WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Press Club, the world's leading professional organization for journalists, announced today its membership has elected Bloomberg News correspondent Alan Bjerga as its 103rd president. Bjerga will succeed USA Today reporter Donna Leinwand for a one-year term starting Jan. 15, 2010.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080917/NPCLOGO)

Bjerga, 36, is currently the National Press Club's vice president. He also has served as the Club's treasurer and as a member of its Board of Governors. He has identified journalism training and support of free speech worldwide as central to his upcoming term.

"Journalists are communicating in new ways even as pressures on news organizations increase," Bjerga said. "What hasn't changed is journalism's importance. The National Press Club will be a leader in helping journalists to navigate a changing profession while supporting efforts to advance a free press globally."

Bjerga, who grew up on a farm in northern Minnesota, covers agricultural policy for Bloomberg News. This year he won awards from the Overseas Press Club, the New York Press Club, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and the North American Agricultural Journalists for his work in Ethiopia on famine and U.S. food aid.

He previously worked in the Knight-Ridder Washington bureau, where he won the NAAJ's top writing award in 2005. He began his career with the Saint Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press and also reported for the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader and Wichita (Kan.) Eagle. He holds a bachelor's degree in from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., and a master's degree from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Bjerga will be officially sworn into office at a black-tie gala in the National Press Club's ballroom on Jan. 30, an irreverent tribute to the Midwest and Great Plains featuring Honky Tonk Confidential, a band led by CBS "Face The Nation" host Bob Schieffer. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased by calling the Club at 202-662-7501.

The National Press Club also elected:

Mark Hamrick, AP Broadcast, vice president; Myron Belkind, retired from Associated Press, secretary (re-elected); Keith Hill, BNA, treasurer; Angela Greiling Keane, Bloomberg News, membership secretary.

About the National Press Club

The National Press Club, founded in 1908, has 3,500 members in Washington and worldwide. Widely known for its nationally broadcast speakers' luncheons, the NPC also is Washington's most frequently used venue for news conferences. The Club also conducts professional education for journalists, funds scholarships for journalism students, and operates the nation's only non-academic journalism research library.

SOURCE National Press Club

Back to top