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Speakers/Staff

Conference Speakers

Hoda Kotb, Co-Host, Fourth Hour of NBC's “Today”; Correspondent, “Dateline NBC”

Hoda Kotb is the co-host of the fourth hour of NBC's "Today". She began hosting the 10 a.m. hour when it debuted in September 2007, and she currently hosts alongside Kathie Lee Gifford. Kotb has also been a "Dateline NBC" correspondent since April 1998 and she is a New York Times Bestselling author for her book "Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer and Kathie Lee".

Kotb has covered a wide variety of domestic and international stories across all NBC News platforms as well as numerous human-interest stories and features. She covered in-depth, the aftermath and one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a story personal to Kotb who lived in New Orleans for six years. She has reported on the war in Iraq, the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and the War on Terror in Afghanistan.

Kotb is a three-year breast cancer survivor and has been a part of several initiatives to raise awareness about the disease. Diagnosed in March 2007, she shared her story on "Today" in October 2007.

Kotb graduated from Virginia Tech University with a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism. She resides in New York City.

Candy Crowley, Chief Political Correspondent, CNN

Candy Crowley is CNN's award-winning chief political correspondent and anchor of State of the Union with Candy Crowley, a political hour of newsmaker interviews and analysis of the week’s most important issues. Crowley took the reins of State of the Union in February 2010. In her role as chief political correspondent, Crowley covers a broad range of stories, including presidential, congressional and gubernatorial races and major legislative developments on Capitol Hill. Crowley was selected by the Commission on Presidential Debates to moderate a 2012 general election debate between President Obama and Gov. Romney. The town hall debate, scheduled for Oct. 16, 2012 in Hempstead, NY, will be the first debate moderated by a woman in two decades.

Crowley’s assignments have taken her to all 50 states and around the world. Since taking the anchor chair for State of the Union, Crowley has interviewed top newsmakers including: Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; former President George W. Bush together with his brother, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush; former Vice President Dick Cheney together with his daughter Liz Cheney; and 2012 Republican presidential candidates Rep. Michele Bachmann, businessman Herman Cain, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

Crowley has co-anchored key primary and caucus nights throughout America’s Choice 2012 election coverage. She played a pivotal role in CNN’s America Votes 2008 Peabody Award-winning coverage, traveling to both conventions, every debate and additional stops along the campaign trail. In 2009, she earned a prestigious Gracie Allen Award for coverage of Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House. She also was part of the network’s Emmy Award-winning 2006 midterm election coverage.

She has covered the presidential campaigns of Pat Buchanan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Howard Dean, Bob Dole, Jesse Jackson, Edward Kennedy, John Kerry, Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan, among others. Since the presidential nomination of Jimmy Carter, she has covered all but one of the national political conventions. She was also granted an exclusive sit-down interview with President George W. Bush days before he left office.

Among her most vivid memories as a reporter, Crowley counts the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast; the impeachment trial of President Clinton; Election Night 2000; ceremonies marking the 40th anniversary of D-Day on the beaches of Normandy; Ronald Reagan’s trips to China, Bitburg and Bergen-Belsen; the night the United States bombed Libya; and the terrorist bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut.

Crowley began her broadcast journalism career in Washington, D.C., as a newsroom assistant for Metromedia radio station WASH. She has served as an anchor for Mutual Broadcasting and as a general assignment and White House correspondent for the Associated Press, where she covered most of the Reagan era before moving on to NBC-TV to become a general assignment correspondent in NBC’s Washington bureau. She came to CNN from NBC News in 1987. Prior to her current role, Crowley served as a congressional correspondent for the network.

Crowley earned a bachelor’s degree from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College.

Brian Lamb, President, Chairman, C-SPAN

Brian Lamb is the Chairman of C-SPAN Networks. He’s been at the helm of the public affairs channel since he helped the cable industry launch it 32 years ago on March 19, 1979.

Today, C-SPAN employs approximately 270 people and delivers public affairs programming on three television channels to the nation’s cable and satellite customers; globally to Internet users via C-SPAN.org and 15 other internet sites; and to radio listeners through C-SPAN radio—an FM station in Washington that can also be heard on XM satellite service nationwide.

Brian has also been a regular on-air presence at C-SPAN since the network’s earliest days. Over the years, he has interviewed Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush and many world leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev. For 15 years, beginning in 1989, he interviewed 800 non-fiction authors for a weekly program known as Booknotes. Four books of collected interviews have been published based on the Booknotes series. Currently, Brian hosts Q and A, an hour long interview program on Sunday evening with people who are making things happen in politics, media, education or technology.

Brian Lamb is a Hoosier, born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana. Interested in broadcasting as a child, he built crystal radio sets to pick up local signals. During high school and college, he sought out jobs at Lafayette radio and television stations, spinning records, selling ads, and eventually hosting his own television program.

After graduating from Purdue with a degree in speech, Brian joined the Navy. His tour included the USS Thuban, White House duty during the Johnson Administration and a stint in the Pentagon public affairs office during the Vietnam War.

In 1967, his navy service complete, Brian returned home to Lafayette. However, it wasn’t long before he returned to the nation’s capital where he began as a freelance reporter for UPI radio. Later, he served as a Senate press secretary and worked for the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy at a time when a national strategy was being developed for communications satellites.

In 1974, Brian returned to journalism, publishing a biweekly newsletter called The Media Report. He also covered telecommunications issues as Washington bureau chief for Cablevision Magazine. It was from this vantage point that C-SPAN began to take shape. Congress was about to televise its proceedings; the cable industry was looking for programming to deliver to its customers by satellite. Brian brought these two ideas together with C-SPAN, which launched with the first televised House of Representatives debate on March 19, 1979.

Brian and his wife Victoria are longtime residents of Arlington, Virginia. When he’s not reading newspapers or non-fiction books, Brian is often in hot pursuit of the latest country music release.

Neil Leifer, Photojournalist and Filmmaker

Neil Leifer became a professional photographer while still in his teens. Beginning in 1960 as a freelancer, his pictures began regularly appearing in every major national magazine, including the Saturday Evening Post, Look, Life, Newsweek, Time and, most often, Sports Illustrated.

