Minutes – Dec. 16, 2016 – Online News Association

Board members in attendance:

Board members not present:

Also Present:

  Staff in attendance:

The meeting was called to order at 2:04 p.m.

The board unanimously approved the minutes for the November 11, 2016, board call.

Trevor introduces Adam Nekola, who is the new senior digital manager, and says the staff is thrilled to have him on board
Adam gives an overview of his previous ONA involvement going back to 2011.
Journalism 360 full-time consultant position received nearly 50 applicants. Irving says top finalists have been narrowed down and interviews will begin early January. Irving says it’s a strong group they’re confident in finding a good candidate.
Negotiations with NPR for new two-year lease continue and Jane hopes they will be completed before she leaves

January board meeting is coming up. There will be a board book sent around beforehand. Jane will be writing some of it and Irving will be paying attention to the financial pieces
Great orientation call with three new board members, which included Jane, Irving and Josh

Jen says planning continues and everything is awesome
All of the 25 women selected accepted and the cohort will be announced before the holidays
Great line-up of speakers, including some already announced
Additional mentors will also come in to talk with fellows
Second round of programming TK
Jen is happy to answer any questions
Jane says we’ve come a long way since the lady leadership lightning talks and cited Jen’s great efforts on the accelerator

Google News Lab included breakout session with advice for ONA on how best to conduct J360 initiative
Irving attended White House office of technology with 40 tech leaders. ONA was the only journalism organization in attendance; others were STEM groups. Focus on how to get more women and people of color involved from the early stages.
Irving says it was good to network with others, see similar opportunities among fields, etc.

We have two conferences: ONA17 and ONA Dublin
Trevor says they’re putting together the ONA17 program team and making sure it’s a diverse group; they need to have strong enough networks to help as well as time to sort through pitches for the eight tracks
Email Trevor with any suggestions
Save-the-date for the ONA17 website coming soon, which will also include link for attendees to reserve their hotel rooms
Jess says they’ve had lots of early sponsor interest and emphasizes that it’s never too early to let other know about that. She asks for any connections to help with that.
Jess says ONA Dublin is all set for May at Facebook’s HQ there. We’ll have sponsors and booths.
Trevor says there was one theme for the previous ONA London conference. This year there is no overarching themes.
Steve went to Copenhagen for Danish ONA conference, which included more than 100 attendees and he can discuss further at the January board meeting

David Cohn says there will be one final reminder for the board to donate before the end of the year.

Josh thanks Jody for her 10 years of service on the ONA board
Josh thanks Robert and says he looks forward to Robert’s continued involvement with J360 initiative
Josh thanks Jim Roberts
Josh thanks Jane for making ONA what it is today

The meeting ended at 2:29 p.m. ET.

The next call will be in February because of the January board meeting.

These minutes are submitted by Greg Linch