When she was a child watching television with her father, Jane Mitchell saw a reporter do a story standing in front of the Egyptian Pyramids. At that moment, she says, she decided that’s what she was going to do for a career.

Born and raised in San Diego, Mitchell now is a producer and reporter for Cox Communications Channel 4 San Diego. She graduated from the University of California at San Diego in 1985 with a political science degree. She earned her master’s degree at Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and began her professional television career in Wichita Falls, Texas.

After two years, she took a job in Tulsa, and three years later quit and moved back to San Diego. Her father was ill with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. While helping care for her father, Mitchell worked as a reporter and producer at KNSD-TV.

In 1996, Dennis Morgigno offered her a four-month contract with Cox Communications, for the “Cox Convention Connexion.” That project earned her a CableACE award nomination in 1997. It also led to “One on One,” a program that profiles San Diego sports personalities, for which Mitchell is anchor and producer. “I was hired to create Channel 4 non-game programming,” she says, adding that she finds working in her hometown especially satisfying. “I love the process of discovery,” she says, “whether in a single interview or in helping to create a whole channel.”

In addition to her commitment to quality journalism, Mitchell is committed to community service as a board member of the newly formed Greater San Diego Chapter of the ALS Association. She has been active with United Cerebral Palsy Celebrity Waiters; Children’s Hospital Celebration of Champions; and on the board of NATAS, an Emmy organization that focuses on professional development and student mentoring.

Among Mitchell’s professional awards are seven Emmys and three Golden Mike awards.

— Carmen Matthews