National Press Club Solidifies Future Leadership By Extending Contract For Executive Director

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Aug 22, 2012, 12:33 ET

WASHINGTON, Aug, 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Board of Governors of the National Press Club announced today it has reached an agreement with Executive Director William C. McCarren to keep him directing the business side of the 104-year-old institution through 2015. McCarren was hired as General Manager of the Club in July 2007 and was promoted to Executive Director in 2009.

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"This is a great day for the National Press Club," said NPC President Theresa Werner. "The Board was unanimous in its decision that we should move now to extend the contract of an executive who has led our financial turnaround in the midst of the worst economy since the Great Depression."

The board's agreement with McCarren emphasizes the goals of profit growth and increasing membership while continuing the Club's excellence in serving as the world's leading professional organization for journalists, a voice for press freedom and a place for reporters and their sources to break news and develop skills they need to compete in the 21^st Century.

"I am grateful to the board and Club's nearly 3,200 members and excited about what we can accomplish together in the next three years," McCarren said. ``I am lucky to have a great job and a diligent, inventive staff."

When McCarren assumed control of the organization's $13 million business, operations were not profitable, the Club had no operating reserves and debt of more than $2 million. McCarren, directing a staff of 107 full time employees, improved operations to the point that the Club has been profitable every year of his tenure and has generated more than $1 million in profits for each of the past three years. The Club expects to be debt free in 2013 and has reserves projected to reach beyond $3 million next year. The Club has also invested nearly $2 million in facilities during this time.

Before he was hired at the Club, McCarren founded U.S. Newswire, a Washington-based wire service in 1986 and ran it from start-up until the business was sold in 2006 for nearly $25 million. A long-time Club member, he was recruited to lead the NPC while at Harvard participating in the Nieman program, where his wife Andrea, a television reporter, was then a Fellow. McCarren has a Masters Degree from Brown University and a BA from Vanderbilt.

SOURCE National Press Club