Lee Ivory
Greetings, current and future WABJ members:
Lee Ivory here. At long last, we have our website up and flourishing. Thanks go to vice president Brian DeBose, board member David Jones and webmaster Simeon Wilbanks. Please keep your eyes on this site for exciting announcements about events and happenings with our members.
We have been working very hard to get WABJ back on the map with potential sponsors and partners in the Washington area. It is an understatement to say that we could be in better shape financially and we are working very hard to make that a reality in 2006.
Shirley Carswell, our new treasurer, has done a wonderful job of stabilizing our books so that we know definitively where we stand. Shirley, vice president Brian Debose and I also have worked very hard to set in place a structure that will prevent the kind of malfeasance we've had in the past.
One thing that also will be important to us as we move forward is increasing our membership roles. There's no reason why the Washington chapter shouldn't be one of the strongest and highest-profile chapters in NABJ. Look at the talent in this town!!!!
I think it's important that the members take ownership of this chapter and not wait around for ideas from the board. To that end, we need your ideas about fund-raising, about potential scholarship partners, about ways to double or even triple our membership this year.
We need participation from everyone – young and old. This will be a dynamic year for WABJ and we want all of you aboard.
Check out our events board on the site to review some of the exciting things WABJ has been involved already this year, including our exhilarating Bill Cosby Call Out at the University of the District of Columbia.
Lastly, if you missed the election results or any of the emails since, here's a look at your 2007 WABJ board with brief bios:
Lee Ivory, President. Lee is deputy managing editor of USA TODAY Sports and senior editor of USA TODAY Sports Weekly, formerly called USA TODAY Baseball Weekly. Lee, 47, has worked in a variety of roles with Gannett since 1981. As an editor, he has managed coverage ranging from Congress and the White House to local political races. He graduated Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Ark., with a major in journalism and a minor in radio/TV. He hails from Hot Springs, Ark. He currently lives in Woodbridge, Va.
Brian DeBose, Vice President. Brian is an eight-year journalist working as a National Desk Congressional Correspondent for The Washington Times. He also has worked for the black press in Washington, including The Informer, Afro-American and Tribune and New Observer newspapers. He is a native Washingtonian and graduated the University of Delaware with degrees in political science, english/business and technical writing and African-American historical and cultural studies.
Shirley Carswell, Treasurer. Shirley is assistant managing editor, planning and administration, at The Washington Post. She has oversight of the newsroom budget and operations, including information technology. In nearly 18 years at The Post, she has held several editing positions, and was Metro copy chief before moving to her current role. She previously worked as an editor at papers in Richmond and Detroit. She has a B.A. in journalism from Howard University, and was a 2004 McCormick Fellow. She grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, and lives in Glenn Dale, Md.
Demel Baber, Parliamentarian. Demel is a staff writer for the University of the District of Columbia Trilogy Newspaper and newly elected president of the UDC Journalism Club. She has more than eight years of administrative experience. At 14, she began working in D.C. Superior Courts' Center for Education Training and Development. She went on to administrative internships at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. She is a native Washingtonian.
Akeya Dickson, Secretary. Akeya is an editorial assistant with the Washington Post Sunday Source who worked at the Post while majoring in print journalism at Howard University. In addition to working in various posts at her school newspaper, The Hilltop, she interned at BET.com in Washington, DC; covered retail trends and spot news for the Equities desk at Reuters in NY; was a member in the inaugural class of the New York Times Summer Institute at Dillard University in New Orleans; and penned stories for the Chattanooga Times Free Press as a general assignment Metro reporter.
January Payne, Board Member. January is editor of Health Plan Week (formerly Managed Care Week), a pulbication that focuses on developments in the health insurance industry. She was a staff writer for The Washington Post for three years, primarily covering consumer health issues. A native of Harrisburg, Pa., January was also an adjunct journalism professor at the University of Maryland, College Park -- where she earned a bachelor's degree in December 2003. In addition, January has written for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA TODAY, the (Harrisburg, Pa.) Patriot-News, the Student Press Law Center, Capital News Service (a wire service run by U-Md.) and many other publications and web sites.
Donna Walker, Board Member. Donna is an experienced television reporter and producer. She has worked on local and national broadcasts, including as a correspondent for BET News, and as senior producer/reporter for The Scott Report, an award-winning national newsmagazine on the Odyssey network. A longtime volunteer with WABJ and other journalism workshop programs, for the past five years Donna has served as Leader of WABJ's Television Workshop. She is a Missouri native and graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She lives in Columbia, Md.
David Jones, Board Member. David is a Public Relations Manager and the Speaker's Bureau Coordinator for The Washington Post. He also serves as the program manager for the Eastern High School, Howard University Partnership and Principals Leadership Institute. David also serves as an Associate Producer of The Washington Post Music & Dance Scholarship Awards. He joined The Post's public relations department in 1998; prior to that, he was a marketing consultant for the Point of Purchase Advertising Institute and Symbology Technologies. He also served as an Adjunct English Instructor at Montgomery College and as a Program Auditor & Asylum Officer with the U.S. General Accounting Office and Department of Justice. David was born in Berkeley, Calif., and was raised in San Jose. He holds a B.S. in marketing and economics from Howard University and a master's degree in public administration and policy from The Ohio State University.
Cheers,
Lee Ivory
President
WABJ
