Marcus Mabry Elected President of The Overseas Press Club of America

NEW YORK, Aug. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Overseas Press Club of America, a 75-year-old organization that awards the most prestigious prizes devoted exclusively to international news coverage, elected a new president on Wednesday night at its annual meeting in midtown Manhattan.

Marcus Mabry, a digital editor of The New York Times and an author, was elected president of the OPC, as the club is widely known.

Mabry, 47, is an editor-at-large at the Times and a veteran foreign correspondent. He has been based in Paris, London and Johannesburg, as well as New York and Washington. He was the chief of correspondents at Newsweek and the 1999-2000 Edward R. Murrow Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has written a biography of Condoleezza Rice.

"As the assassination of James Foley makes painfully clear, these are very difficult days for foreign correspondents -- and for foreign correspondence," Mr. Mabry said. "The mission of the OPC is to support and reward both. That mission has rarely been harder. It has never been more important."

The OPC was founded in 1939 in New York by a group of foreign correspondents to encourage the highest standards of professional integrity and skill in the reporting of news and to promote the freedom of the press throughout the world.

The club also announced results of the election for other officers and board members. Calvin Sims of International House, Pancho Bernasconi of Getty Images and Abigail Pesta, a freelance journalist, were elected vice presidents. Tim Ferguson of Forbes Media is the club's new treasurer and the secretary is Jonathan Dahl of WSJ.Money.

Active members elected to the board are: Jacqueline Albert-Simon, Rukmini Callimachi, Deidre Depke, Chris Dickey, Peter Goodman, Azmat Khan, Dan Klaidman, Paul Moakley, Lara Setrakian and Liam Stack.

Associate board members elected last night are Brian Byrd, Emma Daly and Bill Collins.

Mabry replaces Michael Serrill, assistant managing editor of Bloomberg Markets, who will remain on the board.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140821/138669

SOURCE Overseas Press Club of America