Alumni Association

Alexis Gelber '80 Named Chair of New Alumni Board

Twenty graduates were nominated to the board of the Alumni Association, with Alexis Gelber '80, director of special projects for Newsweek, and Michael Kubin '05, CEO and managing director of Ionic Media, Inc. named chair and vice chair respectively.

"The graduates bring a wealth of experience to the board," said A'Lelia Bundles '76, chair of the nominating committee. "We are pleased to nominate a board that is truly representative of our alumni and reflects its diversity of profession, geography, age, gender and ethnicity."

The other members of the board are: Myron Belkind '62; professorial lecturer, George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs; Rebecca Castillo '06, assistant director, Columbia Scholastic Press Association; Jane Eisner '78, vice president for national programs and initiatives, National Constitution Center (Philadelphia, Pa.); Zubeida Jaffer '96, writer/author (South Africa); Shahabadeen Karim '95, news producer, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; Fiona Kirk '00, freelance journalist; Margaret McBride Lehrman '70, senior producer, coverage and special events for NBC News (Washington, DC); Richard Levine '63, president and chairman of the board of directors, Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, Inc.; Steven Litt '80, art and architecture critic, the Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH); Elizabeth Reagan Parker '93 (San Francisco, Calif.); Andrew Pergam '01, reporter with NBC30/WVIT-TV (New Haven, Conn.); David Peterkin '82, executive director of news practices for ABC News; Barry Rothfeld '73, president and publisher of the Poughkeepsie Journal; Irina Slutsky '00, reporter, Geek Entertainment TV (San Francisco, Calif.); Gayle Pollard Terry '73, freelance writer (Los Angeles); Thomas Watkins '84, news editor, CNN (Atlanta); Stephen Wolgast '92, staff editor at the New York Times; and Rick Zednik '94, circulation sales director, the Wall Street Journal Europe (Belgium). Each board member will serve staggered terms, which are renewable for a full 3-year term, and attend three annual meetings.

The Society of Professional Journalists-Columbia chapter president and the alumni director will serve as ex-officio members of the Board. The chair of the Alumni Association will serve as an ex-officio member of the J-School Board of Visitors as well as an ex-officio member of the Columbia Alumni Association.

Nearly 50 alumni submitted nominations for the new board, the culmination of a year-long process. Two years ago, an Alumni Association Task Force met to examine the mission, goals and best practices of a journalism school's alumni association, following the lead of Columbia University which undertook an examination of its own Alumni Association. With the guidance of an outside consultant, the Task Force developed a strategic plan, which included a mission statement, primary goals and strategies. During the past year, a transition team had the opportunity to lay the foundation for an Alumni Association that would work closely with the alumni relations office and serve as a link between the School and its alumni.

"The transition team’s recommendations are designed to provide a framework for the future," Bundles said. "But it will be up to the new board to devise ways to implement the proposals and to stay true to the mission of creating “a lifelong bond among alumni and [connecting] them to the students and faculty of the School” while also working “in partnership with the School and its Alumni Office to engage a diverse group of graduates worldwide through programs and services that address the needs of its members.”