In August 1972, Leifer became a staff photographer for Sports Illustrated. He left Sports Illustrated in February 1978 and became a staff photographer for Time magazine. In 1988 he was made a contributing photographer at Life magazine and spent the next two years dividing his time between Time and Life magazines.

Leifer left Time, Inc. in 1990. His photographs have appeared on more than 200 Sports Ilustrated, Time and People covers.

Leifer has published 16 books, among them his best selling 1978 Abrams book, "Sports", a collection of sports photographs. In November 2007, TASCHEN published Neil Leifer, Ballet in the Dirt: The Golden Age of Baseball, with an Introduction by Ron Shelton. The book is a collection of Neil’s baseball photographs of the 1960’s and 70’s, the “Golden Age of Baseball”. In November 2008, TASCHEN published Guts and Glory: The Golden Age of American Football 1958-1978, with an Introduction by the late Los Angeles Times Sports columnist Jim Murray. The book is a collection of Neil’s football photographs of the late 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Leifer has traveled all over the world on sports assignments. He has photographed 15 Olympic Games (7 winter and 8 summer), 4 World Soccer Cups, 15 Kentucky Derbies, countless World Series games, the first 12 Superbowls and every important heavyweight title fight since Floyd Patterson beat Ingemar Johansson to regain the title in 1960. He has photographed his favorite subject, Muhammad Ali, on almost 70 different occasions - 35 fights and more than 30 photo sessions. The most recent session being January 2012 when Leifer photographed Ali at his home in Paradise Valley, AZ to celebrate Ali’s 70th birthday.

Neil Leifer now devotes almost 100% of his time to producing and directing films.

Carol Guzy, Staff photographer, The Washington Post

Carol Guzy was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on March 7, 1956. She lived there until 1978 when she completed her studies at Northampton County Area Community College, graduating with an Associate's degree in Registered Nursing. A change of heart led her to the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in Florida to study photography. She graduated in 1980 with an Associate in Applied Science degree in Photography.

While at the Art Institute, she interned at The Miami Herald and upon graduation was hired as a staff photographer. She spent eight years at the newspaper before moving to Washington, DC in 1988 where she is currently a staff photographer at The Washington Post.

Her assignments include both domestic and international stories and documentary reportage. She has been honored twice with the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for her coverage of the military intervention in Haiti and the devastating mudslide in Armero, Colombia. She has received a third Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for her work in Kosovo as well. She is the only journalist to ever receive a fourth Pulitzer for coverage of the Haitian earthquake in 2010. She has been named Photographer of the Year for the National Press Photographers Association three times and eight times for the White House News Photographers Association and has earned other prestigious awards in her chosen profession of photojournalism.

Chuck Todd, MSNBC

Chuck Todd is the Chief White House Correspondent for NBC News, as well as the co-host of "The Daily Rundown" on msnbc. He became NBC News' Political Director in March 2007. He also serves as NBC News' on-air political analyst for "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," "Today," "Meet the Press" and msnbc.

In addition to his on-air analysis, Todd has been responsible for all aspects of the network's political coverage, serving as the point person for political news and information. He is also the editor of "First Read," NBC's must-read guide to political news and trends in and around Washington, D.C.

In 2009, Todd co-authored with Sheldon Gawiser the definitive election result analysis book for the 2008 presidential campaign, titled, "How Barack Obama Won," published by Vintage.

Before joining NBC News, Todd was the Editor-in-Chief of National Journal's "The Hotline," Washington's premier daily briefing on American Politics. In his 15 years working at "The Hotline" or one of its affiliates, Todd became one of Washington's foremost experts on political campaigns of all levels. He served as Editor-in-Chief for six years. He also serves as a contributing editor to "The Atlantic Monthly" where he pens political essays.

Todd frequently contributes op-ed essays for various publications, including "The New York Times" and the "Washington Post." During the 2004 elections, he moderated one of the few presidential candidate forums in Iowa. In December 2005, Todd was featured as one of "Washingtonian's 'Best Of'" journalists.

Todd is a native of Miami and currently resides in Arlington, Va., with his wife, Kristian, and two children.

Jonathan Karl, Chief White House Correspondent, ABC News

Jonathan Karl was named ABC News' Chi ef White ecember 2012. He regularly contributes to all broadcasts, including "Good Morning America," "World News with Diane Sawyer" and "Nightline." In addition, he reports for all of ABC's digital properties, including the popular political blog "The Note" and hosts a weekly digital show for ABC News/Yahoo! News.Karl has broad experience covering U.S. politics, foreign policy and the military. His reporting drives news cycles and has been recognized with some of the most prestigious honors in journalism, including the 2011 Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for excellence in Washington-based reporting and an Emmy Award for his coverage of the 2009 Inauguration of President Barack Obama. In 2001 he won the National Press Foundation's Everett McKinley Dirksen Award, the highest honor for Congressional reporting.

A regular contributor to "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Karl also serves as a guest anchor for the program. In February 2010 he secured an exclusive interview with Dick Cheney for the Sunday morning program.

Prior to his current post at the White House, Karl served as ABC's Senior Political Correspondent, covering national political news, including presidential politics and Congress. In 2012, Karl was often on the campaign trail. His well-sourced reporting gave viewers an inside track on the veepstakes as the Romney campaign whittled down its list of candidates.A prolific writer, Karl's work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, The New Repu an Science Monitor and The San Francisco Chronicle. In December 1995, his non-fiction book, "The Right to Bear Arms: The Rise of America's New Militias," was published by Harper-Collins.

Karl graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1990, where he was editor-in-chief of The Vassar Spectator.

Chris Cillizza, The Washington Post

Chris Cillizza writes "The Fix", a politics blog for the Washington Post. He also covers the White House for the newspaper and website. Chris has appeared as a guest on NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and CNN to talk politics. He lives in Virginia with his wife and son.

