PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announces that
Gregory Lee, Jr. has been elected the 19th President of the organization.

Lee, the Senior Assistant Sports Editor at The Boston Globe and the
current NABJ Treasurer, won the election with 294 votes, 57% of the
vote, defeating opponent Deirdre Childress of The Philadelphia Inquirer
who received 168 votes. Charles Robinson of Maryland Public Television
received 50 votes.

Born in New Orleans, LA, Lee is the eldest of three children. The 37
year-old is the youngest elected president of the 3,400 member
organization. He has also worked for the The Times-Picayune and The
Washington Post. During his career in NABJ Lee served for four years as
the national secretary and has also served an unprecedented four terms
as chair of the Sports Journalism Task Force.

The election results were announced at a 7:00 p.m. press conference
yesterday following the closing of the polls at the Philadelphia
Convention Center, site of the 2011 NABJ Annual Convention and Career
Fair. 515 votes were cast by eligible NABJ members in this year’s
election, conducted online between June 3 and 5 p.m. yesterday.

“It is both a privilege and an honor to have been elected to lead NABJ
and I stand ready to continue to serve. There is a lot of work to be
done,” Lee told a packed room at the Philadelphia Convention Center in
downtown Philadelphia once the election results were announced, joined
by his parents and brother. “I’m so very honored and humbled by this
awesome responsibility that I have with my team for the next two years,”
said Lee.

A total of 13 board members were chosen by the membership to lead the
organization for the next two years. Board members elected in
uncontested races include Treasurer-elect Keith Reed, Secretary-elect
Lisa Cox, Region III Director-elect Dedrick Russell, Region IV
Director-elect AJ Ross, Region VI Director-elect Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig
and Associate Representative-elect Dawn Angelique Roberts.

Winning elections in contested races were newly elected Vice President
of Print Errin Haines of The Associated Press defeating freelance
reporter Denise Clay 280-209, and newly elected Parliamentarian Cindy
George of The Houston Chronicle, who defeated Ken Knight of The Tampa
Tribune by 10 votes, 244-234, with 37 abstentions.

The race for student representative resulted in a tie between Wesley
Lowery of Ohio University, and Marissa Evans of Marquette University,
each receiving 69 votes. The student candidates will have a week-long
run-off election August 15-22.