Joni James is a native of North Carolina and a 1989 graduate of Wake Forest University. She worked for newspapers in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Indianapolis; Rochester, N.Y.; and Eugene, Ore., before moving to Florida in 1996. She joined the Tampa Bay Times in 2003, after working as a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, the Miami Herald and the Wall Street Journal. Before joining the editorial board in 2008, she worked as a political reporter, deputy Tallahassee Bureau chief, an assistant city editor and state editor. She and her husband, Mark Howerton, live in St. Petersburg with their daughter.

Phone: (727) 893-8739

E-mail: jjames@tampabay.com