April Ryan, White House Correspondent, American Urban Radio Networks

April Ryan, a 27-year journalism veteran, has been the White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) since January of 1997, covering three Presidents. Along with daily responsibilities at the White House, Ryan hosts the daily feature, The White House Report, which is broadcast to AURN’s nearly 475 affiliated stations nationwide. Ryan also hosts a new Digital television program for Colours TV called the White House Report with April Ryan where minority America is given the White House perspective on matters specific to their community. Ryan is also a regular panelist on Washington Watch with Roland Martin for TV ONE.

Prior to working for AURN, Ryan worked for several radio stations in Baltimore, including WXYV-FM, where she was news director. Over the past 15 years, Ryan has conducted one-on-one interviews with President Barak Obama and Michelle Obama, President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Senator John Kerry and a host of others. Ryan has been credited by a White House historian as having the most radio interviews with then President Bill Clinton during his White House years.

April Ryan was elected July 14, 2011 to serve on the board of the prestigious White House Correspondents Association for a three year term. She is one of only three African Americans in the association’s 97-year history to serve on the WHCA board. Ryan is one of the esteemed members of the National Press Club. In 1997, Ryan was named one of the Outstanding Young Women in America. In 2004 Ryan was named an American Swiss Foundation Young Leader. POLITICO named Ryan one of the top 50 politicos in Washington to watch for 2011-2012.

Angela Greiling Keane, President, National Press Club

Angela Greiling Keane is a Washington-based reporter for Bloomberg News. She covers transportation, focusing on the auto and rail industries, and the Postal Service. She was a finalist for a 2012 Gerald Loeb Award for business journalism.

She's written about topics ranging from Chevrolet Volt fires to Toyota's lobbyist revolving door to the Postal Service buying too many Simpsons cartoon stamps.

Angela serves on the board of the National Press Club Journalism Institute. She is a member of Journalism and Women Symposium and earned a bachelor of journalism from the University of Missouri. Before joining Bloomberg in 2007, Angela reported for Traffic World, a trade magazine covering freight transportation, and as a Washington correspondent for Small Newspaper Group newspaper chain, writing primarily for the Rochester (Minn.) Post-Bulletin.

BJ Koubaroulis, CBS 106.7 The Fan

B.J. Koubaroulis is founder and CEO of Synthesis Multimedia Productions/Koubaroulis LLC. a video and multimedia production company that has clients like The Washington Post, ESPN, other sports web sites as well as non-profits, small businesses, universities and others.

A long-time correspondent with The Washington Post and the Play-by-Play Voice of High School and College Sports for Verizon FiOS1 Sports, Koubaroulis has worked across multiple platforms in print, radio and television.

He founded, hosted and produced “Verbally Committed” – a CBS radio show on Washington D.C.’s 106.7 The Fan. Koubaroulis has been a featured blogger with Sports Illustrated.

He was also a Play-by-Play voice with the Fairfax Sports Network and the Associate Producer and host of the hour-long television broadcast featuring local sports in the DC Metro area, “The Fairfax Sports Report.”

Koubaroulis has also worked as the Senior Sports Editor of The Connection Newspapers, a chain of 18 publications in the Washington D.C. metro area, where he won 18 Virginia Press Association Awards.

He is a graduate of George Mason University, where he was the Sports Editor of the university’s award winning student newspaper Broadside and was the 2008 Communication Department Alumnus of the Year. He earned his B.A. in communication with a concentration in journalism and minor in electronic journalism.

Michael D. Shear, The New York Times

Shear is a political correspondent for The New York Times politics and government blog, "The Caucus."  His posts are dedicated to breaking news, providing smart analysis and generally guiding reader, in real time, through a jungle of spin, partisanship and conflicting claims to an understanding of what is happening each day in politics and goverment.

Mike joined The New York Times in 2010, after nearly twenty years at The Washington Post, most recently covering the White House.  He was the lead reporter for coverage of the 2008 Republican presidential candidates, spending 20 months on the campaign trail with John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and the rest. Prior to the campaign, Shear spent five years covering politics in Virginia, including the administration of Gov. Mark Warner and the Webb-Allen Senate race in 2006.   He was a member of the team of reporters who won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech.

Originally from California, Shear is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College, and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Tom Jackman, Washington Post

Tom Jackman has covered cops and courts for newspapers in Kansas City and Washington, D.C., since 1985, and still has no major arrests on his record. He is a Northern Virginia native and graduate of the University of Notre Dame. At the Kansas City Times, and then The Kansas City Star, he covered the case of serial killer Bob Berdella and wrote a best-selling book about his gory murders. He also wrote a weekly general interest column, regular concert reviews, and co-hosted a weekly TV talk show. After joining The Post in 1998, he covered the D.C. sniper case and was the lead writer on The Post's breaking news coverage of the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech, for which the paper was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. In 2011, he launched a general interest blog called the State of NoVa, about anything he finds interesting in Northern Virginia, with emphasis on music, sports and gambling. It has been hugely successful so far.

Ann Augherton

Ann Augherton is the managing editor of the Arlington Catholic HERALD, the Virginia Press Association’s largest weekly newspaper. A lifelong resident of the Washington, D.C., area, she earned her degree in journalism at George Washington University.

Since becoming managing editor in 1991, circulation has continued to grow to the current 60,000, and the newspaper has won many national awards from the Catholic Press Association. Augherton herself has won writing and photography awards, and her freelance articles and photographs have appeared in several publications and on Catholic News Service.

Augherton has traveled extensively on international assignments to Europe, the developing world, Asia and the Middle East.

Augherton served on the local and national boards of the Society of Professional Journalists for more than 10 years and remains active with that group as well as the Catholic Press Association.

Steve Klein, George Mason University

Mr. Klein specializes in a cross-platform journalism approach and teaches classes in Writing Across Media, Online Journalism, Sports Writing and Reporting, and Political Journalism. Prior to coming to Mason, Klein served as Online Sports Editor of USA TODAY, one of the most highly visited newspaper destinations on the Internet.

