Jess started his career in television as a part-time overnight editor, running audio, and running cameras for the morning show at the now-defunct Ohio News Network in Columbus, Ohio.

After a brief jaunt down the on-air route, Jess found he enjoyed the behind-the-camera work more than being on-air and took his career down the producing route. He enjoyed producing and Executive Producing at KESQ and KPSP in Palm Springs, California, then over to KOAT as senior producer, before heading to the Hearst-owned WESH in Orlando as a nightside producer.

In 2012, an opportunity arose to go the CNN mothership in Atlanta as a producer and Jess took it. While there, he produced for Don Lemon, Brooke Baldwin, Ashley Banfield, Fredericka Whitfield, Victor Blackwell, and Christi Paul. He had a great experience launching the Smerconish show before taking over the “Wolf” newscast producing for Wolf Blitzer.

In 2015 it was time to head back to warmer weather and to WESH where Jess served as Managing Editor and then Assistant News Director. The move back to local news could not have been more enriching where Jess won two Emmy awards and was able to travel to Rio and Pyeongchang to cover the Olympics for Hearst Television.

If anything good was to come out of 2020, it was the opportunity for Jess to return to KOAT as News Director. The journalists at KOAT could not be more devoted, the staff could not be more involved, and the people of New Mexico could not be more welcoming. For the record, Jess is team green.