Fireside Meeting - June 2026

The Hillside Club Fireside meetings are held on the first Monday of most months (January, February, March, April, June, October, and November).

They are open to the public and admission is free to members, with a suggested donation for non-members. No one is turned away for lack of funds. The meetings begin with social time for members, a brief Club business meeting, followed by a featured speaker.

Monday, June 1st will feature:

6:30pm Member Social Time

7:00pm Club Business Meeting

7:30pm A public discussion with Michael D. Bolden, Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, and Sally Lehrman.

The Berkeley Hillside Club is pleased to host a special Fireside meeting on Monday, June 1st: Three top journalists in the Bay Area will discuss the state of media today and what each is doing to address issues such as trust and accountability in news reporting.

Michael D. Bolden is Dean of the UC Berkeley Journalism school. Formerly CEO and Executive Director of the American Press Institute, Bolden’s career includes posts at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and the John S. Knight Fellowship program at Stanford University. He has worked as a local reporter and national editor, a teacher and nonprofit leader.

Emilio Garcia-Ruiz is Editor in Chief of the San Francisco Chronicle. He joined the Chronicle in September 2020 after nearly 20 years at the Washington Post. His final role there was as Managing Editor for Digital, where he oversaw the paper’s strategy and supervised more than 350 journalists. His career also includes stops at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times.

Sally Lehrman is an award-winning journalist and founder and CEO of the Trust Project, a Bay Area-based nonprofit that for 12 years has worked to build public confidence in reporting across the globe by strengthening news organizations’ accountability, integrity and transparency. She is the co-author of “Reporting Inequality: Tools and Methods for Covering Race and Ethnicity” and author of “News in a New America.”

Members come early for social time at 6:30 p.m. and the Club business meeting at 7 p.m., followed by the Fireside presentation at 7:30 p.m. for what promises to be an engaging and insightful event.

After the presentation, refreshments and wine will be served.

Fireside Meetings are for civic engagement, a good way to see the club and get to know the members. Club members, our neighbors, and the general public are encouraged to attend.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Berkeley Hillside Club