Beth Parker, General Assignment Reporter, Fox DC

Beth Parker joined FOX 5 in August of 1998 as a general assignment reporter. She started her career in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley at WHSV-TV in Harrisonburg. She did a little of everything there, working as a reporter, photographer, anchor and producer. Beth then moved to Wilmington, NC where she was the weekend anchor at WECT-TV.

Next, she worked as a reporter at WGHP-TV in the Greensboro/High Point/Winston Salem market of North Carolina. From there she headed north and became a reporter at WBAL-TV in Baltimore. She's won two Edward R. Murrow Awards for investigative reporting. She has also won five Emmys — for investigative reporting, feature reporting and daily news reporting.

Beth grew up in a small town in Central Pennsylvania called Selinsgrove. At a very young age she started asking "why, why, why?" and her career plan was set. She studied journalism and politics at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY. When she's not asking questions, Beth likes to travel, read, cook, and play tennis. She also volunteers as a tutor with Project Northstar, a non-profit that helps D.C.'s at-risk kids.

Daniel F. Drummond, Public Relations Director and City Councilman

Dan is the Director of Public Relations at Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.(CFP Board), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to grant CFP® certification and uphold it as the recognized standard of excellence in ethical and competent personal financial planning.

In this role Dan is responsible for the overall strategic direction and implementation of CFP Board's public relations program - including corporate, consumer and public affairs communications - and working with national, financial, online and trade media.

Since joining CFP Board, Dan has overseen and implemented several successful public relations campaigns that have garnered coverage on NPR and CNN as well as in The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Investment News. In 2011, Dan’s earned media efforts resulted in 1,800 articles and 2.2 billion media impressions.

Before joining CFP Board, Dan worked in senior positions at strategic communications firms including Powell Tate and Burson-Marsteller where he served as a trusted adviser to Fortune 100 companies. Previously, Dan was communications director for Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) and a journalist, last writing for The Washington Times, where he covered the Virginia statehouse and transportation.

Dan is involved with his community, currently serving his second term on the Fairfax City Council (non-partisan) and sits on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Board of Directors and is an alternate member of the Transportation Planning Board. He also is on the Board of Directors for the Fairfax Little League, Sorensen Institute's Northern Virginia Board and is Cub Master of Cub Scout Pack 1113.

Dan received his MA in Government from Johns Hopkins University and his BS in Political Science from Old Dominion University.

Christopher Gunty, Associate Publisher/Editor, The Catholic Review

A Chicago-area native, Chris Gunty is associate publisher/editor of The Catholic Review and CEO of its parent publishing company, The Cathedral Foundation/CR Media.

He has spent his whole professional career so far — more than 30 years — in Catholic journalism as a writer, photographer, editor, circulation manager and associate publisher, often performing many of these functions at the same time. He spent four years with The Chicago Catholic; 19 years as founding editor and associate publisher of The Catholic Sun in Phoenix, Ariz.; and six years at The Florida Catholic, a group of six zoned newspapers serving most of the dioceses of Florida: from Pensacola-Tallahassee in the Panhandle to Miami in south Florida. In July 2009, he came to Baltimore to lead The Cathedral Foundation, one of the largest and most diverse diocesan publishing operations in the country.

Chris served as president of the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada from 1996 to 1998, and has traveled extensively learning about and reporting on the work of the church, including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Haiti, Poland, Italy, Germany and finally in 2010 visited the Holy Land for the first time.

Chris has three children and two grandchildren. His wife, Ann Augherton, is managing editor of the newspaper for the Arlington Catholic Herald in Virginia.

Meghan A.T.B. Reese, JWM Productions

Meghan Reese is a producer and writer at JWM Productions, currently working on projects for National Geographic and Discovery. Reese’s other credits include producing and writing for Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, History Channel, HGTV, Investigation Discovery, PBS, and Sony/IMAX’s 3Net 3D films.

Prior to making the switch to television and film, Reese was an award-winning writer and editor for several newspapers, medical, health and lifestyle magazines, and executive editor of Today’s Dietitian Cookbook. Her writing career began in the Life section of USA TODAY, covering fashion, trends, and popular culture.

Reese is an American University graduate. While at AU, Reese majored in Broadcast Journalism and held several prestigious internships around the Metro area, including The Washington Post, CNN, WAMU 88.5, and at the White House. Reese also is a proud alum of the American University Cheerleading team.

A Pennsylvania native, Reese is ecstatic to be back in D.C. and living with her husband and Miniature Dachshunds, Pacey and Mosby, in Pentagon City.

Rodger Smith, Visiting Professor of Communication, George Mason University

Professor Rodger Smith is a visiting professor of Communication at George Mason University. He is currently teaching COMM 359 Media Management and COMM 148 Radio Workshop 1. Professor Smith has also taught COMM 354 Radio Production, COMM 348 Radio Workshop 2 and COMM 399 Sports and the Media.

He is currently the faculty advisor for WGMU campus radio station. Professor Smith’s interest in Communications came from an interest in how the cause and effect of programming, how the media affects a culture, daily life and technology. His previous work in radio includes working for WFTR Front Royal, Virginia where he was a news director (1986-1988), sports director and mid-day on-air talent (1988-1989) and a morning drive personality (1990-1992). He also worked as an advertising/production director for WUSQ Winchester.

Professor Smith is the director of a Summer Radio Camp geared for middle and high school students who have an interest in radio. The radio camp consists of 2-one week sessions in July where students learn basic radio skills like writing and producing commercial and news items as well as delivering on-air breaks. They also get to tour a professional radio station, WJFK. Professor Smith was nominated for the Who’s Who in the Media and Communications in 1997-1998. What students may not know about Professor Smith is an avid competitive runner in 5K and 10K races and has an encyclopedic knowledge of NFL history.

Previous Speakers

Josh Earnest, Special Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary

Josh Earnest is Special Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary in the White House Office of Communications. Mr. Earnest attended Rice University, where he majored in political science and policy studies. He joined then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign in March 2007 as his Iowa Communications Director. He is a native of Kansas City, Missouri.

