Kate Howard

As an IRE board member, I’ve spent the last two years working to increase transparency in the organization and particularly on the board, including by opening up our meetings to all members.

I am running for another term because everything I am as a journalist, I can trace back to IRE.

Today I’m an editorial director at Reveal and Mother Jones (our newsrooms merged this year). But for more than a decade now, my ambition has been fueled each year by the inspiration that I’ve gathered at the IRE and NICAR conferences. What data skills I have acquired were patiently taught by IRE staff, and my confidence has been nurtured by IRE mentors. When I moved into newsroom management, I turned to the great editors I’d come to know and respect here for advice. And when my Reveal newsroom faced layoffs and an uncertain future, fellow IRE members consistently offered support for me and my colleagues.

Over the last two years, I’ve started to pay back the immense debt I owe to IRE through board service.

I currently chair the Governance Committee, which proposes policies for the organization. The issues that I’ve worked on haven’t always been flashy, but they’re important: I’ve helped lead on initiatives to expand our membership; to create a discount for early-career members; to improve transparency into everything the board does, including more notice to IRE members before board meetings; to allow members to participate in our annual meetings remotely; to improve record-keeping on key issues; to bring us into compliance with our bylaws; and to require our board committees to take minutes of their meetings, among other achievements.

I also serve on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and lead a subcommittee to assess the diversity of our award winners. And I’ve also played leading roles on our new Affordability Task Force and our Board Reform Task Force, which is evaluating our board structure to make it more inclusive and representative.

If re-elected, I would continue to prioritize diversity, affordability, accessibility and transparency. I would ensure that we continue to pay close attention to the budget, since, like many of our newsrooms, we are in a challenging season for fundraising. I’ll also continue to work to improve our audio training offerings, as I’m the only member of the board from radio/audio.

Here’s what I believe my service so far demonstrates: I’ll always work toward the best solution, but I won’t compromise on my convictions or what’s right. If other ideas are better than mine or a new viewpoint emerges I hadn’t considered, I’m willing to change course. I take seriously my responsibility to support the IRE staff’s ability to do their best work while also ensuring the organization is accountable to members. Every action I take is motivated by my deep belief in IRE’s mission to inspire, support and train journalists.

It’s been a privilege to represent you, and should you see fit to support my reelection, I’d be honored to continue serving.