Last spring, an email was sent to members calling for nominations of candidates for the 2015 board of governors’ election. Thanks to you and the nominating committee, we have a slate of 17 active members running for board seats, out of which 12 will be selected. In addition, four candidates are running for two open associate board seats. Each and every one of them are exceptional in backgrounds, experiences and accomplishments, making this one of the most competitive elections in recent memory. The strength and diversity of this slate is, in no small part, a reflection of the revised system in which OPC elects its board of governors. We
hope members will find this process to be effective and transparent.
Now comes the hard part. On Tuesday, July 21 you will receive an email with a link to an online ballot. You will have until noon on Monday, Aug. 24 to cast your vote to fill the open board seats. Members who prefer a paper ballot can contact the OPC office and we will mail one to you. It is vital that each and every active and associate OPC member vote in this election. The OPC is only as strong as the board of governors who guide it, and our responsibility as members is to elect governors who reflect the great diversity of experience of the OPC membership.
Additionally, we have created a Members Advisory Council whose main charge will be to advance ideas and programs that further solidify the OPC’s position as an important resource for journalists. Areas of focus include press safety and freedom, membership, events, awards and others. Details and election results will be announced and discussed at the upcoming annual meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 25 at 6:00 p.m. at Club Quarters, 40 West 45th St. The meeting is open to all members.
As you can see, there is great momentum building within the OPC. The organization and its members have displayed new energy and creativity in programs and events, all in service to journalists here and around the world. These activities have given the OPC a reinvigorated presence in a field that strives to capture events as they unfold, and give them meaning and perspective.
I plan to vote and I hope you will too.
– Brian Byrd
Chairman,
Elections Procedure Committee
ELECTION SLATE
ACTIVE NOMINEES (Electing 12)
HANNAH ALLAM
I’m the foreign affairs
correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers, covering the State Department and
foreign policy as part of the national security team. I spent nine years
reporting from across the Middle East and North Africa, first as Baghdad bureau
chief during the war, and then as bureau chief in Cairo during the wave of
rebellions known as the Arab Spring. I still travel overseas for my current
beat, sometimes with Secretary of State John Kerry on official trips and other
times unilaterally on assignment in conflict zones.
If I get to serve on the Overseas Press Club board, I
would use the position to amplify two issues that are dear to me. The first is
journalist safety, especially for freelancers working in dangerous areas. The
second is what I consider the “democratization” of the sometimes rarefied world
of foreign news – I’d love to see the work of far-flung journalists reach more
Americans, particularly young people and communities of color.
DEBORAH AMOS
I have been an
international correspondent for three decades, covering the Middle East. My
beat has mainly been chaos. I cover wars; invasions and the resulting
humanitarian fall out. My career includes stints at NPR, PBS, and ABC-TV.
Awards include the George Polk and DuPont-Columbia, but I am most proud of recent
teaching fellowships, mentoring journalism students at SUNY, Columbia and
Princeton.
If elected to this
prestigious board, I want to focus on best safety practices for freelance
reporters, fixers, translators and drivers. I have worked mostly in the field
and I know, first hand, the dangers of crisis reporting. There is more OPC can
do to mentor the growing tribe of freelance reporters. I am interested in
expanding OPC’s profile on social media to reach the next generation of
international correspondents.
MOLLY BINGHAM
My work has been
featured in The New York Times, the Washington Post, and others.
“Ordinary Warriors”, published in Vanity Fair, won honorable mention for
the OPC’s Madeline Dane Ross Award. As co-director of the documentary film Meeting
Resistance, I won the “Golden Award” at the 2007 Al Jazeera International
Documentary Film Festival and the “Best Documentary Courage in Filmmaking”
Award by the Women Film Critics Circle. I’m a former Nieman and Sulzberger
fellow, and was named one of “20 Women to Watch” by the Columbia Journalism
Review in 2012.
As the founder and CEO
of Orb, a digital journalism nonprofit, I’ve been re-engineering the editorial
process by fusing massive data analysis, the public’s knowledge and
journalists. Each story is delivered in multiple formats and languages,
enabling a diverse audience to unite around the issues that touch us all.
I would like to work
with the OPC to encourage the exploration of solutions for journalism in these
rapidly changing times. I’m excited about OPC’s ability to spotlight and reward
journalistic work that is innovative, impactful, and engaging. I’d very much
enjoy being a part of these endeavors at OPC.
ANUPREETA DAS
I write about Warren
Buffett and his company Berkshire Hathaway for The Wall Street Journal.
I also track the global flow of wealth by writing profiles of billionaires and
where they are putting their money to work. I have previously reported for
Reuters and several U.S. and Indian publications. I won an OPC scholarship in
2006.
