About Us - Executive Staff
David Cohen - Publisher/Chief Executive Officer
Prior to becoming the CEO and the principal owner of Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, Mr. Cohen was the publisher of Metro Newspapers, a company he co-founded in 1985 as a management-controlled, privately held corporation. Soon after beginning Metro, the alternative weekly newspaper, the company began to publish several weekly community newspapers and eventually, also created services on the Internet.
By the time it began to make sense for the community newspapers to become independent from the alternative newspaper, Metro Newspapers was publishing six community newspapers: the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, the Saratoga News, the Sunnyvale Sun, the Cupertino Courier, the Willow Glen Resident and the Campbell Reporter.
Silicon Valley Community Newspapers (SVCN LLC) became and independent company on Dec. 17, 2001. In May 2003, the company started its seventh community newspaper, the Rose Garden Resident, and in October 2003, the Community Newspapers launched the Almaden Resident.
Mr. Cohen’s community involvement has included memberships on the Emeritus Board of Directors, San Jose Symphony Orchestra; Advisory Board of Directors, San Jose Jazz Society; current member, San Jose Rotary and former Board of Directors; President’s Council, San Jose State University and Steering Committee, Arts Council of Santa Clara County. He is a former chairman of San Jose Cinequest Film Festival.
His past affiliations have included Founding Board of Directors, San Jose Downtown Association; Board of Directors, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies; President, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, Western United States; Board of Directors, President’s Council, San Jose State University; and Steering Committee, Arts Council of Santa Clara County.
Mr. Cohen is the vice-chairman and a founding member of the Hakone Society and a member of the Hakone Foundation Board of Trustees, as well as a board member of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Board of Governors, Community Hospital of Los Gatos.
Prior to co-founding Metro Newspapers, Mr. Cohen was Associate Publisher of the Los Angeles Weekly (LA Weekly). He received his bachelor of arts degree in history from Windham College in Putney, Vermont.
Jeannette Close - Associate Publisher
Jeannette Close joined Metro Newspapers as a sales manager in 1996. In 1998, she was named manager for both Metro and the company’s weekly community newspapers. In 1999, she was named advertising director of Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, and in 2002, she was named Associate Publisher.
Prior to moving to Metro Newspapers, she worked for Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc., dba Pennysaver Shoppers, Inc., where she was Product Specialist/Market Manager. At the 1 million circulation weekly direct mail shopper, she developed and implemented sales training to improve skills of senior product specialists.
From 1993 to 1995, she was advertising director for San Diego Community Newspaper Group in San Diego, where she managed day-to-day operations, including accounting and pre-press functions, at the company’s two weekly community newspapers.
At Multi-Media Ventures in San Diego, where she worked from 1992 through 1994, Ms. Close was an independent agent, arranging printing from price negotiation through implementation and completion of product.
She has worked in the advertising/media industry since 1965.
Her résumé includes advertising manager for a department store, promotion director for a TV station and account executive for the national accounts department at the Cap Cities Pennysaver, a 7 million circulation direct mail shopper in Southern California.
Dale Bryant - Executive Editor
Dale Bryant joined the company in 1993 as editor of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times. In 1997, she also became editor of the Saratoga News. During her tenure with the Weekly-Times, the California Newspaper Publishers Association recognized the paper in a broad range of areas, including design, photography and editorial pages. In 1999, CNPA gave the Saratoga News its highest honor, naming it “A Newspaper of General Excellence” in its circulation category.
Ms. Bryant grew up in Saratoga and attended schools in Los Gatos and Saratoga. She has a degree in English from Humboldt State University, and a few years prior to becoming editor of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, she earned a master’s degree in English With a Creative Writing Emphasis from San Jose State University.
She worked as a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News and later became director of communications for United Way of Santa Clara County (now United Way Silicon Valley). At United Way, she directed a year-round public relations program, working with a volunteer committee of public relations professionals. She also was responsible for campaign publicity and publication of all United Way printed material. She additionally worked closely with United Way’s nonprofit agencies, helping staff and volunteers develop their own communications programs.
When her son entered middle school, she began working from home, editing corporate and employee newsletters, as well as a monthly subscription newspaper that provided marketing ideas for hotel food and beverage directors. She continued writing freelance articles for newspapers and magazines during that time.
She has served as a board member for several nonprofit organizations, including a community radio station, the Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County and the Almaden Valley Youth Counseling Services (now Almaden Valley Counseling Services). She is on the board of KCAT, the public access TV station in Los Gatos.
Ms. Bryant was named managing editor of Metro’s community newspapers in 1996 and continued to work as a hands-on editor until January 2001, when she was named executive editor of Silicon Valley Community Newspapers.
She and her husband, Ken, live in Almaden Valley.
