Board members in attendance: Justina Sharp (Student Representative), P. Kim Bui, Eric Carvin, Josh Hatch, Mandy Jenkins, Greg Linch, Nathalie Malinarich, Shazna Nessa, Versha Sharma,, Elite Truong, Jose Zamora, Celeste LeCompte.
Board members not present: Charo Henriquez, Imaeyen Ibanga, David Smydra, Benét Wilson.
Staff in attendance: Irving Washington, Executive Director; Trevor Knoblich, Head of Programs and Events; Jessica Strelitz, Head of Strategic Strategic Partnerships; Jen Mizgata, Director of Programs; Adam Nekola, Senior Digital Manager; Meghan Murphy, Senior Manager, Communities and Local Journalism Initiatives; Karolle Rabarison, Communications Manager.
The meeting was called to order at 12:02 p.m.
Old Business
The board unanimously approved the minutes for the March board call.
General Data Protection Regulation (Adam)
- Adam discussed the General Data Regulation passed by EU member states which allows citizens more ownership over data.
ONA18 / ONA Insights (Trevor)
- Insights has been pulled together with Mathew Ingram and Celeste, Jake Bassell and three local leaders.
- Closing in on 100 registrants, but there is still plenty of room.
- David Skok will be moderating a conversation and giving a sneak peek on his project.
- ONA18 registration is open. We are no longer using Eventbrite, but a new platform with a slightly smaller cost.
- All 400+ submission for ONA18 have been reviewed thanks to a wonderful programming team of 22. We’ll be looking at a draft program in a couple of weeks.
- To help us we have a new consultant, Brian Duff, to help with ONA18 programming.
Online Journalism Awards (Kim)
- A new award: Collaboration and potentially a community award
- Adjustments to other awards, and folding four categories into two: Feature and Explanatory
- New Micro General Excellence category, thanks to Democracy fund for paying entry fees
Governance Committee (Josh)
- The committee is going to meet next week and walk through issues
- The committee will present their conclusions and proposals at the June board meeting
Journalism 360 (Jen)
- One of our Journalism 360 grantees won a Pulitzer!
- The first J360 conference and demo day are July 24/25, Jen is in NYC looking at sites
- We have a new commitment from Knight and Google this year, an announcement on the conference and commitments will likely be next week. The conference and demo day will be free and open to the public
- Grants will be open at GEN conference, Jen and Laura Hertzfeld will be there and having a happy hour and dinner at the conference
Committees / Strategic Planning (Irving)
- We are one of the donating partners to a fund to help with Sinclair-impacted journalists.
- The executive committee has met with Nell Edgington, a new advisory committee will be formed that will meet four times a year for a few hours. The advisory group will be a mix of board members and ONA members.
The meeting ended at 12:54 p.m. ET.
There will be no board call in May. The next board meeting is June 22.
These minutes are submitted by Secretary P. Kim Bui