Eileen O'Reilly elected 116th National Press Club president
Eileen O'Reilly, managing editor of standards and training at Axios, was elected Friday as the 116th president of the National Press Club, pledging to continue the Club’s rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic and increase advocacy for press freedom.
“As the world’s leading professional organization for journalists, I hope we can tackle these issues together,” O’Reilly said in her speech in the Reliable Source after the results were announced. “To me, that means having members here, in person, volunteering on committees, being active in events.”
O’Reilly, who ran unopposed, garnered 199 votes.
In other unopposed races, Emily Wilkins was elected vice president with 199 votes.
Alisa Parenti was elected secretary with 196 votes. Mike Balsamo was elected treasurer with 198 votes, and Poonam Sharmawas elected membership secretary with 194 votes.
Jessica Mendoza, Alison Snyder, and Steve Reilly won board seats representing the Club's journalist membership category for a three-year term. They defeated Glenn Marcus, who was competing for the same role.
Mark Schoeff Jr. won an unopposed journalist board seat for a one-year term.
Karen Addis, a communicator category Club member, won a three-year board term unopposed.
O’Reilly, who served as the Club’s vice president in 2022, has been an officer on the board since 2019.
The Club's outgoing president, Jen Judson, said O’Reilly is “full of great ideas that will kick the club into high gear in 2023.”
Over the past year, “the Club started to come back to life,” Judson said. “Our business is doing great. We’ve had many profitable months and far exceeded our original projections for business this year.”
O’Reilly said her top goals for the Club include protecting journalists around the world and expanding media literacy at a time widespread layoffs have created news deserts and sown distrust in journalism.
She pledged to “ramp up our efforts” for the release of journalist Austin Tice, who was detailed while reporting in Syria a decade ago.
“With the release of Brittney Griner, we have seen this can happen,” she said, referring to the American basketball player who was held captive in Russia until being released this week.
At Axios, O’Reilly runs onboarding and training programs and monthly standards discussions to promote engagement and conversations on how Axios can improve its coverage. She also manages the copy editor and standards teams and edits investigative stories, while writing about public health, medicine and biotech.
Over her career, O’Reilly has covered Congress and regulatory changes, international affairs and geopolitics, health care and science, and finance and tax issues.
Prior to Axios, she worked for more than 20 years in the U.S., Asia and Europe as a reporter or editor for wire services, e-newsletters, magazines, newspapers and websites. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Marquette University, and her master’s degree in Asia-Pacific studies from the University of Leeds.