Dana Bash, Senior Congressional Correspondent, CNN

Dana Bash is CNN’s senior congressional correspondent, responsible for covering the activities of both the U.S. House and Senate. In 2010, Bash earned the prestigious Dirksen Award from the National Press Foundation for her reporting on Congressional earmarks and Senatorial "holds.” Named to this position in December 2008 and based in the network’s Washington, D.C., bureau, Bash has covered the U.S. Congress for CNN since March 2006.

As a member of the Peabody Award-winning “Best Political Team on Television,” Bash covered the candidates on the trail for the network’s America Votes 2008 coverage and interviewed the Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on numerous occasions. During the course of the long primary campaign, Bash also interviewed the major Republican contenders and broke many stories, including Gov. Mitt Romney’s decision to suspend his campaign.

Prior to covering Congress and the 2008 campaign, Bash reported as CNN’s White House correspondent from the nation’s capital and from locations around the world covering President George W. Bush and his administration. Bash has reported on major stories including Hurricane Katrina, the CIA leak investigation, and the capture of Saddam Hussein. She was instrumental in CNN’s 2006 mid-term election coverage and the 2004 presidential campaign, which she covered from start to finish.

Bash has extensive experience covering Congress. Prior to her on-air position with the White House unit, Bash was the Capitol Hill producer for CNN, where she had primary editorial and newsgathering responsibility for the network's coverage of the U.S. Senate. She covered every major story on Capitol Hill, including the Republican dominance in the 2002 elections, the war on terrorism, campaign finance reform, the Florida recount and the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton. Frequently cited on-air by anchors and reporters, she also provided live reporting during the evacuation of the Capitol in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Bash was one of the first journalists to report that Vermont’s Sen. Jim Jeffords would leave the Republican Party in May 2001, giving control of the U.S. Senate to Democrats. In 2002, she broke the story of the government's secret intercepts of Al Qaeda translations on Sept. 10, 2001, for which received her first Dirksen Award

In 2000, she covered the presidential primaries, including those in Iowa and New Hampshire, traveling extensively with former Vice President Al Gore, Sen. Bill Bradley and other presidential candidates. She also helped coordinate coverage for both the Republican and Democratic vice presidential selections. In addition to the U.S. presidential race, Bash covered House and Senate races across the country as well as national conventions for both parties.

Previously, Bash was an editor in CNN's Washington bureau, where she planned and coordinated the network's coverage of Capitol Hill, the State Department and key issues such as Medicare and Social Security. Bash also served as a producer on the network's public affairs shows, including Late Edition with Frank Sesno, Evans & Novak and Inside Politics Weekend with Wolf Blitzer, producing long-form live interviews with heads of state, lawmakers and other newsmakers.

Bash graduated cum laude with her bachelor’s degree in political communications from George Washington University.

Angie Goff, News4 Anchor and Reporter

Angie Goff anchors the weekend editions of News4 Today and reports during the week. Angie realized the power and impact of social media early and uses that expertise in her reports.

As an Army brat, Goff spent her childhood living both in the U.S. and South Korea, but she calls Northern Virginia home. She graduated from Herndon High School and attended college at George Mason University.

Prior to joining NBC4, Goff spent several years as a multi-media journalist at WUSA in Washington. She also anchored and reported for WIS-TV in Columbia, SC where she won an Emmy. Other stops in her career include KMEG-TV in Sioux City, Iowa, and Entertainment Tonight.

Goff's reporting has taken her from the Iowa Caucuses to hurricane coverage along the East Coast.

Goff's use of crowd sourcing and viewer-generated content has been a driving force behind her popular blog, OhMyGoff.tv. She is often asked to speak on panels about how social media is changing news. (Please check out her Twitter and Facebook accounts.)

She's also involved with many community organizations including the Yellow Ribbon Fund and the Susan G. Komen Foundation. In recent years, Washington Life magazine named Goff one of the most influential Washingtonians under 40.

During her off time, the new mom stays busy but hopes to train for another marathon soon. Goff lives in Northern Virginia.

Hilary Burke, Line Producer, National Geographic Television

Hilary Burke is a television production executive who has worked for National Geographic Television, a subsidy of the National Geographic Society, since 2006. Hilary began her tenure at National Geographic Television as a Production Manager for the Emmy award-winning Explorer series, which is the longest running documentary series on television. She managed Explorer: Gorilla Murders, which received an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Journalism in Long-form. After being promoted to Line Producer in 2010, Hilary began managing over 30 hours of programming for National Geographic Television's Specials and Events units providing her expertise with managing complex projects involving high risk locations, complicated logistics and unique access/regulated situations.

Hilary holds a B.A. degree in Telecommunications, as well as minors in Art History and Business Management from Penn State University, and before joining National Geographic Television, she worked as a Producer / Editor on the Legends of Airpower series for 3 Roads Communications, an independent production company in the Washington DC metro-area.

Hilary's latest project, Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron may be seen on National Geographic Channels.

Kevin McCarthy, bdkreviews.com and WJFK HD2

Kevin "BDK" McCarthy is a film critic in the Washington DC metro area. Kevin graduated from George Mason University in the spring of 2006 and majored in Communications with a concentration in media production and criticism.

Kevin began his movie reviewing career on The Junkies morning show, heard on 106.7FM The FAN. He also hosts his own movie show on WJFK HD2. In the summer of 2007, Kevin was hired as the movie reviewer for the FOX 5 morning news. His full written reviews can be found at www.bdkreviews.com. He has also been quoted in national ad campaigns. Kevin is known for his conversational writing style and unique rating system. Kevin has loved movies since even before he was born and remembers seeing his first R-rated film when he was just eight years old. That was a big step for him. The film was Terminator 2: Judgement Day and is still Kevin's favorite action film of all time. Some of Kevin's favorite moments in his movie reviewing career have been interviewing some of his influences/idols: Quentin Tarantino, Don Cheadle, Kevin Smith, Darren Aronofsky, etc.

Kevin appears on The Junkies every Friday morning and will continue to make appearances on FOX 5 TV. He is also a member of the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association and his reviews are featured on RottenTomatoes.com.

