Hamrick takes office as NPC president, launches blog

Associated Press broadcast journalist Mark Hamrick took office as the National Press Club's 104th president at the NPC annual membership meeting on Jan. 21. Later in the day, he launched a blog on the Club homepage (www.press.org).

Found under the heading, "From the President’s Desk," the blog will give Hamrick a forum for highlighting the Club’s agenda, activities and achievements.

“You might wonder about my own priorities for the coming year,” Hamrick wrote. “At the top of the list is strengthening communications to our members and the rest of the world. That’s one of the reasons why I’m writing this post.”

Hamrick also announced in his blog that the Club established a Diversity Committee, chaired by Greg Mott of Bloomberg.

“It will reach out to a variety of groups in journalism involved with issues of diversity and inclusion,” Hamrick wrote. “This can only enhance our already strong position in the industry and should also help us to make an appeal to potential new members who aren’t yet familiar with our story.”

Since joining the National Press Club in 1996, Hamrick has served the organization in many capacities including Board chairman, membership secretary and 2010 vice president. He was the founding chairman of the Club's Broadcast Committee.

Hamrick is a national business and financial news journalist for The Associated Press in Washington, where he has worked for nearly 25 years. Having reported on both bull and bear markets and, most recently, the recession, his work encompasses video, radio and text. He has won numerous national honors and awards for his reporting and anchoring in spot news, documentary and newscast categories.

Hamrick succeeds Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg News correspondent, for a one-year term.

-- Mark Schoeff Jr., [email protected]