Email: sshane@kovr.com
Twitter: @samshane

Sam Shane graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in journalism. He’s spent more than 20 years traveling across the country working for TV stations and covering major news events. He started in Duluth, Minn., and later in his career he worked at KCRA-TV in Sacramento, KGO-TV in San Francisco, at the Fox affiliate in Seattle and as an anchor at MSNBC.

Sam has covered major stories like the L.A. riots, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the capture of the Unabomber. He’s interviewed a variety of political figures and leaders including a president and a number of U.S. senators. In addition to reporting international, national and local news stories throughout his career, he also written and produced an award-winning investigative series on the failures of government officials during the 1997 floods in Northern California.

Sam has also written a children’s book called “Rocky The Mudhen.”

Sam is married and is the father of two kids – a boy and a girl. In his spare time, Sam enjoys golfing, skiing, reading, writing and cooking.

Tony Ventrella is an iconic sports media name in the Seattle area.

His signature keynote called “Smile in the Mirror,” is based on his book of the same title. His practical ideas for living a better life along with a mix of humorous and memorable stories will delight your audience.

Tony’s media career spans 40 years from his days as a sports reporter at the Wilton Bulletin in Connecticut to radio sportscaster and later television anchor in Fort Wayne, Indiana and finally Seattle.

Tony Ventrella was sports director at KING-5 and Kiro-7 television for 22 years.

During his career he has covered two Olympic games, several World Series, Super Bowls, International Figure Skating events, Final Four basketball and three Rose Bowls. His favorite people in sports include Frosty Westering, Lou Pinella, Marv Harshman, Steve Largent, Jim Zorn, Bobby Engram and wrestler George” The Animal” Steele.

After high school and a stint in the U.S. Army,Tony worked for his dad at Ventrella’s Barber Shop in Norwalk, Connecticut before opening his own business at the age of 24.

At one time Tony ran his shop, did play-by-play of high school football and wrote the entire sports section of his home town newspaper while acting in community theatre and playing softball in two leagues.

Tony also has a background in theatre directing and acting in dozens of productions back east and here in the Pacific Northwest. He is currently a board member of the Evergreen Family Theatre in Redmond and played “Scrooge” in a 2009 production of “A Christmas Carol.”