Malika Balil, Al Jazeera English

Malika Bilal works for Al Jazeera English, where she is the digital producer and co-host of The Stream, a social media community with its own daily TV show. She came to The Stream by way of Doha, Qatar where she worked as an editor and writer for the Al Jazeera English website, occasionally reporting from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere around the Gulf. Malika graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and has worked for The Chicago Tribune, National Public Radio and Voice of America.

Andrew Phelps, Producer, Sirius-XM Fantasy Sports Radio Channel

Andrew Phelps is currently a Producer for Sirius-XM Satellite Radio’s Fantasy Sports Radio channel (XM 87 / SIRIUS 210). This channel is a brand new venture in the radio industry, a whole different spin into Sports Talk Radio!

Drew began his career for an ESPN affiliate in Norfolk, Virginia as an on air update anchor and producer of the afternoon drive talk show. While there, he was also doing weekends and overnights for the country channel, 97.3 The Eagle. Drew moved back to the DC area and used his skill set to earn a coveted spot as a swing on-air personality for the hugely popular country station 98.7 WMZQ. He spent 4 years experiencing everything a major market radio station had to offer.

While at WMZQ, Drew got his foot in the door at XM Radio as board operator for live game broadcasts. He moved up from board operator to associate producer on Sirius-XM’s MLB Home Plate channel. He jumped at the chance to help launch a brand new channel in July of 2010 called “Fantasy Sports Radio.” Less than a year after the channel launched, Drew was hired as a full time producer in February of 2011 and has been there ever since.

He is a graduate of George Mason University, where he was the Sports Director and later the Program Director of the student run radio station, WGMU. In April 2004, Andrew was given the Beth Kauffman Award for Creativity in Radio through the Communications department. He earned his B.A. in Communications with a concentration in Media Production & Criticism.

Drew has also worked as the Assistant Multimedia Director for George Mason Athletics where he would help cover all 22 of their NCAA varsity sports.

Bob Lichter, Director, Center for Media and Public Affairs

S. Robert Lichter is Professor of Communication at George Mason University, where he also directs the Center for Media and Public Affairs, which conducts scientific studies of the news and entertainment media, and the Statistical Assessment Service (STATS), which works to improve the quality of statistical and scientific information in the news.

He previously taught at Princeton, Georgetown, and George Washington universities. He has also served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Politics and Psychology atYaleUniversity, Senior Research Fellow atColumbiaUniversity, and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow atSmithCollege. He received his Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University and his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Lichter has authored or co-authored fourteen books and over a hundred scholarly articles and monographs. His op-ed articles have appeared in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, and other newspapers. His most recent books are The Nightly News Nightmare: Television Coverage of Presidential Elections (2011, 3rd ed.); and The Mediated Presidency: Television News and Presidential Governance (2005). He is currently working on books about foreign media coverage of the United States and the political content and effects of late night TV comedy. His research interests include political communication, political sociology, and health and risk communication.

Greg Wyshynski, Sportswriter and Columnist

Greg Wyshynski is an award-winning sportswriter and columnist who specializes in blending humor with insight in covering professional, collegiate and amateur sports. His book, 'Glow Pucks & 10-Cent Beer: The 101 Worst Ideas in Sports History' is available now online and wherever books are sold. It's a hilarious look at sports' most ill-fated ideas, trends and decisions -- sort of like ESPN's "SportsCentury" meets "The Daily Show." Released in March 2006 by Taylor Trade Publishing, the book is already in its second printing.

Since 1999, Wyshynski has served as the executive sports editor for The Connection, a Northern Virginia newspaper chain. He has received over 40 Virginia Press Association awards for writing and editing, including one Best-in-Show nomination. Wyshynski is also the senior editor for SportsFan Magazine in Washington, DC and a hockey columnist for The Fourth Period Magazine in Ontario, Canada. His online sports humor column, 'The Jester's Quart,' has been published weekly since 1997 on over a dozen sports websites. 'Batman Sucks Forever,' a satirical screenplay he co-wrote, has been lauded by several comic sites as one of the funniest parodies ever written about the character. Wyshynski's articles have also been published on several print and online publications, including Restaurant Digest, Brutus, NJ.com, NYSportsDay.com, RottenTomatoes.com and BrokenNewz.com.

Wyshynski has appeared on several television and radio programs, offering his unique perspective on sports. He is an annual guest on 'Fox Morning News' in Washington, DC to talk about the NCAA men's basketball tournament and the Bowl Championship Series. He has appeared on National Public Radio's 'The Weigh In' to discuss college football bowl game naming rights. Wyshynski is also the host of a weekly sports television program called 'The Fairfax Sports Report' on Cox Cable in Fairfax, Va.

A graduate of the University of Maryland's College of Journalism and a native of Matawan, NJ, Wyshynski currently resides in Ashburn, Va., where he is madly in love.

Faculty/Staff

Amy Takayama-Perez, Dean of Admissions and Executive Director of the Washington Scholars Program

As the Dean of Admissions Amy is responsible for the overall management and execution of George Mason University’s recruitment strategy. Amy also serves as the Executive Director of the Washington Scholars Program, home to the Washington Youth Summit on the Environment and the Washington Journalism and Media Conference. She has an affinity for working with students and families in higher education. Before her involvement in the Washington Scholars Program, she was the Guidance Specialist for Loudoun County Public Schools and served as the Director for a county wide college access program. Previously, she has worked in the Office of Admissions as the Director of Undergraduate Recruitment. She has worked with countless students and families on the application and college search process and is very active in regional and national college counseling associations. A native New Englander, Ms. Takayama-Perez holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and a Masters of Education from George Mason University, and serves on the Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Richard Friesner, Director of the Washington Scholars Program

Richard is the Program Director for the Washington Youth Summit on the Environment. In this role, Richard develops the summit's curriculum, identifies and recruits exceptional faculty and nationally recognized speakers in a variety of environmental disciplines and specialties, and coordinates with a fabulous group of staff in the Office of Admissions to make the summit an unparalleled experience for the student delegates attending. Richard earned a BS in Environmental Studies/Chemistry and a MS in Environmental Engineering & Science at the University of Kansas. Prior to working with WYSE Richard worked at the US Geological Survey (USGS) and as an environmental consultant for a nationwide engineering consulting firm. Richard also has extensive experience with student leadership experiences both at the University of Kansas and with the Boy Scouts of America.

