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WHCInsider Mourns the Passing of Gwen Ifill

November 14, 2016 By WHC Insider

ifill

PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill has passed away. She was 61.

WETA president and CEO Sharon Percy Rockefeller emailed staff saying “I am very sad to tell you that our dear friend and beloved colleague Gwen Ifill passed away today in hospice care in Washington.”

Ifill was best known for moderating PBS’s Washington Week in Review and her role as senior correspondent on PBS NewsHour.

Just heartbroken about losing Gwen Ifill. She owned every beat she was on, whether at the @nytimes @NBCNews or @NewsHour or anywhere else

— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) November 14, 2016

Howlingly sad. Dear sweet Gwen is gone. RIP @gwenifill

— John Dickerson (@jdickerson) November 14, 2016

Truly there was no one like @gwenifill . Thoughtful, calm, and so giving with her time and mentorship to young journalists.

— Kate Nocera (@KateNocera) November 14, 2016

May her memory forever be a blessing. https://t.co/ucS7vY67tX

— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) November 14, 2016

Garden Brunch Guests Share Their Advice For ‘Starting Out And Starting Up’

May 6, 2016 By WHC Insider

As guests arrived at the 2016 White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch, they were asked to share their advice for individuals who are seeking to launch a new career and change the world.

Scroll through the slideshow for insights shared by successful individuals from business, entertainment, media and politics.

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"Life is about filling your plate with everything you want. Don't push your food around. Don't take less than what you need or more than you can chew. But definitely wipe it clean!" - Rosario Dawson

A special thanks to Microsoft for providing the interactive PPI board.

Entrepreneurs and Military Families in Spotlight at Annual Garden Brunch for White House Correspondents’ Weekend

May 2, 2016 By WHC Insider

Media notables, Hollywood stars, and leaders from the business and non-profit sectors came together on Saturday for the annual Garden Brunch in honor of White House Correspondents’ Weekend. The mission of this year’s brunch was to recognize entrepreneurs who are ‘starting out and starting up’, along with initiatives that support members of the military and their families.

Dr. Sachiko Kuno with Halcyon Incubator Cohort4: Jeffrey Prost-Greene, Eric Shih, Kathleen O’Keefe, Daniel Hill, Charlene Brown, Faran Negarestan and Kristof Grina

Hilary Rosen introduces Connie Milstein and Derrick & Emma Dockery of Yellow Ribbons United

The brunch raised awareness for Halcyon Incubator, an organization founded by Dr. Sachiko Kuno that supports early stage social entrepreneurs through an immersive 18-month fellowship program. As guests arrived, they were asked to share their advice for individuals who are seeking to launch a new career and change the world. The notes were shared on an interactive PPI board provided by Microsoft.

Tony Goldwyn shares advice on the Microsoft PPI

Tony Goldwyn, who plays President Fitz Grant on ABC’s Scandal, shared: “Commit 100% to your dream. That will lead you to places you can’t even imagine!”

Sheila C. Johnson introduces Dr. Sachiko Kuno

Sheila C. Johnson, co-founder of BET, philanthropist and the first African American female billionaire, knows a thing or two about success. Her advice? “Be bold and be fearless!”

Arianna Huffington and Travis Kalanick

Arianna Huffington and Travis Kalanick, who arrived at the brunch together, are two of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. Huffington’s tip: “Remember failure is a stepping stone to success!” And Kalanick shared insights based on his own experience of creating Uber: “You can bend reality but don’t break it!”

Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles focused on practical advice: “Do not argue with your boss when u are drunk, even if u are right.” Under Armour CEO and Founder Kevin Plank also offered sound business advice with “Find out if your product can sell!!!”

Fox News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren encouraged individuals to broaden their horizons: “Travel! See the world so that you know something!” And CNN’s Wolf Blitzer gave advice that is often heard in Washington: “You may be smart, but other people may be smarter. Listen and take advantage and learn. Two heads are smarter than one.”

The focus on entrepreneurship and Halcyon Incubator was highlighted during the event as Dr. Sachiko Kuno, CEO of S&R Foundation, took the stage to talk about the work of her organization and to introduce the program’s current cohort.

