Scott T. Whitley has joined the San Diego Business Journal as Associate Publisher, coming from the San Diego Union Tribune, where he was Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer. He grew up in Odessa in West Texas, studied advertising at Texas Tech, and went on to work for a trio of Harte Hanks publications, the Sacramento Bee and Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.

            Our former president Gayle Lynn Falkenthal will be presenting “The Changing Landscape of Crisis Communications in a Social Media World” at an IABC luncheon February 24 at UCSD Extension Center. Sign up at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DJNLZ8H; $40 for non-members.

            Ruston Grau has returned from New Jersey. The producer has joined “San Diego 6 in the Morning” on XETV, the CW. He worked at KNSD Channel 7 in 2006 and 2007, and then ventured east to work for New Jersey News 12 in the New York metro area. I bet he’s enjoying not having to scrape the snow off his car.

            John Gibbins started taking pictures for the San Diego Union Tribune on the day Brenda Spencer shot up a school. He wasn’t assigned to the horrible scene, but he had delivered newspapers to the Spencer house when he was younger.  January 29 was his 31^st anniversary with paper, which he says he loves. He’s impressed with the new management. He spent his anniversary photographing the ExxonMobil Dream Tour, featuring Dr. Bernard Harris, the first African American astronaut to walk in space, who was in town firing up 650 middle school students about their futures.

            Here’s a clever name for a fundraiser – QUASH. It stands for Quest to Unravel Alzheimer’s Scavenger Hunt. And leading it February 27 at Embarcadero Park South will be none other than Meghan Rickey and Cheyne Whitney, the local lovebirds who won the 2009 Amazing Race on television. Meghan is an account executive for local public affairs firm Southwest Strategies. Preliminary fundraisers will be held tonight (2/11) at Joe’s Crab Shack and Feb. 18 at Jake’s on 6^th. QUASH will be “one part scavenger hunt, one part obstacle course, and more fun than you’ll have all year.” For details, go to malea.santos@sanalz.org or call 858/492-4400.

            One of our members helped save a man’s life Tuesday. How cool is that?! J. (John) Kingston Cowart spotted a man walking on the freeway in the #4 lane on I-94 approaching I-15 when he was heading downtown for a meeting. John immediately got on his cell phone and called 911. Little did he know that the man was on his way to jump off an overpass. Paramedics were able to reach him before it was too late. Those who eventually talked the man into not jumping told John that, without his call, they wouldn’t have reached him in time. By the way, John is a counselor, consultant and publisher, and also president-elect of SDSU’s Business Alumni Network. He can be reached at jkcowart@self-change.com.

            The Press Club has photos from October’s Excellence in Journalism Awards dinner on www.sdpressclub.org. The link can be found on the Awards page. See if you spot yourself.

Send your news, gossip, updates, hearsay, and tidbits to me at jan@mclanerieger.com.