About the Inner Circle

BOARD CHAIR

James Ford is a reporter for PIX11 News, and was president of the Inner Circle in the 2023 - 2024 season. 

James has been at WPIX since 2007, where he covers a wide array of stories, including city and state politics, education, weather, and crime, to name a few. 

He's a multi-Emmy Award winner, as well as the recipient of New York State

Broadcasting Association Excellence in Broadcasting awards.

Prior to his tenure at PIX11, James was a reporter at Fox5 New York, WRTV in Indianapolis, WFTV in Orlando, and WTOC in Savannah, Georgia.

He and his family live in Manhattan.

PRESIDENT

Samantha Liebman is the transit reporter at Spectrum News NY1. A native New Yorker, she grew up in both Peter Cooper and Stuy Town (back when there was a long waitlist to get into the rent-stabilized complexes). She holds a B.A. in Afro and African American Studies from Brandeis University and an M.A. in Broadcast Journalism from University of Miami.

Samantha's career began as a copy editor and nightlife writer at Gotham magazine. She also copy edited and wrote for several other publications, including Seventeen, Teen Vogue, The Miami Herald, and Cargo. Her current role at NY1 marks her second stint with the network, where she previously worked as an anchor and reporter over a decade ago.

As a performer in the Inner Circle, Samantha has most notably portrayed Governor Hochul -- as Governor Rambo -- and former deputy mayor Meera Joshi.

VICE PRESIDENT

Eileen is a native New Yorker and was born and raised in Brooklyn. She is a four-time winner of the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award and has numerous Emmy nominations for her decades of TV and Radio reporting in New York City.

She can currently be seen weeknights on the PIX 11 News at 10PM.  Her news background includes WABC-TV,  News 12 Long Island, 1010 WINS radio, the NPR-affiliate WFUV-FM, and WOR and WABC radio.

Eileen was inducted into the exclusive Inner Circle of City Hall Journalists in 2005. She is thrilled to be a board member and take on the challenge of being the 2026 President.  

TREASURER

Jeff Coltin has been a member of the Inner Circle since 2018 and joined the board in 2023. He’s a New York City reporter for Politico, and started covering City Hall in 2015 with City & State NY. Jeff got his start in musical theater playing the Angel Gabriel in 8th grade, but back then, somebody else sang for him.

SECRETARY

Kirstin Cole has proudly been a part of the Inner Circle for nearly two decades.  She’s been telling stories about City Hall politics for 25 years and loves the characters and stories it inspires. Her passion for performance started as a high school theater geek.

Feeling blessed to have a stage to keep embarrassing myself! 

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Beth joined Inner Circle in 2001 when she was a correspondent at Court TV. She was president of the organization in 2014. Today she is a crime and justice reporter, analyst, and consultant. She hosts “Curious Case of…” streaming on HBO Max. In her former life, Beth was an Assistant District Attorney in New York City.

MEMBER-AT-LARGE

Polly Kreisman is astounded that this will be her 27th Inner Circle show.  At WWOR-TV and WPIX-TV in New York, she was honored with several awards for her investigative reporting, including 15 Emmys, after a decade covering Congress and the White House in her home town of Washington, DC.  She is now working as an actress for series on Netflix and HBO, and publishing a local news site, the Larchmont Loop, among other projects.  

Inner Circle highlights include playing Stormy Daniels, Aaron Burr Cuomo (and surviving a pie-in-the-face duel with Alexander Hamilton de Blasio) and Laura Bush, singing with her own then-babies as the Bush twins. 

MEMBER-AT-LARGE

Michael Scholl has been a member of the Inner Circle since 2006 and currently serves as the editor of the annual Inner Circle Show program.

Michael covered City Hall for the Staten Island Advance from 2003 to 2006 and, more recently, he learned from Hamilton never to accept a challenge to duel.

MEMBER-AT-LARGE

Edward R. Murrow and Emmy® Award-winning journalist Andrew Siff reports on transportation, governmental affairs, politics and general assignment issues for NBC 4 New York.

Andrew has been a member of The Inner Circle since 2003. He is co-chair of the Writing Committee. His memorable roles include Mike Bloomberg, Andy Byford and Janno Lieber. 

MEMBER-AT-LARGE

Richard Steier has been a member of the Inner Circle since 1992 and served as president in 2004 as well as numerous board positions. He was a City Hall reporter and columnist for 40 years with The Chief and the New York Post and spent two years as a field producer for WCBS-TV.

He has played more scoundrels and jailbirds than anyone else in the Inner Circle, among them Dick Cheney, Andrew Cuomo (3 times), Bernie Kerik, Guy Velella, Shelly Silver, and Ken Lay.

MEMBER-AT-LARGE

A speech theater major in college whose  acting aspirations were derailed by the prospect of waitressing for the rest of her life, Alice Stockton-Rossini went back to school, emerged a journalist and worked in the New York City radio market for 4 decades. A street reporter for her last 20 years,  City Hall was among her many assignments for 1010 Wins News and 710 WOR. 

An Inner Circle fan for all of her career, she was accepted into the organizations hallowed ranks in 2014.  As President in 2023 she organized members to sing for sick children at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and to collect and deliver toys for homeless children at Christmas. She firmly believes there has never been a greater need for Inner Circle shows and the organizations exemplary writing committee to bring truth through comedy to the tables of the city’s most powerful business people and politicians. She also believes it is important for our members get involved with the community and share their experiences through talks and workshops at local schools and colleges.