Black Press of America Plans Digital Innovation and Training Conference in St. Thomas

The NNPA’s all-Black woman executive board will count among those greeting NNPA partners, sponsors, and guests.

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and its 235 African American newspapers and media company owners, employees, sponsors, and others plan to converge in the beautiful U.S. Virgin Islands for the NNPA’s annual midwinter training conference in February.

With the theme, “Digital Innovation, Training, and Engagement of the Black Press of America,” publishers and others will link up to further strengthen the 195-year-old Black Press.

Moreover, the always highly anticipated training conference takes place from Feb. 1 to Feb. 4 at the brand-new Westin Beach Resort at Frenchmen’s Reef, Estate Bakkeroe, in St. Thomas.

The NNPA’s all-Black woman executive board will count among those greeting NNPA partners, sponsors, and guests. They can take advantage of a remarkable and reduced-priced resort stay by immediately registering at www.nnpa-events.com.

Chair Karen Carter Richards, the publisher of the Houston Forward Times, leads the all-women executive board.
Janis Ware, the publisher of the Atlanta Voice, serves as vice chair. Fran Farrer, the publisher of The County News in North Carolina, is the second vice chair.

Jackie Hampton, the publisher of The Mississippi Link, serves as national secretary, and Cheryl Smith, the publisher of the Texas Metro News, is the NNPA’s national treasurer.

NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis will receive the trade association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
The conference guests include dignitaries like Terry Travis, the chief disruptor and managing partner of EVNoire – Mobility Intelligence Consulting Group, and Dr. Aida Habtezion, Pfizer’s Chief Medical Officer and head of Worldwide Medical & Safety.

Guests invited to the conference also include Dr. William J. Barber II, the president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Tennessee State University President Dr. Glenda Glover, and James L. Winston, president of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Inc.

Representatives from longtime NNPA partners General Motors, Reynolds, Pfizer, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Google News Initiative also count among the invited guests.

Among NNPA’s highly-valued sponsors invited to attend are AARP, Wells Fargo, AmeriHealth Caritas, American Petroleum Institute, Comcast NBC Universal, In Our Own Voice – National Black Women’s Reproductive Agenda, Compassion & Choices Action Network, and the NNPA Fund.

For more information and to register, visit www.nnpa-events.com.