to the staff at the Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post. 
Barney Kane was welcomed in June to the production department and Erika Vela was welcomed to the newsroom in October. 
Kane is from New Braunfels where he attended New Braunfels High School. He later attended San Antonio College where he majored in Graphic Design, and also attended Texas State University. 
Vela joins the newsroom staff after working at the Pleasanton Express. A native of Freer, Vela graduated from the University of the Incarnate Word in 2009 with a degree in communication arts and journalism and a minor in Spanish. During her time at the Express, she worked as a social media manager and a special assignments reporter, covering city government and school board for Pleasanton and Poteet. 
She will cover the Fredericksburg City Council and related issues, as well as the Fredericksburg Independent School District.