CHICAGO HEADLINE CLUB
Board of directors meeting
Fri. April 6, 2018
President Ben Meyerson called the meeting to order.
Also present: Suzanne McBride, Brandis Friedman, Alejandra Cancino, Dann Gire, Jason Martin, Stan Zoller, Flynn McRoberts, Mike Ewing, Susan S. Stevens, and on the phone Kristen Schorsch, Rob Elder, Richelle Rodgers, Howard Dubin and Patrick Boylan. Kathy Catrambone also was present.
Minutes for the March meeting were approved as Susan submitted them.
New eaddress for board member Adriana Cardona, who has a new job at WBEZ: adrianamaria.cardona@gmail.
President’s report: Ben said plans for next year have changed. Brandis will not be president. Alejandra will be. Brandis apologized, citing increasing work responsibilities and plans to adopt a baby. She will remain on the board.
Rob will become membership vice president and president elect.
Kristen will become FOI vp
Patrick will remain treasurer, Susan will remain secretary
Mike Ewing will remain webmaster
Brandis and Alejandra are still working on recruiting new board members, but here’s who they have so far:
Maya Dukmasova, Reader
Alex Hernandez, In These Times
Maria Zamudio, American Public Media
Dawn Rhodes, Tribune
Rachel Hinton, Sun-Times
Ben said the board has seven or eight openings. Dann and Evan Moore are departing from the board. Dann will continue with scholarships. Look for an email vote in the next few days.
Programming: SPJ Regional Conference this afternoon and tomorrow. Ben said this is one of three 150+ attendee Chicago programs this year.
Alejandra said a Lisagor finalist list unveiling will be 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Billy Goat’s. List will be posted at 8:30 p.m. on the website and be eblasted.
Treasurer’s report: Patrick emailed it to us earlier. As of April 1, we had total assets of $108,685.12, which will be the high point for the year. Lisagor plaques will be a big upcoming expense.
Patrick is working on a Chicago Public Schools internship program for high school students, and is contacting 32 media companies.
FOI: Stan received the Loyola video, which he said is awesome. He will email it to us and have Mike post on the website. He will ask perennial and wonderful host Loyola to save us the last Saturday in February for the 2019 FOIAFest. He thinks we can get McCormick Foundation funding next year.
Lisagor: Kathy said everything seems to be going well. The plaques are ordered, so is the chicken dinner. The program book is well under way. Union League Club dinner estimate is $23,800. She said with $2,313 for AV and $7,900 for plaques, plus programs the total cost will be $115 a person. She will try to negotiate down the ULC cost.
Of the 100 categories, 26 had only one finalist, 5 had no entries, 3-4 had no winner.
Flynn will give the “60 Minutes” video on the Mirage Tavern (Lifetime Achievement winners) to Richelle for editing down and combining with the recent Sun-Times video.
Flynn need judges for five last categories for our recripocal duties. Got them.
Watchdog: Jason said responsive judges and good feedback meant all went well for the Award. He’ll resume promoting Watchdog Grants.
Website: Mike sees a 25 percent open rate on emails, which is really good.
Brownlee Scholarship: Dann received five application (a sixth turned up later). Susan will forward them to the CHC Foundation board for selection.
CHC Foundation: Stan said no summer event is planned.
NICAR: We received one sponsorship acknowledgement.
Next meeting: Fri. May 4.
Meeting adjourned at 10:15 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan S. Stevens, secretary