This year’s Garden Brunch also raised awareness for Yellow Ribbons United and their initiative #PlayfieldInThePark, which serves approximately 500 children and teens attending the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) Good Grief Camp and Honoring Our Heroes Camp over Memorial Day Weekend. The program was created by Derrick and Emma Dockery, and has recently received the support of Constance Milstein, who was also a co-host of the Garden Brunch.

In addition to sharing their mission with brunch guests, Emma Dockery also had advice for budding entrepreneurs: “Never give up, for every no you may receive there is someone who will say yes!”

Neve Campbell, Derrick Dockery, Emma Dockery, Tammy Haddad

Additional guests from the entertainment industry included Bryan Cranston of HBO’s All the Way, Director Jay Roach, Oscar winning actress Helen Mirren, House of Cards’ Neve Campbell, Daredevil’s Rosario Dawson, Lisa Edelstein from Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, Constance Zimmer of UnREAL, The Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk, Blindspot’s Jaimie Alexander, House of Cards’ Michael Kelly, actress Sela Ward, Blue Bloods’ Bridget Moynahan, Concussion’s Gugu Mbatha-Raw, model Anne V, Independence Day’s Jeff Goldblum, Valeri and Candace Cameron Bure, Omarosa, Eric Podwall, Dule Hill, Matthew Morrison, HBO’s Len Amato, Scandal’s Scott Foley, and model Daniela Lopez.

Media in attendance included Charlie Rose, Jim Bankoff, Kevin Merida and Marie Donoghue from ESPN, Gayle King, Wolf Blitzer, Laura Ingraham, Bret and Amy Baier, Brian and Jamie Stelter, Betsy Fischer-Martin, Stephanie Ruhle, Joy Behar, and April Ryan. Tech was also represented by Josh Ginsberg, CEO of Zignal Labs, Erin Egan of Facebook, Snap Chat’s Nick Bell and Instagram’s Charlton Golson, John Tass-Parker and Charles Porch.

From the world of government and politics, guests included Valerie Jarrett, Tina Tchen, SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, Heather Podesta, Tony Podesta, Jeremy Bernard, Megan Smith, Robert and Capricia Marshall, Heather Rothenberg and Ellie Schafer, Representative Joaquin Castro, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Dr. and Mrs. Anthony Fauci of NIH, World Bank President Jim Kim, Mike and Kristi Rogers, Ben Ginsberg, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

The crowd was kept up-to-the moment on the presidential election with Zignal Labs‘ realtime analytics.

Dessert treats were provided by Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis of Georgetown Cupcakes.

The 2016 Garden Brunch was held at the historic Beall-Washington House in Georgetown. The event host committee consisted of Tammy Haddad, Kevin Sheekey, Hilary Rosen, Sachiko Kuno, Fred Humphries, Mark and Sally Ein, Connie Milstein, Anita Dunn, Bill Knapp, David Adler, and Franco Nuschese.

Veeples! The Morning After Starts TONIGHT!

April 24, 2016 By WHC Insider

Veep Cast at the 2014 White Correspondents’ Garden Brunch

Politicos can turn from the 2016 election mess to the Veep election mess as the fifth season which premieres today will re-start with the morning after the election that left President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her opponent Sen. Bill O’Brien (Brad Leland) bang in midst of battle with each other.

The fifth season which starts on April 24^th is helmed by David Mandel, of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld fame, as well as Julia Louis Dreyfus and Frank Rich. @HBOVeep won the Emmy for Best comedy in 2015 and has been picked up for a sixth season.

Here is a taste. Veep Season 5 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDesAgis8NU

Washington’s Kevin Latek is Paving the Way for Local TV Stations to Link Up With National Outlets

January 20, 2016 By WHC Insider

Kevin Latek with Dan Meyers and Alex Castellanos

Kevin Latek, Senior Vice President of Business Affairs at Gray Television, spoke with TV News Check about all the innovations that his company can bring to local stations.

According to TVNC, “Gray has become a Wall Street darling for its disciplined acquisition strategy of buying only top stations. And despite being a small-market operator, it has also emerged as an innovator, using LPTVs and subchannels to extend its reach and multiply its Big 4 affiliations, while pioneering new technologies and bringing national sales in-house.”

On the recent fortunes of Gray Television Latek said, “We have reported better revenue growth — core growth, not make-believe growth — in our business that has surprised Wall Street. I think we now have an incredibly efficient company. Our stations run faster, smoother and more efficiently than most broadcast stations precisely because we had a brush with death.”