The need for
cross-cultural understanding in communications has never been greater than at
this moment, when our world is so interconnected that an event in any one
country can have global ramifications, whether it’s the recent Ebola outbreak
or low interest rates in the U.S. Readers, too, are increasingly global. As a
cultural transplant myself, if elected to the board, I would work to enhance
the abilities of all journalists to be culturally aware, thoughtful and
sensitive to multiple contexts in their reporting.
ROBERT DOWLING
I am running for the
OPC board after some years of absence as a board member and officer. I serve on
the OPC Foundation board.
I’d like the OPC to
develop a broader international reach by streaming events and expanding
overseas contributions to its website and expanding its Freedom of the Press
Committee, where I previously served.
I retired as
international managing editor from BusinessWeek (now Bloomberg
Businessweek) in 2007 after 28 years as Washington correspondent, European
editor and Asian edition editor. I developed a program in Global Business
Journalism at Tsinghua University, Beijing from 2007 to 2009 edited the English
edition of Caixin the Chinese weekly magazine. I currently write columns
for Caixin, Gateway House, various regional U.S. newspapers and coach
writers at St. John’s College, Santa Fe N.M. I would hope to participate at
times as a remote board member.
YAFFA FREDRICK
I am the managing
editor of World Policy Journal, one of the few U.S.-based magazines
devoted to accurate and nuanced foreign news reporting. Working with reporters
across six continents, I coordinate the production of our quarterly print
magazine and daily news site. Prior to that, I was a producer for PBS Nightly
News and MTV International, producing award-winning segments on vigilante
female justice groups in India, election fraud in Florida, gang violence in
Chicago, and the growing refugee crisis in Syria.
Despite these
wonderful career opportunities, I am still quite young and hope to bring this
youth and drive to the Overseas Press Club board. And as the curator for the
World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers, a group of 20-something professionals in
New York, I believe I have the requisite experience to build such a community.
Providing a fresh and ambitious approach to attracting younger members, I can
expand the organization from the bottom up and ensure its vitality for years to
come.
SCOTT GILMORE
I would like to join
the board of the OPC, an organization I have long admired, to help it grow,
innovate and become even more effective. I am an international columnist for Maclean’s
Magazine, and was previously a Canadian diplomat who worked in Central and
Southeast Asia. But I believe it is my most recent role as the founder and CEO
of the New York-based charitable social enterprise Building Markets that would
be most useful to the OPC. I have spent a decade building programs, expanding
operations, establishing corporate partnerships, and most importantly
fundraising.
I strongly believe in
the importance of the OPC. Its mandate and reputation make it uniquely
important as journalists in the United States and overseas grapple with new
challenges to their independence, while simultaneously reinventing their
business model. It is my hope I can help the OPC as it continues to pursue its
important goals.
STEVEN L. HERMAN
I am a longtime OPC
member working in Asia for the past 25 years and currently Southeast Asia
bureau chief for the Voice of America, based in Bangkok, following previous VOA
postings in New Delhi and Seoul.
I have held numerous
leadership positions in journalistic organizations in the region, including
president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan and the Seoul Foreign
Correspondents’ Club. Through my active involvement with the Asian American
Journalists Association and the South Asian Journalists Association I am a
mentor for younger members.
In addition to
traditional reporting I am at the forefront of digital journalism as one of the
most visible correspondents in Asia on Twitter @w7voa.
As an OPC Active
Overseas member, with your support, my involvement on the board can move the
OPC forward in greater engagement with its members and the journalistic
community at large via social media and emerging digital platforms.
ANJALI KAMAT
I’m a
correspondent for Fault Lines, Al-Jazeera’s flagship current affairs
documentary program. I’ve reported from the Middle East, Africa, South Asia,
Latin America, and the U.S. since 2002. My recent stories have covered the
civil war in South Sudan, labor trafficking on US military bases in Afghanistan
(which won an Overseas Press Club award), Bangladesh’s garment industry (which
won a Peabody and an RFK Journalism award and was nominated for an Emmy), and
abuses in post-Mubarak Egypt. I was previously a Cairo-based producer and
correspondent for Democracy Now and covered the uprisings in Egypt and Libya. I
speak fluent Arabic, Hindi, and Tamil and am on the editorial committee of the
Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP). As an OPC board member, I
would like to focus on supporting and amplifying the voices of under-resourced
local journalists in conflict zones, many of whom, in their roles as “fixers,”
are critical to the work of foreign correspondents.
JO LING KENT
I’m a
correspondent covering the global technology sector at Fox Business Network and
host a weekly tech podcast, “Fast Forward with JLK.”
