By Jane Ciabattari
In leading this year’s election committee, Brian Byrd and I made it our mission to nominate a slate of officers and board candidates with the energy and talent to provide the next generation of leadership for the OPC. The club’s continuing challenge is to continue to make itself relevant to international journalism as it is being practiced today.
This year we will elect a new president and other officers. We also will choose nine Active board members and three Associate board members. In filling out our slate, the nominating committee drew from a range of demographics, ages, and media organizations. We included candidates who are working in television, print, radio and photojournalism, as well as those who are pioneering new digital forms. Our slate includes OPC award winners still working in the field, and many who have contributed to the OPC by their service on our awards committees. We continue to encourage a new generation of journalists to take responsibility for the work of the OPC, and we’re thrilled with this year’s candidates.
Our nominating committee – Alexis Gelber, Azmat Khan, Bob Nickelsberg and Minky Worden – as well as many board members were helpful in recommending candidates to fill these posts. We also sent an invitation to the membership to nominate and self-nominate. We are grateful for all contributions, and for the willingness of our candidates to engage in our mission.
Finally, we want to emphasize how important it is for each member vote in this election. We firmly believe the OPC is only as strong as the board of governors who guide it. Your vote will ensure a slate that reflects OPC’s great diversity of journalistic experiences.
The OPC is continuing to use the online voting website balloteer.com to host its secure election. You will receive an e-mail in early July with a link to the election at the e-mail address where you receive OPC electronic correspondence. If you have not received this link by the end of July e-mail Patricia@opcofamerica.org to obtain the link.
Each ballot requires a log-in, which is your e-mail address where you received the ballot link. The system allows one voting ballot and delineates between Active and Associate members. For those averse to the Web, fear not: you may still cast a paper ballot by e-mailing Patricia@opcofamerica.org or calling the OPC office at 212-626-9220.
2016 ELECTION SLATE
PRESIDENT
DEIDRE DEPKE
I’m honored and tremendously excited to be nominated for this very important role. I’ve served as an OPC governor for four years, the past two as secretary. During that time, I worked with Patricia Kranz and the OPC team to rebuild the organization’s web site. As president, I would continue the work Marcus Mabry has done to expand our member rolls, particularly with younger journalists, and to provide tools for members with new technologies and new training programs.
I began my journalism career at BusinessWeek as a reporter covering Silicon Valley before moving into the magazine’s front-of-the-book section. After nearly a decade, I moved to Newsweek to serve as the magazine’s foreign editor. In 2000, I helped launch Newsweek.com, managing the site’s coverage of the September 11 attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the disputed presidential election of 2000, among other stories. After a stint as general manager for TheWeek.com, I took over The Daily Beast. Currently, I’m New York bureau chief for Marketplace, the public radio show. Again, I am humbled by the OPC nomination and I deeply appreciate your support.
VICE PRESIDENTS
DEBORAH AMOS
I have been an international correspondent for three decades, covering the Middle East. I report on wars, invasions, and most important, the humanitarian fall-out. My career covers reporting for NPR, PBS and ABC. My awards include the DuPont-Columbia, a Peabody, and a George Polk. I am also an educator, teaching journalism at Princeton, Columbia and SUNY New Paltz. I am a relatively new member of OPC.
I was emcee for the OPC’s annual awards dinner in 2015, and was elected a governor in the last election. This year I wrote a feature article for Dateline, the OPC award magazine. I am running for vice president because I want to do more for young journalists. I meet them as students and watch their careers unfold. I want to develop more support for “local” journalists. These brave professionals are the bedrock of international reporting. They share our risks while sharing their expertise. The world is ever more dangerous for us and especially for them. I want to emphasize the Overseas in our title.
PANCHO BERNASCONI
The value of the OPC of America lies within its membership ranks and their professional abilities to help inform, explain and comment on these worldwide news events.
Having served my first 2-year term on the OPC board, I am privileged to be among such a talented group of journalists who bring forward ideas and execute on plans that enable our members to do their work safely, confidently and with the knowledge that what they do matters and will be recognized for the value it brings to a worldwide dialogue.
It was gratifying to be able to help in the launch of the redesigned OPC website by providing a feed of Getty Images international news pictures to be used free of charge on the website as well as in the Bulletin.
I hope to be able to continue in growing the influence of the OPC by asking for your vote in this election.
CALVIN SIMS
I spent two decades at The New York Times as a director, television producer, and foreign correspondent based in Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Seoul and Jakarta. I covered guerrilla insurgencies, business and economics, dictatorships and democratic transitions, and natural disasters. I anchored a weekly podcast with Times foreign correspondents and produced “Struggle for the Soul of Islam” a critically acclaimed documentary for PBS on the rise of radical Islam in Indonesia.
