2006 News: Elected Officers of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers

COLUMBIA, MO., Wednesday, May 3, 2006 ­ Dave Kansas, editor of the Money and Investing section of The Wall Street Journal, was named president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers during its annual conference.

Gail DeGeorge, business editor of the South Florida SunSentinel, became SABEW¹s vice president. Bernie Kohn, the assistant managing editor/business for The Baltimore Sun, became treasurer.

SABEW, with 3,500 members, is the leading trade group for business journalists. The three officers assumed their new jobs at the organization’s 43rd annual conference in Minneapolis/St. Paul from April 30 to May 2.Jonathan Lansner, a business columnist with The Orange County Register, completed his year-long term as president at the conference.

SABEW members also elected three new members to the Board of Governors:

• John Corrigan, senior markets editor of the Los Angeles Times.
• Stephen Keating, business editor of The Denver Post.
• Susan Tompor, personal finance columnist with the Detroit Free Press.

Five incumbent governors were re-elected:

• Mark Braykovich, business editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
• Andre Jackson, assistant managing editor/business of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
• Greg McCune, training editor of Reuters.
• Josh Mills, director, master’s program in business journalism, Baruch College/CUNY.
• Rob Reuteman, business editor of the Rocky Mountain News.

The new and re-elected governors join these current members of SABEW¹s board:

• Cathie Anderson, business editor, the Sacramento Bee;
• Becky Bisbee, business editor, Seattle Times;
• Bill Choyke, business editor, Virginian-Pilot;
• Charles Crumpley, editor, Los Angeles Business Journal;
• Henry Dubroff, chairman and editor, Pacific Coast Business Times;
• George Gombossy, business editor, Hartford Courant;
• Diana Henriques, financial reporter, The New York Times;
• Gail MarksJarvis, columnist for the Chicago Tribune;
• Kevin Noblet, business editor for the Associated Press; and
• Jill Jorden Spitz, assistant managing editor for news, business and training, Arizona Daily Star.

At the 2006 SABEW annual conference, the distinguished achievement award went to Carol Junge Loomis, the editor at large for Fortune magazine, where she’s worked for 52 years and continues to break notable stories. The President’s Award, only the fourth ever given, went to Jerry Heaster, who retired in January as business and economics columnist for The Kansas City Star. Heaster was SABEW president 25 years ago when the organization had only 150 members. He is credited as among the first to begin reinvigorating SABEW.

Among the speakers at the conference: Richard Zannino, the chief executive of Dow Jones & Co., who reassured his audience with a reasonably upbeat assessment of the prospects for journalism; William McGuire, the chief executive of UnitedHealth Group, who briefly defended the use of stock options as incentives for executives; and Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission,
who, among other things, said officials are discussing the notion of requiring companies to disclose more financial information that’s reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

The annual Best in Business Awards honoring 2005’s finest in business journalism were presented at the Twin Cities conference. For the first time, awards for columnists were given out. A record number of entries ­-- 847, a 31 percent increase from last year ­-- was received.

SABEW's 44th annual conference will be held MAY 20-22, 2007 in Anaheim, Calif.

SABEW is an independent, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to encourage comprehensive reporting of economic and financial events and to upgrade the craft's skills and knowledge through educational efforts.

SABEW is headquartered in Columbia, Mo., at the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri.