Herman, Keefe, Summers Elected to Online News Association Board

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - Oct 20, 2011) - Members of the Online News Association (ONA), the world's largest membership organization of digital journalists, elected three new members to its Board of Directors and reelected three incumbents to two-year terms.

The newest members -- Burt Herman, CEO and Founder, Storify and Hacks/Hackers; John Keefe, WNYC's Senior Editor for Data News & Journalism Technology; and Juana Summers, Political Reporter, POLITICO -- begin their two-year terms on Jan. 1, 2012. Joining the newest directors will be Mario Tedeschini-Lalli, Deputy Director, Innovation and Development, at the Italian media company Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso, who was appointed as an international Board member earlier this year.

"We're thrilled to have Burt, Juana and John join the Board," said ONA President Christine Montgomery. "All three are innovators in the industry and bring a wealth of diverse experience to our growing organization."

Burt Herman is co-founder and CEO of Storify, a platform for creating stories from social media, and founder of Hacks/Hackers, a worldwide organization bringing together journalists and technologists. He has been named by the Poynter Institute as one of the most influential journalists in social media, and frequently speaks and writes about the changing media landscape.

John Keefe is WNYC's Senior Editor for Data News & Journalism Technology. For nine years, he has guided the station's news operation and grown its capacity for breaking news, election coverage and investigative reporting. His work includes numerous online Census projects, analysis of NYPD arrests by geography, campaign-finance maps and texting-based crowd-sourcing efforts. Keefe collaborates across departments, works with other news organizations and builds applications with Ruby, JavaScript and an array of free, online tools.

Juana Summers is a national political reporter for POLITICO. She currently covers the 2012 presidential election. She came to POLITICO from The Kansas City Star, where she covered the Missouri Senate race and worked on the Star's award-winning Midwest Democracy Project. She has also reported for the state legislative bureau of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where she covered Missouri government and statewide issues.

Three incumbent members also were reelected: Christine Montgomery, Chief Digital Officer, Center for Public Integrity; current Board Vice President/Treasurer Jim Brady, Editor-in-Chief, Journal Register Company; and Website Redevelopment Chair Meredith Artley, Vice President and Managing Editor, CNN Digital.

Serving out their current terms are Board Treasurer Jody Brannon, National Director, News21; Board Secretary Cory Haik, Deputy Editor, Universal News Desk, The Washington Post; Joshua Hatch, Online Content Manager, Sunlight Live; Robert Hernandez, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism; Katie King, Senior Product Manager, Portal and Partnerships, MSN UK; Rob King, Vice President / Editor-in-Chief, ESPN Digital Media; Will Sullivan, Director of Mobile News, Lee Enterprises; and Amy Webb, CEO, Webbmedia Group.

Four current board members will leave the Board after Dec. 31: Katharine Fong, Editor and Publisher, Scene Magazine, San Jose Mercury News/Bay Area News Group; Ken Sands, Site Manager, Bloomberg Government; Liz Lufkin, former Vice President, Front Page Programming at Yahoo!; and Anthony Moor, Managing Editor, Local, Yahoo!, and Online Journalism Awards Chair.

"Katharine, Ken, Liz and Anthony each have contributed countless hours to moving ONA forward over the years, in the areas of diversity, training, strategy and the Online Journalism Awards," Montgomery said. "We will miss their talent, skill and dedication."

The Online News Association is the world's largest association of digital journalists. ONA's mission is to inspire innovation and excellence among journalists to better serve the public. The membership includes news writers, producers, designers, editors, bloggers, developers, photographers, educators, students and others who produce news for and support digital delivery systems. ONA also hosts the annual Online News Association conference and administers the Online Journalism Awards.