Latek joined Gray as general counsel in 2012, and, according to TVNC, “has been front and center in executing the expansion strategy.”

“We certainly have grown faster than I imagined. I don’t know any other advertising medium that succeeds as well as television. Everything that sells on digital, if it’s just on digital, it’s going to die,” said Latek. “If you put it on television, it’s going to succeed. The business has been going extinct since I was alive, but yet it’s still here. We’re doing great and I think we’re entering into a new Golden Age of broadcast.”

Kevin Latek is a resident of McLean, Virginia.

Halperin & Heilemann Twice as Nice! MSNBC to Re-Air “With All Due Respect” Weeknights at 6pm

December 15, 2015 By WHC Insider

Bloomberg’s flagship politics show will find a second home on MSNBC. The channel will re-air “With All Due Respect”, featuring Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, will continue to air on Bloomberg weeknights at 5pm. Starting in January MSNBC will fill up the 6pm vacancy left by Al Sharpton’s “Politics Nation” with a re-airing of Halperin and Heilemann’s show, which has been expanded from its original 30 minutes to a full hour.

Andrew Lack, of NBC News and MSNBC, released a statement saying, “I’ve known and respected Mark and John’s work for many years. Collaborating with them on our air will strengthen our already deep and experienced political lineup as MSNBC heads into a pivotal election year.”

Justin B. Smith, Bloomberg Media CEO, said of the announcement, “This is a natural extension of the Bloomberg Politics brand for us. ‘With All Due Respect’ has been a strong multi-platform success story, and we welcome this opportunity to expand its reach to new audiences through this partnership with MSNBC.”

New Leaders of the Press Pack! Pew Says Traditional Reporters Outnumbered, New Era in Capitol Hill Journalism

December 4, 2015 By WHC Insider

A new study from Pew Research Center found that reporters from niche outlets and digital news publishers outnumber daily newspaper reporters, marking a shift in the makeup of the press corps from previous years. Pew reports that the number of journalists on the Hill that produce local coverage fell from around 200 in the mid-90s to just under 60 by 2015. As of 2014, 32% of reporters in the Senate Press Gallery were daily newspaper publications, in contrast to the 37% of reports from digital and niche publications.

The evolution in the makeup of the Washington press corps signifies a shift in the ways Americans consume news. So called “digital-native” outlets have increased from just 2 in 2009 to over 70 in 2014. According to Pew, “Reporters for broad-interest news websites have only emerged in the Washington press corps in recent years. These are outlets such as The Huffington Post and Buzzfeed that publish on a daily basis and aim for a general audience.”

In an effort to understand the implications for local communities, Pew studied coverage of the federal government in eight local newspapers from across the United States, four of which maintain DC reports on staff and four that don’t. Their findings reveal that 71% of stories from DC reporters contained quotes directly from a member of Congress, three times more than the rate at which reporters outside the Beltway did.

Pew also found that non-DC reporters are much more likely to tie stories from the Hill to the implications they might have for citizens, while DC-based reporters were more likely to address the the impact a particular story had on the politicians involved. The study claims that the dwindling number of DC-based reporters and the increasing reliance of wire-based services makes it more difficult for local publications to deliver clear and consistent coverage of politicians on the Hill.

The results of the poll can be found here: http://www.journalism.org/2015/12/03/todays-washington-press-corps-more-digital-specialized/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=6316aa58cd-Weekly_Dec_3_201512_3_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-6316aa58cd-399587233

2016 Club Meets at Milano, Alex Castellanos and Josh Ginsberg Brief

August 21, 2015 By WHC Insider

Franco Nuschese, owner of Cafe Milano along with More’s Betsy Fischer Martin, gathered political media for an on-the-record briefing by Alex Castellanos and Zignal Labs’ Josh Ginsberg.

Both campaign veterans addressed the Trump Tsunami and assessed the opportunities for each party as the election rolls into September. Discussion focused on two main themes: “the echo effect” within social media and rebranding conservatism in America.

Media in attendance included Jonathan Martin of The New York Times, Politico’s Ken Vogel, National Journal’s Ron Fournier, CNN’s Polson Kanneth, Matt Viser of the Boston Globe, Yahoo’s Garance Franke-Ruta, Chris Isham of CBS News, Jennifer Maguire of Tribeca/Pipeline, Lisa Desjardins of PBS Newshour, WSJ’s Jeanne Cummings, Anthony Salvanto of CBS News Surveys, and John Coale.

