East Bay Express editor Steven Buel today identified his seven partners who helped him purchase the weekly newspaper from the Village Voice Media chain. When he bought the paper May 17, he refused to identify some of the investors, which resulted in criticism from readers (see comments) and the editor of the rival Berkeley Daily Planet, Becky O’Malley. Three of the investors are from Kansas City and one from Monterey. The investors, besides Buel, are:

• Gary Jenkins of Kansas City, a founding partner of Punch Software;

• Paul Ung, an Oakland resident currently serving as a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Liberia;

• Hal Brody, founded a Kansas City alt-weekly known as The Pitch, now involved in other businesses including real estate;

• Kelly Vance, an original investor in the East Bay Express in 1978, currently arts and entertainment calendar editor;

• Rick Watkins, president of Watkins & Company, a real estate development and brokerage firm based in Kansas City;

• Jay Youngdahl, managing partner of The Youngdahl Law Firm, specializing in labor law representing workers;

• Bradley Zeve, founded Coast Weekly, now the Monterey County Weekly, in 1988.

Buel has more detailed bios about his partners on his blog. The names of Brody, Zeve and Vance were disclosed by the Express previously. Jenkins, Ung, Watkins and Youngdahl are new.