Elena Johnson, Program Director, Washington Journalism & Media Conference

Elena is the Program Director for the Washington Journalism and Media Conference (WJMC). As the director, she works to create a fulfilling conference experience by developing the curriculum for the conference, as well as recruiting professional faculty and nationally recognized speakers in the fields of journalism and the media. She coordinates with the staff in the Office of Admissions to develop an enriching and well-executed conference for all the correspondents. Prior to working with WJMC, Elena worked as a College and Career Specialist helping high school students explore their educational and career goals and choices. She also managed the National Young Leaders Conference and the Global Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. and New York City. Elena earned her BA in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She is excited to welcome future journalists to the nation’s capital!

Matthew Boyce, Associate Director, K-12 Partnerships Program

Matthew serves as the Associate Director of K-12 Partnerships for George Mason University’s Admissions Office. Here he works with local schools and non-profits to build stronger relationships between Mason and students. Prior to joining the George Mason team, Matt worked in the college-access and non-profit sectors, helping thousands of high school students realize their college dreams as Director of New England Programming at Let’s Get Ready. His passion for working with underserved students began while serving as a teacher and mentor at a school for at-risk youth in Boston as an AmeriCorps volunteer. Matthew holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Philosophy from Villanova University, and a Masters of Education in School Counseling from Boston University.

Andrias White, Events Manager

Andrias serves as the Event Manager for the George Mason Office of Admissions and the Advanced Team Leader for the Washington Scholars Program. As Event Manager, she plans and facilitates recruitment events that attract prospective students from all over the country and showcase the prestige and innovation that is George Mason University. In her role as Advanced Team Leader, she is responsible for all on-campus logistics for the Washington Scholars Program Conferences and works hard to provide a seamless D.C. experience for all of the scholars. Prior to her permanent role in the Office of Admissions, Andrias served George Mason as Event Coordinator Assistant in the Office of Admissions. As a student, she received several university awards and was a member of many student organizations, university committees, and academic honor societies. However, she is most proud of her term as Student Representative on the GMU Board of Visitors. Andrias will complete her Bachelors of Science in Tourism and Events Management from the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism this spring at George Mason University and is proud to be a Mason Patriot!

Quayla Allen, Events Assistant

As the Events Assistant, Quayla serves as the secondary event planner and point of contact within the Office of Admissions at George Mason University. In addition to serving on the planning team for the Washington Scholars Program, she helps to plan and implement several on-campus recruitment and yield events each year. Prior to working at George Mason, she served as the Program Coordinator of the First-Year Experience at the University of Pittsburgh, where she worked to create programs and implement services to help retain first-year, transfer, and off-campus students. She has a passion for creating unique and engaging experiences for students both on and off campus. Quayla is new to Mason and the Washington metro area. She holds a BA in Professional Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations, from Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA.

Faculty Advisors

April van Buren, Mesa Vista Middle and High School, Ojo Caliente, NM

April van Buren, MJE, has taught journalism for a decade, including at Parkway Central High School in suburban St. Louis and at Mesa Vista Middle and High School in rural New Mexico. She teaches Beginning Journalism, Newspaper Production, Yearbook and some video and creative writing. She has also been an adjunct professor for the Communications Department at the University of New Mexico-Taos. From 2010 to May of 2013, she served as the New Mexico director for the Journalism Education Association and as the Vice President of the NM Scholastic Press Association. She earned her National Board certification in Language Arts in 2012 and studied journalism, education and library sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia. In August, she is moving to Madison, WI with her husband, a graduate student and former assistant editor of the Taos News. In her free time, she likes to read young adult fiction and plays roller derby and ice hockey.

Robin Goldstein, Flint Hill School, Washington, D.C.

Robin Goldstein teaches French and Journalism at the Flint Hill School, in Oakton, Virginia. She serves as the faculty adviser of The View, her school’s student newspaper. This year, the Virginia Association of Journalism Teachers and Advisers presented Mrs. Goldstein with the Washington & Lee Adviser Award, which recognizes advisers “who, though having worked in the field for less than five years, have made significant progress and have had a positive effect on their school’s program.” The Journalism Education Association named one of her students Virginia Student Journalist of the Year. Before moving to Washington, D.C., where she currently resides with her husband and two beloved cats, Mrs. Goldstein taught French and English as a second language in the Columbus, Ohio area. Prior to becoming a teacher, she worked in New York City as an assistant editor for Standard and Poor’s Leveraged Commentary and Data publications. Mrs. Goldstein has had her work published in various newspapers, as well as on cbsnews.com. Her most memorable journalism experience involved interviewing an inmate in Attica State Penitentiary and having the article published in the Buffalo Alternative Press.

Mrs. Goldstein received her M.A. in Foreign and Second Language Education from The Ohio State University and her B.A. in Communication (Journalism/Media Studies) and French from the State University of New York at Geneseo. She loves to travel and will be arriving for WJMC immediately following a two-week cultural and linguistic immersion trip to Morocco. Robin Goldstein teaches French and Journalism at the Flint Hill School, in Oakton, Virginia. She serves as the faculty adviser of The View, her school’s student newspaper. This year, the Virginia Association of Journalism Teachers and Advisers presented Mrs. Goldstein with the Washington & Lee Adviser Award, which recognizes advisers “who, though having worked in the field for less than five years, have made significant progress and have had a positive effect on their school’s program.” The Journalism Education Association named one of her students Virginia Student Journalist of the Year.

