New Board Leaders Take Office at WAN-IFRA’s Annual Meeting

"The appointees add diversity to the Board of Directors. Their experience in and commitment to journalism will add much to our deliberations on the way forward for the media", said Fernando de Yarza López-Madrazo, President of the Henneo Group in Spain and current President of WAN-IFRA. "We are thrilled to have these distinguished publishers and top media executives join the WAN-IFRA Supervisory and Executive Boards at this time and assist the global news publishers association in its way forward. I want to thank our departing Board Members for volunteering to serve on our Board, for bringing their passion, intellect, insight, experience and resources to the table. As they look back on their time with us, they know that our achievements would not have been possible without them at the helm", added de Yarza.

Ten media executives were elected to new Supervisory Board terms:

• Jennifer Bertetto, President and CEO of Trib Total Media, USA.
• Guy Black, Group Deputy Chairman of The Telegraph Media Group Limited, United Kingdom.
• Sinead Boucher, CEO of Stuff Limited, New Zealand.
• Juan Jaime Díaz, Commercial and Corporate Affairs Director of El Mercurio. President ANP (Asociación Nacional de la Prensa), Chile
• Majella Gallagher, Managing Director of Irish Examiner, Ireland.
• Jean-Pierre de Kerraoul, President of Sogemedia, France. President ENPA (European Newspaper Publishers‘ Association).
• Donna B. Hall, President and CEO of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA.
• Toyosi Ogunseye, Head of West Africa at BBC World Service Africa, Nigeria.
• Paul Peckels, CEO of Saint-Paul Luxembourg S.A., President ALMI (Association Luxembourgeoise des Medias d’Information), Luxembourg.
• Pia Rehnquist, Head of Content at Bonnier News Local, Sweden.

Four Supervisory Board Members were appointed to the WAN-IFRA Executive Board:

• Sinead Boucher, CEO of Stuff Limited, New Zealand.
• Valdo Lehari Jr., Publisher and CEO of Reutlinger General-Anzeiger, Germany.
• Toyosi Ogunseye, Head of West Africa at BBC World Service Africa, Nigeria.
• Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, President and CEO of The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines.

Twenty-five media executives were reappointed for a new term of office at the WAN-IFRA Supervisory Board:

• Eugene Abov, Vice-President GIPP (Russia’s Publishing Industry Union), Russian Federation.
• Saleh Alhumaidan, Chairman WAN-IFRA Middle East Committee, Saudi Arabia.
• Juan Amaya, General Manager of Casa Editorial El Tiempo S.A., Colombia.
• Alessandro Bompieri, Managing Director of RCS Media Group, Italy.
• Oleksandr Chovhan, President RIA Media Corporation Ukraine.
• Hans Heinrich Coninx, Board Member Schweizer Medien, Switzerland.
• Phillip Crawley, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of The Globe and Mail, Canada.
• Daniel Dessein, President of La Gaceta de Tucumán, Argentina.
• Rolf Dyrnes Svendsen, Head at Nxt Media Lab, Norway.
• Fatemah Farag, CEO of Welad ElBalad Media, Egypt.
• Stoyana Georgieva, Founder and editor in chief of Mediapool.bg, Bulgaria.
• Shailesh Gupta, Director of Jagran Prakashan Ltd, India.
• Vesa-Pekka Kangaskorpi, CEO and President of Keskisuomalainen Oyj, Finland.
• Tibor Kovács, Director of Ringier Axel Springer, Hungary.
• Shanth Kumar K N, Director of The Printers (Mysore) Pvt. Ltd., India.
• Valdo Lehari Jr., Publisher and CEO of Reutlinger General-Anzeiger, Germany.
• Thomas Lindner, CEO of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany.
• Lisa MacLeod, United Kingdom.
• Petru Macovei, Executive Director of API (Association of Independent Press), Republic of Moldova.
• Alexander Mitteräcker, Managing Director of Standard Verlags GmbH, Austria.
• Stig Ørskov, CEO of JP/Politikens Hus A/S, Denmark.
• César Pérez Barriga, Publisher of C.A. El Universo, Ecuador.
• Sinha Ratnatunga, Executive Director and Editor in chief of Wijeya Newspapers Ltd, Sri Lanka.
• Libuše Šmuclerová, CEO of Czech News Center a.s., Czech Republic.
• Daniel Van Wylick, Chief Editorial Officer of Rossel & Cie. President lapresse.be, Belgium.

Eight executives are departing the WAN-IFRA Supervisory Board after many years of service:

• Kevin Beatty, CEO of dmg::media, United Kingdom.
• Sture Bergman, CEO of VK Media, Sweden.
• Yildirim Demiroren, President of Demiroren Media Group, Turkey.
• José Roberto Dutriz, President and Managing Director of Grupo Dutriz, El Salvador.
• Liam Kavanagh, Managing Director of The Irish Times Ltd, Ireland.
• Carlo Perrone, Board Member of GEDI, Italy.
• Karin Pettersson, Culture Editor of Aftonbladet Hierta AB, Sweden.
• Alvin Sold, Board Member of Editpress, Luxembourg.

ABOUT THE WAN-IFRA SUPERVISORY AND EXECUTIVE BOARDS

Members of the WAN-IFRA Supervisory Board have a community-engagement role with decision-making power. They approve the strategy and budget of the association, elect the Executive Board and represent the association to the membership and the membership to the association. Executive Board Members have an oversight and stewardship role under the strategic guidance of the President.

"Despite everything this moment of change brings, I believe there exists an immense opportunity. It is a moment for us to redraw an economic model that works in the interests of professional media to continue with renewed drive and determination to serve our communities, placing the values that define us, that have been at the core of our profession. We are proud to stand in the promotion of professional excellence, press freedom and the freedoms of our society with our Board Members. I want to thank them for their loyal support. It is a message that resonates loudly among WAN-IFRA’s global community", said Vincent Peyrègne, CEO WAN-IFRA.

Review all members of the WAN-IFRA Supervisory Board and Executive Board of Directors. The WAN-IFRA annual Activity Report 2019 is available here.