Read more via FishbowlDC: 2016 Club Convenes at Café Milano

David Adler, WHC Insider Co-founder, Toasted by Washington Post!

August 19, 2015 By WHC Insider

The Washington Post recently profiled the evolving nature of the Washington, D.C. party scene as discussed at the Elevate conference for Washington event planners. Our own David Adler was feted in the Style section cover story.

“Nobody’s an attendee anymore,” says David Adler, founder of BizBash, the events media company that hosted the conference. “You’re all participants — whether you like it or not.”

The article by Roxanne Roberts explains how “the old formula of cocktails, dinner and endless speeches is giving way to artisanal menus, designer mixologists and charging stations. Plus hashtags, live Instagram feeds and anything else that will transform another boring evening into a talker.”

Read the full article on washingtonpost.com: Reinventing the Washington party: Cut the speeches, pump up the schmoozing

Washington Women Technology Network honors Megan Smith, White House Chief Technology Officer

July 22, 2015 By WHC Insider

It was a mix of Silicon Valley and Washington veterans at the Jefferson Hotel for the Washington Women Technology Network (WWTN) lunch honoring Megan Smith, the White House Chief Technology Officer.

Connie Milstein, Hilary Rosen and Tammy Haddad co-hosted the event with Karen Appleton, SVP Industry and Founder of Box.org. Guests heard from Smith, the president’s top technology adviser, about plans to bring technology solutions to some of the country’s biggest challenges.

“We have started a ‘cyber-sprint’…very quickly to audit everything that’s going on and make a couple really fast upgrades that we need to just fill a bunch of holes. … I think what you’re seeing is a real collaborative set of people coming together and starting to work together,” Smith explained.

Smith is also leading the charge to bring more experienced technology minds to Washington: “The great news is we have through…the Presidential Innovation Fellows and U.S. Digital Service…a bunch of rock star people who are at the top of their game.”

Haddad asked Smith to explain how she is attracting young talent to Washington: “We just did our first map hack-a-thon in the White House, and we were working on MapGive which is the State Department…The community of mappers mapped, in 48 hours, 150,000 buildings and over 40,000 kilometers of roads in Nepal to help responders. So this idea of the crowd and leveraging the crowd to get things done. …Mapping is important for so many things. …The reason I bring this up is that GOTUS (Geographer of the United States)…what does GOTUS want? What does POTUS want? George Washington was an incredible geographer and surveyor. We’ve always had tech. Washington started the Army Corps of Engineers before the country was founded. …We’ve always used technology, we just need to keep remembering that. So constancy of values…constancy of re-invention. …You can go get the American people interested…as long as you’re letting them come do the things they believe will be the right choices and giving them space. That’s why it’s important to make sure we have technical people at the principal level.”

Smith on lessons learned from healthcare.gov: “It’s really to the President’s credit that…the experience they had…to see the more agile way that techies work now…they’re like, ‘hey we’re missing this in the leadership and in government. …So that gave us the ability to establish the U.S. Digital Service which is now rolling out. …What we want is Americans to come and rotate through.”

Haddad asked Smith to explain what they are doing to get better Internet access across the country: “We have a project called Connectivity Deserts, which is where the Internet is missing. …One of the best things is modernization of the E-Rate program…the way Federal dollars are coming out of things like the Universal Fund. …There is this pool that can flow to different things. …One of the things that we’re adding into that conversation as the CTO team is finding tech people who are those connectivity teammates who tend to live in the vendor world, and having a few of them on our team…so we are informed by someone who speaks the language.”

Download the Washington Insider podcast from the event.

WWTN guests included FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, Didem Nisanci, Jen Kuhn, Kelley McCormick, Juleanna Glover, Holly Page, Melissa Moss and Heather Podesta.

Top government technology experts included Box’s Sonny Hashmi, a former General Services Administration CTO; Ann Dunkin, CIO of the EPA; and Christine Harada, acting Chief of Staff at the GSA.

Media was well represented by Betsy Fischer Martin, Jennifer Maguire and Kim Kingsley.

Washington Women Technology Network is a women’s leadership forum founded by Connie Milstein, Tammy Haddad and Hilary Rosen to include women in technology, media and politics.

View photos from the event.

Watch the livestream from the event.