After The Times, I spent six years at the Ford Foundation, administering a $60 million portfolio of grants to develop and improve news coverage and increase press freedoms globally. I currently serve as president and CEO of International House, which has a mission to train the next generation of global leaders. I write on foreign affairs for GroundTruth, Huffington Post, LinkedIn and other media.
At OPC, I have served as an awards judge, moderated panel discussions, hosted speaker events, and acquired funding for Global Parachute and for OPC Foundation conferences and interns. I believe OPC plays a vital role in advancing foreign reporting. I am eager to serve another term on the OPC board to assist the organization in insuring its relevance, visibility, and institutional sustainability.
TREASURER
ABIGAIL PESTA
I’m an award-winning journalist who has lived and worked around the world, from New York to London to Hong Kong. My investigative and feature reporting has appeared in news outlets including Cosmopolitan, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Marie Claire, The Atlantic, New York Magazine and many others. In Hong Kong, I ran a team of reporters across Southeast Asia for The Asian Wall Street Journal.
In London, I ran an editing desk handling copy from across Europe. I’ve received awards from the New York Press Club, the Newswomen’s Club of New York and many others. I’m currently writing a book for HarperCollins about a young woman who escaped a childhood massacre in Africa and moved to America, where she is becoming a powerful voice for displaced people. I’ve been a board member of the OPC for six years, serving as an officer for four.
SECRETARY
LIAM STACK
I cover national and international breaking news as a reporter for The New York Times. I have been a member of the Overseas Press Club board for two years, where I serve as chairperson of the social committee. In that role, I began a series of monthly mixers at The Half King in Chelsea aimed at fostering a sense of OPC community and attracting new members at all stages of their careers.
Before my current assignment at The Times, I was the editor of Watching Syria’s War, an award-winning project that used social media and video to help tell the story of the conflict in Syria. From 2005 until 2012 I lived and worked in Egypt, where I covered the late Mubarak period, the Egyptian revolution and the uprisings in Libya, Syria and elsewhere.
ACTIVE NOMINEES (Electing 9)
RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
I am a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. Before joining The Times in 2014, I spent seven years as the West Africa correspondent, and later the West Africa bureau chief for The Associated Press. My work has three times been named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for International Reporting. In 2014, I won two OPC prizes for my series on al-Qaida based on a trove of confidential al-Qaida documents I recovered in Mali.
After joining the OPC board in 2015, I focused my attention on one of the holes I experienced when I was posted overseas: The fact that bureaucrats in most developing-world countries require reporters to present a “Press ID” before awarding them accreditation. So we came up with the idea of creating an OPC-issued Press ID pass. It’s my hope that these IDs will ease one of the few unpleasant aspects of being a foreign correspondent – dealing with bureaucrats and crossing checkpoints.
CHRISTOPHER DICKEY
I’ve been a foreign correspondent since 1980, first in Central America and the Middle East for The Washington Post, then for Newsweek in Egypt and France. I’m currently the Paris-based world news editor for The Daily Beast, working with staff and freelance correspondents around the globe. They’re young, talented, very energetic, living-on-the-edge people committed to discovering how the world works and documenting what they find out.
As a board member of the OPC, I want to focus on expanding membership and opportunities for such journalists working abroad, coordinating with other press associations overseas to find useful common interests, and helping to organize meetings for members in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. What else might I say? I’m also the author of seven books, mainly dealing with insurgencies, terrorism and espionage; I am a contributor to NBC News; and I’ve won a couple of awards from the OPC in years past.
JOSH FINE
I am an investigative producer for HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. My 2014 report on Qatar’s questionable methods and abusive practices for achieving prominence in world sport received the OPC’s Andelman/Title Award for best international reporting in the broadcast media showing a concern for the human condition. The piece also won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. My series on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s outsized use of the Russian treasury helped Real Sports win a 2012 Peabody Award for television excellence and meritorious public service.
Before arriving at HBO I was an associate producer at CBS News/60 Minutes where I helped produce segments on Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, and Kuwait and Syrian opposition to American activities in the region after 9/11.
I started my journalism career as an off-air reporter for the ABC News Investigative Unit where I reported on the East Africa bombings and the LAX Millennium plot. I graduated with a B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan and am a former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
PETER GOODMAN
After five years in the management ranks of digital media (I ran business, tech and international reporting at the Huffington Post, then was global editor-in-chief of International Business Times), I’ve just returned to The New York Times and am preparing to move to London where I will be the European economic correspondent.
This makes me at least nominally conversant in the (sometimes dark) arts of digital media yet grounded in the core crafts of reporting, story-telling and wandering around in pursuit of tales no one has heard. I know more than I want to about the interface of tech money and journalism, and I still believe deeply in international reporting. I hope to keep channeling this experience into fighting the good fight at OPC and making it possible for the next generation of international reporters to do what they do while getting paid, not getting injured and making the world smarter.
