A Message of Gratitude and Transition from NABJ’s Executive Director

 

Dear NABJ Members:

I am officially doing what I’ve contemplated for the past few years.

I am shifting all of my time to engage with my five pint-sized, highly energetic grandkids, my 94-year-old dad, and my lovely wife, who has been my best friend for 44 years.  

Yes, I am retiring in the very near future.

I have served as NABJ Executive Director under five talented presidents. During that time, I’ve had the pleasure of working with an incredible team of dedicated national office employees, as well as passionate boards, members, and volunteers. I am proud of the personal and collective achievements over the nine plus years I have been intimately engaged with NABJ management:

I helped lead a team that developed and executed critical financial strategies. Those strategies brought NABJ out of scary and crippling annual financial deficits. Those deficits were hundreds of thousands of dollars that threatened our ability to pay our bills. 

I have helped build a $5 million dollar investment portfolio to continue to fuel NABJ activities like Student Projects, Leadership Academy, NABJ Cares and hundreds of NABJ Convention training and development sessions along with a robust NABJ Career Fair that is the envy of other organizations.

I have helped create, support and sustain the NABJ Leadership Academy.

I was the recipient of two NABJ President’s Awards under two separate NABJ presidents for my contributions to the financial stability of the organization.

And finally, I was inducted into the NABJ Hall of Fame for my contributions to NABJ and the journalism industry. It is an honor with deep personal meaning for me and one I consider a highlight of my career, on par with my three Emmy Awards.

Amid strong headwinds, I have tried to do my part to continue what our incredible Founders started almost 50 years ago. All of us still benefit from what those brave individuals did to help us get opportunities in the journalism industry. My experiences as TV station General Manager, News Director, Executive Producer, Producer and Reporter in markets including New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Dallas, Atlanta, New Orleans and Austin were made possible by the work of our NABJ Founders. I owe them for the opportunities and my success. I have tried to do what they have done over the years – and that is to help dozens of people get new jobs and promotions by utilizing my contacts and by providing jobs for them when I was in news management.

In addition to the Founders, I owe a special thank you to former NABJ presidents Kathy Times, Sarah Glover, Dorothy Tucker, Barbara Ciara and now Ken Lemon. All of us have worked together with some talented board members, sometimes in a storm of controversy, to make the best decisions for NABJ’s future. None of us are perfect, but I can assure you that all of us have one big thing in common. We are all dedicated to the well-being of our great organization.

Although my time as executive director will end in the coming months, my love for NABJ will never end. I am focused on providing an incredible celebration of NABJ’s 50th anniversary in our upcoming convention in Cleveland and celebration gala in Washington, DC in November.

See ya’ there!

Drew Berry

Retiring NABJ Executive Director

From The G-Man and The G-Man Interviews applaud and congratulate Mr. Berry on his service to the National Association of Black Journalists and wish him the absolute best in the years to come.