Front row: J. Byrd, M. Pride, R. Pederson, E. Seaton, S. Rowe, L. Boccardi, D. Goodwin; Back row: T. Goldstein, S. Topping, A. Barnes, W. Safire, W. Ketter, H. Gates, D. Graham, R. Oppel, J. Carroll, H. Gates, G. Rupp, P. Steiger --(photo credit: Joe Pineiro)
Named one of the most powerful women in Texas by Texas Monthly magazine, Rena Pederson has held senior posts at the Dallas Morning News since 1973. As editor at large since 2002, she writes a weekly column for the paper's Sunday Reader section as well as profiles and enterprise feature stories. She previously served as a vice president and editorial page editor, supervising the staff and content of the opinion pages for 16 years.
Donald E. Graham became chief executive officer of The Washington Post Company in 1991 and chairman of the board in 1993. Publisher of the The Washington Post newspaper since 1979, Graham is a trustee of the Federal City Council in Washington, D.C., chairman of the District of Columbia College Access Program, and a member of the board of directors of The Summit Fund of Washington.
Joann Byrd retired June 2, 2003, after six years as the editorial page editor at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
From June 1992 to June 1995, she was ombudsman at The Washington Post, and had been executive editor of The Herald, Everett, WA, for 12 years.
Jay T. Harris, the former publisher of the San Jose Mercury News, is director of The Center for the Study of Journalism and Democracy at the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California.