CHARLES GRAEBER
I’m a former recipient of the OPC’s Ed Cunningham Award for best magazine reporting on an international story and a contributor to publications such as The New Yorker, New York Magazine, GQ, Outside Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, etc. I spent 8 years reporting my non-fiction book The Good Nurse, an Edgar Nominated New York Times bestseller. My journalistic work has also been honored with a New York Press Club prize, several National Magazine Award nominations and inclusion in the 2014 Best American Magazine Writing, The Best American Crime Reporting, The Best American Science Writing, The Best American Business Writing, The Best of 10 Years of National Geographic Adventure and The Best of 20 Years of Wired.
I’m a freelancer by choice, and I believe the OPC can play an important role for the bureau-less. Accredited press ID’s are a start, making one less vulnerable in a far off situation – hence my cheerleading for the new OPC Photo ID’s, now available to all members.
DOUGLAS JEHL
I’m foreign editor of The Washington Post, overseeing a staff of 21 correspondents in 17 locations around the world. Previously, I spent 16 years as a correspondent and editor at The New York Times, including four years based in Cairo. Over the years, I have covered conflicts in Panama, the Persian Gulf, Somalia and Lebanon, and I have reporting from dozens of countries.
I am a six-year member of the OPC, and have served on several OPC prize juries. I spent many months working to win freedom for The Post’s Iran correspondent, Jason Rezaian, who spent 18 months held without cause in Iran’s worst prison. I have written for the OPC Bulletin and escorted Jason and his family to the 2016 Awards Dinner. If elected to the board, I would hope to focus my efforts on contests and on issues related to journalists’ safety and security.
DAN KLAIDMAN
I am deputy editor of Yahoo News. I am honored to run again for the board of the Overseas Press Club of America. During these uncertain times for journalism – and foreign correspondence in particular – it is imperative that we in the media band together to provide institutional support for the kind of vital, independent reporting that OPC stands for. It is essential that OPC continue to do everything in its power to ensure that journalists are able to report freely from war zones, disaster areas and other hostile environments that demand the free flow of information. That means raising awareness about the kinds of threats journalists face on a daily basis around the globe, including murder, physical attacks, imprisonment and censorship, as well as investigating those threats, providing legal defenses and protecting international reporting in myriad other ways. I am thoroughly committed to helping OPC carry out this crucial mission.
MARKOS KOUNALAKIS
I’m a former foreign correspondent and reported from Europe and the USSR in the 1980s and 1990s. I write a foreign affairs column for The Sacramento Bee (distributed nationally via McClatchy-Tribune) and am a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. I’m the president and publisher emeritus of The Washington Monthly and former chairman of the board of Internews Network. I also served on the Columbia Journalism School board and am currently on USC’s Annenberg School board.
My unique contribution is as an active California member. I am looking both to integrate and develop the potential membership base on the West Coast. To that end, I organized a first meeting at my home in April to explore developing OPC West, hosted an organizing committee meeting in May at my downtown offices, and held a social event in June at San Francisco’s Mechanics’ Institute.
SCOTT KRAFT
I’m deputy managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, responsible for top stories and Page One. I spent a decade abroad, as bureau chief in Nairobi, Johannesburg and Paris, and covered Mandela’s release, among other stories. Returning to LA, I was deputy foreign editor and then national editor, leading a team that won four Pulitzer Prizes. I’ve also been a Pulitzer juror in International Reporting.
I’d be honored to serve on this important board and contribute to championing the courageous work of correspondents, using the OPC’s voice to press for greater access as well as protections for journalists. Also, I’m very interested in exploring new ways the OPC can encourage powerful international storytelling online and in print. For the last three years, I had the privilege of leading OPC Award juries and came away deeply impressed by the OPC’s ability to inspire great journalism.
RACHAEL MOOREHOUSE
I’m an Associate Producer at CBS News 60 Minutes. I have worked at the program since 2007, winning multiple journalism awards including five Emmy Awards and two Alfred I. DuPont Awards for stories that range from the raid that killed Osama bin Laden to reports on the 2008 economic crash. My work has covered interviews with world leaders such as President Assad in Damascus, Aung San Suu Kyi and Secretary Kerry to reporting from conflict zones on human rights issues and the rise of ISIS inside of Syria and Iraq. I also received the OPC Murrow Award for our hour-long piece “Killing Bin Laden.” Needless to say, OPC has played an important role in my work as a journalist and producer.
If elected to this prestigious board I would love to focus on the need for more foreign reporting especially as many overseas bureaus are being shuttered. I believe strongly in the importance and mandate of the OPC and I hope to help continue its mission and expanding its reach.
MICHAEL ORESKES
I am NPR’s Senior Vice President of News and Editorial Director. I joined NPR in 2015 following seven years with The Associated Press. Prior to my tenure at AP, I served as executive editor at the International Herald Tribune.
