- Errin Haines Elected Vice President of Print, Cindy George Elected Parliamentarian, Student Representative Race Tied, Run-off Election in a Few Weeks -

(BLACK PR WIRE)--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 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.