Slate announced for 2016 ONA Board of Directors election

By on August 31, 2015

We’re happy to announce the slate of nominees for the 2016 Board of Directors for the Online News Association.

Under the bylaws, the board may be comprised of up to 15 voting members. For the 2016-17 Board term, there are seven seats open, with one seat reserved for appointment, leaving six seats open for election. Terms are for two years and begin Jan. 1, 2016.

Five new candidates and six incumbents, representing a wide and diverse range of digital media, are running.

Here is the slate; head to this page to find out more about the candidates and their vision for ONA.

New candidates

  • Ting Cai, Group Product Manager, Bing/Microsoft (nominated by Jody Brannon, ONA Board member, and Baogang Yao, Partner Group Program Manager, Microsoft)
  • Daniel Colarusso, Executive Editor, Reuters (nominated by Arlene Getz, Editor in Charge, Digital News, Thomson Reuters)
  • Matt Sheehan, Director, Innovation News Center, University of Florida (nominated by Randy Bennett, Director of Entrepreneurship and Partnerships, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications)
  • David Skok, Managing Editor and General Manager, BostonGlobe.com (nominated by Joshua Benton, Director, Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University)
  • Alan Soon, Founder and CEO, The Splice Newsroom (nominated by Jim Roberts, Executive Editor/Chief Content Officer, Mashable and ONA Board member, and Janie Octia, Editorial Operations Manager, Yahoo India and Southeast Asia | Co-Founder, ONA Singapore)

Incumbents

Learn more about the candidates

Voting will open Thursday, Sept. 24, and end Oct. 9. Winners will be announced Oct. 20. All ONA members in good standing as of Sept. 23, 2015, are eligible to vote. Renew or join to ensure your vote.

The election cycle will once again open during the 2015 Online News Association Conference & Awards Banquet in Los Angeles, and candidates also will be introduced at a Lightning Round session on Thursday, Sept. 24, to present their visions for ONA and answer questions from voting members.

During the campaign, candidates will be encouraged to use any and all social networking tools at their disposal to tell voters how they will help move ONA forward.

ONA also will be selecting and appointing a first-time non-voting Student Board member, who will be announced in the fall.

Good luck to the nominees, and, as always, we thank our members for your participation in this important process — and for being a vital part of our growing digital community.

Jeremiah Patterson

Jeremiah Patterson

Jeremiah was ONA's Digital Manager from 2012 to the fall of 2016 and was responsible for ONA's collection of websites, including journalists.org, conference websites, the membership center, awards platforms and more. Before joining ONA, he served as a web producer and content developer at The Wildlife Society, maintaining the organization’s website, email marketing and other online services. An Ohio native and media enthusiast, Jeremiah grew up with a deep interest in video production and graphic design. He now focuses in user experience and human-centered design.