Thomas Curran, Grace King High School, Metairie, LA

Thomas Curran received a BA. in English Literature from Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts and a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of New Orleans. He has been the adviser for the Grace King High School Irish Eyes for eight years. The school newspaper has been in circulation for 43 years and has received top honors from CSPA, NSPA and Quill & Scroll. Mr. Curran served as a guest speaker at the Columbia Scholastic Press Association convention and received a fellowship to the ASNE Reynolds High School Journalism Institute at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. His Editor-in Chief was selected as the JEA Journalist of the Year for Louisiana this year. Mr. Curran also teaches English and is the sponsor of the Student Council. He has been teaching at Grace King for ten years and was awarded Teacher of the Year in 2010.He enjoys reading and kayaking. This will be the second summer Mr. Curran serves as a faculty advisor for the WJMC.

Anthony Whitten, Westfield High School, Chantilly, VA

Anthony Whitten teaches journalism at Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va. for Fairfax County Public Schools. He advises the Guardian yearbook and the Watchdog newspaper. The publications have earned Trophy Class designations from the Virginia High School League and the Guardian yearbook has received two Silver Crowns from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association during his tenure. In 2013, the Journalism Education Association recognized him as a Rising Star; the Virginia Association of Journalism Teachers and Advisers honored him with the Washington & Lee Young Adviser Award. He began his scholastic journalism career as a high school yearbook editor at Park View High School in Sterling, Va. He then attended the University of Virginia and joined yearbook there and served as Business Manager of Corks & Curls for three years.

Neelum Chaudhry, Lead Faculty Advisor, Freedom High School, South Riding, VA

Neelum Chaudhry is currently teaching in the Loudoun County Public Schools at Freedom High School in South Riding, VA. She serves as the English Department Chair, teaches British Literature and is the sponsor of the yearbook. This is her nineteenth year in the profession. After teaching for nine years and sponsoring both the school newspaper and yearbook, she left the profession to work in scholastic book publishing as the marketing director and assistant director at the Iowa State University Press and University of Minnesota Press.

After nine years, she returned to high school teaching and also taught part-time in the journalism department at Iowa State University. In 1978, she earned her bachelor's degree in journalism and English from the University of Iowa and then in 1980 she received a master's degree in journalism, also from the University of Iowa. We are thrilled to have Ms. Chaudry’s wealth of journalism experience at this year’s conference.

Matthew Schott, Francis Howell Central High School, St. Charles, MO

Matthew Schott is the publications adviser for Francis Howell Central Publications, this is his eighth year as an adviser after working as a graphic designer at four different newspapers. He advises newspaper, yearbook, literary magazine, website and broadcast. He loves working in a multimedia classroom that allows students to have an experience as close to working for a professional publication as possible.

Schott's publications have won numerous awards, including a Gold Crowns from CSPA and a Pacemakers from NSPA, as well as received numerous honors from varied local, state and national organizations.

In his personal time, Schott loves to spend time with his wife, an elementary school assistant principal, and two children, Noah and Sydney. He's a tech and photography geek, as well as an avid reader and rabid soccer fan. This is Schott's third year at WJMC. Hope you're ready for an amazing conference.

Stan Zoller, Rolling Meadows High School, Buffalo Grove, IL

Stan Zoller, MJE, has been a journalism educator and newspaper adviser for 14 years. During that time, his students have received a number of awards including Illinois Journalist of the Year (2010, 2011), finalists in the National Scholastic Press Association’s Sports Story of the Year (2010, 2012) and a finalist in the Journalism Education Association’s Journalist of the Year (2011). His student publications have received many awards including a 2012 Silver Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, an NSPA Pacemaker finalist, and three successive George Gallup Awards (2010, 2011, 2012) presented by Quill and Scroll. Zoller is Illinois State Director for JEA and is also a member of its Multicultural Commission. He has also served on the Board of the Kettle Moraine Press Association. Zoller was a Dow Jones News Fund Distinguished Adviser in 2011 and a Special Recognition Adviser in 2010. He was a 2003 Fellow of the American Society of News Editors. Prior to becoming an educator, Zoller worked in the media and media relations. He is still active in professional journalism and is a board member of the Chicago Headline Club, the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. His hobbies include photography, golf and model railroading. He is married and has two sons.

Melissa Larson, Mesa Middle School, Castle Rock, CO

Melissa Larson is in her sixth year as an educator. In 2013 she was recognized as one of nine Apple Award Finalists for Secondary Educator of the Year in the Douglas County School District. She teaches IB MYP technology courses including Digital Media, Multimedia Productions and Electronic Publications at Mesa Middle School in Castle Rock, Colorado. She has been advising the Imprints yearbook for five years. Her yearbook has won several awards including NSPA 2nd Place Best of Show in 2011 and NSPA 1st Place National Picture of the Year in 2012. She is also the adviser for Mesa’s online news publication, www.Mesa365.com. She was a fellow at the 2012 ASNE Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Business/Computer Information Systems at Colorado State University. She is married and has three daughters.

Matt Rasgorshek, Westside High School, Omaha, NE

Matt Rasgorshek (@matt_raz) is the broadcast and online adviser at Westside High School in Omaha, NE. His publications have received state, regional and national recognition. Westside Wired has been honored as one of the nation's top high school online publications. Warrior Television has been recognized as one of the nation's top broadcast programs. He is a district representative for the Nebraska High School Press Association (NHSPA) and is actively involved on the JEA's Digital Media committee. He was also awarded the NHSPA's Distinguished Adviser Award for 2011-2012. Prior to teaching, Matt worked behind the camera as a newscast director, producer, videographer and editor in local affiliates in Omaha and Phoenix.

Brian Wilson, Kettering High School, Waterford, MI

Brian Wilson, MJE, advises Kismet and The Murmur, the yearbook and newspaper at Kettering High School in Waterford, MI. He is also adviser of WaterfordDrift.com, the online student newspaper, taught AP Composition for seven years, and currently serves as a coordinator in the high school Academic Center. Wilson serves as JEA Liaison to the National Council of Teachers of English and is former president of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association. He has presented at workshops and conferences across the country and in 2009 he was awarded the Golden Pen, given to Michigan’s top publication adviser. In 2011 he was named a JEA Distinguished Yearbook Adviser.