Prior to joining FBN, I was an investigative reporter for
NBC Connecticut in Hartford and part of the team awarded a Peabody for coverage
of Newtown. I covered the 2012 presidential campaigns with NBC News and spent
five years reporting from Beijing for CNN and ABC News.
I graduated from LSE and Peking University (master’s
degrees in international affairs) and Rice University (BA). I was a U.S.
Fulbright Scholar to China, specializing in legal aid for women. I serve on
Minnesota YMCA Youth in Government’s board of directors and co-chair the NYC
chapter of Young China Watchers.
Since joining OPC, I’ve supported the organization’s
outstanding work, including judging the 2015 OPC Awards. If elected, I’ll work
to mobilize the next generation of journalists to not only join but also
actively participate in our efforts to enhance OPC’s stature.
J. ROBERT MOSKIN
The OPC benefits from a
board that includes a variety of members. I would bring to the mix more than a
half century of journalism and OPC membership. I was the managing editor of
Harvard’s daily Crimson and served overseas in World War II. Then, I
served as an editor of Look magazine for nineteen years. As Look’s
foreign editor, I covered the globe, including three in-depth visits to the
Vietnam War. The OPC honored my Look work in 1968 and 1971. I have had
nine books published including a history of the U.S. Marine Corps and the first
full history of the United States Foreign Service, published in 2013. Both
contain my reporting around the world. Although I no longer chase wars, I can
bring an intense interest in international journalism to the table. I would
welcome the opportunity to serve the OPC once again.
ROBERT NICKELSBERG
As a board member for
the past two years, I focused on improving the visual editing and production of
the 75th anniversary issue of Dateline magazine and oversaw the increased use
of archival photography. This benefited not only the text stories in the 2014
issue but also highlighted the award winners and made it a noteworthy and
quality publication. After winning the Overseas Press Club’s Olivier Rebbot
Award for my book, Afghanistan-A Distant War, I’ve given numerous
presentations to foreign affairs groups, journalism classes and think tanks and
have been able to highlight the need for strong visual coverage for
international events and long-form journalism. This has proven to be a positive
method to promote and highlight the Overseas Press Club. By serving on the
Membership Committee, I want to continue to expand the OPC membership and feel
I can attract more photojournalists, editors and documentary filmmakers.
MARY RAJKUMAR
I am the international
enterprise editor for The Associated Press, where I have edited two Pulitzer
finalist packages as well as stories that have won awards from the OPC (Hal
Boyle and Bob Considine), ASNE, National Headliners and many others. The work I’ve
done includes a 2015 project on labor abuse in Southeast Asia that led to the
rescue of more than 500 enslaved fishermen, and a test of freedom of
information laws in dozens of countries. I currently serve on a Pulitzer jury.
I would be honored to
join the OPC board. I am from Singapore, which has given me a deep appreciation
for the importance of freedom of the press and the work the OPC does to secure
it. I also have a keen interest in promoting diversity within journalism, and
would love to see the OPC build stronger ties with minority journalism groups
with chapters abroad, such as the Asian-American Journalists Association.
GARY REGENSTREIF
Most recently Reuters editor-at-large and advisor to a
journalism non profit, I offer my experience in international news and
commitment to champion a free press as an active OPC board member.
With press freedom at
its lowest point in a decade, the OPC’s efforts are more important than ever.
Against that backdrop, I have been chairman of the Advisory Board of Press
Start which, when it launches in September, will crowdfund support for
independent journalism where the press is not fully free.
From postings in Caracas, Buenos Aires, Rome and Paris, I
spent most of my 25-year career at Reuters covering Latin America and Europe as
a correspondent, bureau chief and head of regional operations.
I have been delighted to be an OPC judge for three years.
But I would like to contribute more: by seeking to boost its profile, increase
membership, help foster more interest in international journalism and add to
efforts to ensure a free press.
MARTIN SMITH
I have been honored to
serve these last two years. The club’s new leadership has made great strides
taking the OPC forward and I wish to continue to contribute wherever and however
I can. While working full-time constricts my ability to do all I would like, I
want to redouble my efforts and find out where my time and effort can be
valuable. I continue to be interested in helping the club do more to support
those who make foreign reporting possible: fixers, translators, stringers and
drivers working abroad under dangerous circumstances. The risks in foreign
correspondence are rising. Recently, new safety guidelines were introduced and
supported by a broad cooperative alliance of signatory organizations. I want to
support and expand this important work. Thank you.