From 2001-2005, I was deputy managing editor/assistant managing editor at The New York Times. During my two decades at the Times I had many roles, including Washington bureau chief, chief political correspondent, metropolitan editor and city editor. I came to The Times in 1981 from The Daily News.
I am co-Author (with Eric Lane) of The Genius of America, How the Constitution Saved Our Country and Why It Can Again. I am a member of the board of the American Society of News Editors, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia Journalism Review and Media Leaders Council, World Economic Forum. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from City College of New York.
ROXANA SABERI
I am currently a freelance journalist, after reporting for Al Jazeera America, covering stories in the U.S. and abroad. From 2003 to 2009, I reported from the Middle East, serving as the Iran correspondent for the U.S.-based Feature Story News and filing reports for organizations including NPR, BBC and ABC Radio. In 2009, I was detained for 100 days on a trumped-up charge of espionage. Back in the US, these experiences became the basis of Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran.
I have been fortunate to receive awards including the Medill Medal of Courage, the Ilaria Alpi Freedom of the Press Award, the NCAA Award of Valor, and Project for Middle East Democracy Award.
Raised in North Dakota, I graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with degrees in communications and French. I hold master’s degrees in journalism from Northwestern University and in international relations from the University of Cambridge.
LARA SETRAKIAN
As an ABC News and Bloomberg Television correspondent in the Middle East, I took a pause to focus on redesigning news in the digital domain. I felt there were more stories to be told, much more knowledge to be shared. The tools of technology gave us a chance to reimagine how we convey what’s happening in the world. I wanted to put them to work in covering a story I cared about, deeply. That led to the launch of Syria Deeply. With it came the birth of what I do now: create news platforms that combine editorial skills and user-centric design.
We are in a state of transition, reinventing how we do what we’ve always done. That’s a journey I believe in taking together and hope to help shape as a member of the OPC board. I am a journalist-turned-entrepreneur, but proudest to simply call myself a foreign correspondent.
TOM SQUITIERI
Each day our profession needs passion, experience, creativity and determination to keep it strong and ward off attacks. One term on the OPC board added to my perspective and depth to maintain the OPC’s vital role in our craft – from supporting journalists in their first foreign assignments to battling governments taking away freedom of the press. I have been a judge of OPC awards and helped on the freedom of the press committee.
I am proud to have been honored three times by the OPC and White House Correspondents’ Association. Today my work includes writing a column for The Hill newspaper and teaching communications at American University.
My career began at an underground newspaper in western Pennsylvania, then my hometown paper, then to Washington, D.C., where I last worked for USA TODAY. Along the way I served multiple terms as an officer in the National Press Club and reported all over the world. I look forward to continuing to serve the OPC and our fine profession.
ASSOCIATE (Electing 3)
BILL COLLINS
After 14 years of working with the Overseas Press Club, I understand the challenges facing the OPC. We’re focused on growing our membership, especially among young, diverse and freelance journalists, though we must find additional sources of income so our media organization can continue to thrive. The OPC has always recognized the finest international reporting and advocated for press freedom. So, it would be my privilege to find more innovative ways to support the OPC’s high ideals of journalism and press freedom, in addition to raising money to help fund new events. I’m a former journalist who leads a communications team at Ford Motor Co. based in New York. I currently serve on the Advisory Panel for the Committee to Protect Journalists, in addition to the OPC Board of Governors.
EMMA DALY
After 20 years as a foreign correspondent and 10 at Human Rights Watch I have a deep understanding of what international journalism can and should be, and what reporters need to cover the world as effectively as possible.
I know how valuable the Overseas Press Club network can be and how important it is to generate support for our mission – including by expanding and diversifying our membership. We should continue to host a broad range of social and educational events to build and strengthen our community. And we should speak out on critical issues, including government surveillance, press freedom and safety of freelancers (and staff) covering dangerous stories.
SARAH LUBMAN
I’m a partner at Brunswick Group, a global corporate communications firm specializing in critical issues. Before joining Brunswick in 2005, I was a journalist for 17 years, including 6 years in Tokyo and Beijing, starting with a night editing job in ABC News’ Tokyo bureau. I covered Tiananmen Square as a stringer for The Washington Post and subsequently became a Beijing correspondent for UPI and a regular contributor to NPR and The Boston Globe. After China, I was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, state/national/foreign editor at The San Jose Mercury News and Asia editor at Newsweek International.
I’ll always be a news junkie with a bottomless appetite for well-told stories and compelling international reporting. I’m an energetic advocate for the OPC’s annual awards dinner, which I co-chaired in 2015. I look forward to expanding the roster of OPC’s corporate supporters in 2016 and many years to come. I previously served on the OPC’s board (from 2010 to 2014), when I helped the OPC update its award categories and move to online access for all award nominations.