CHARLES WALLACE
I was a foreign
correspondent for more than 30 years for UPI in Moscow and Nairobi, the Los
Angeles Times in the Middle East (Beirut, Amman and Nicosia Cyprus)
and Asia (Bangkok and Singapore), and Time magazine in Milan and Berlin.
As an OPC board member and chairman of the membership committee, I proposed
reducing membership dues for younger and senior members, which was adopted in
2014. I edited the OPC’s 75th anniversary issue of Dateline, which
traced the organization’s history over seven decades. I was co-chairman of the
2015 Awards Dinner and helped the OPC raise funds by selling tables to a number
of organizations, a role I will continue to play going forward. I now work in
New York as a columnist for the Financial Times and Institutional
Investor magazine.
VIVIENNE WALT
I am a seasoned
correspondent, currently for Time magazine & Fortune, based
in Paris, and reporting from Africa, the Middle East and Europe. I have
reported from more than 30 countries, including from Ukraine and Nigeria this
past year, specializing in conflict and its consequences. My work has also been
published in The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times,
Bloomberg Businessweek, Wall Street Journal and National
Geographic Magazine. I am a regular guest on PRI’s “The World” and France
24’s “The World This Week.”
I was raised in Cape
Town, South Africa, then emigrated to New York, where I worked for Newsday.
I have been an OPC juror since 2012, and headed this year’s Ed Cunningham
judges’ panel. I am also a juror for the Prix Bayeux for War Reporting. If
elected, I want to mobilize US correspondents overseas to get involved in the
OPC, especially on issues of safety.
ASSOCIATE NOMINEES (Electing 2)
SARAH LUBMAN
I was a journalist for 17 years before joining Brunswick
and got my start overseas in Japan and China, where I spent 6+ years working
for various outlets (ABC News, UPI, Washington Post, NPR). International
reporting remains near and dear to my heart. I have an endless appetite for
complex, well-told stories and believe they deserve both support and
celebration. During my previous tenure on the board, I helped the OPC speed up
the transition to online award entries and access and worked with the group to
update the award categories. I’ve also worked hard to drum up support for the
dinner, enlisting not just Brunswick to buy a table but also clients such as
McKinsey and Citi, which came in at the highest level and sponsored an award. I
would love to put my communications experience to work on the OPC’s behalf and
would be honored to rejoin the board.
DANIEL SIEBERG
I am the global head
of media outreach with the Google News Lab, which collaborates with journalists
and entrepreneurs to build the future of media. Prior to joining Google, I
worked as a technology correspondent for ABC News, CBS News and CNN. I also
have contributed to MSNBC, BBC News and Discovery. I started my journalism
career at the Vancouver Sun and have been nominated for multiple Emmy
Awards for reporting. My first book, The Digital Diet, came out in 2011.
I live in NYC with my wife and two daughters.
My goal for serving
another term on the board of the OPC is to advise as much as possible on how to
bring the organization and its members to work more with technology companies
(e.g. Google) and foster a sense of innovation within the international
reporting community.
TOM SQUITIERI
Our profession needs
passion, experience, creativity and determination to keep it strong. We all
know the dangers facing journalism’s future. During my previous time on the
board I was able to add my perspective and depth to others seeking to maintain
the OPC’s vital role. That imperative still drives me.
I was a full-time
journalist for 34 years, honored three times by the OPC and the White House
Correspondents’ Association. I offer a vibrant blend of many areas of our
profession, including writing a column for The Hill and teaching a college
course on reporting, writing and surviving war zones,.
My career began at an
underground newspaper in western Pennsylvania, moved to my hometown paper and
then to Washington, D.C., eventually at USA TODAY. Along the way I served
multiple terms as secretary, vice president and treasurer of the National Press
Club and made it to all seven continents.
MINKY WORDEN
I am a longtime OPC
member, past board member, and I am also on the OPC Foundation board. As Human
Rights Watch’s Director of Global Initiatives, I work with the media and
develop and implement international outreach and advocacy campaigns. I
previously served as Human Rights Watch’s media director. Before joining Human
Rights Watch in 1998, I lived and worked in Hong Kong as an adviser to Democratic Party chairman Martin Lee and worked at the
Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. as a speechwriter for the U.S.
Attorney General. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, I speak
Cantonese and German. I am the editor of The Unfinished Revolution
(Seven Stories Press, 2012) and China’s Great Leap (Seven Stories Press,
2008), and the co-editor of Torture (New Press, 2005). I have long
drafted letters to repressive governments for the OPC Freedom of the Press Committee,
I’m a frequent visitor to Overseas Press Club partners such as the FCC in Hong
Kong, and I have occasionally hosted the “OPC Tchotchke Night” party.