Amanda Bennett, Executive Editor/Enterprise for Bloomberg News, was elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board in 2002. Bennett was editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer from June, 2003, to November, 2006, and prior to that was editor of the Herald-Leader in Lexington, KY. She also served for three years as managing editor/projects for The Oregonian in Portland. Bennett served as a Wall Street Journal reporter for more than 20 years.

David Klatell is a recognized expert on the development and management of journalism education and training programs. He has advised universities and professional organizations in more than 20 nations across Europe, Africa and Asia. Until 2008 he held the positions of Vice Dean and Academic Dean at the Journalism School. Before joining Columbia University, he served as chairman of the journalism department and director of the School of Journalism at Boston University,where he taught for 17 years.

John S. Carroll, 60,  has been editor and executive vice president of the Los Angeles Times since 2000 and vice president of Times Mirror since 1998.

Previously, he was editor of The Baltimore Sun and senior vice president of The Baltimore Sun Company for nine years. Prior to that he served as editor, vice president and executive vice president at the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Louis D. Boccardi, president and chief executive officer of Associated Press, has been elected chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board. His selection was announced by President George Rupp. Columbia University awards the annual prizes on the board's recommendation.

William Safire, who won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1978, has been a political columnist for the New York Times since 1973. Readers also know him for his New York Times Magazine column "On Language" upon which he has based 13 books. Previously, Safire served as a senior White House speech-writer for President Nixon.

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.

Andrew Barnes, chairman of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and former chairman and CEO of the St. Petersburg Times, is a native of New York City and a graduate of Harvard University where he took his degree in history.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., is the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities, chair of the Afro-American Studies Department and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University.

With 40 honorary degrees, Gates is a world-renowned scholar and teacher of African and African-American history and culture. He has authored seven books and written numerous essays and reviews on a broad range of African and African-American issues, including slavery, race, feminism, dialect and identity.

Sig Gissler has been administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes since 2002. A special faculty member at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, Gissler is founder of "Let's Do It Better," the school's national Workshops on Journalism, Race and Ethnicity. He is the former editor of the Milwaukee Journal. During his 25 years with the paper, he served as reporter, editorial page editor and associate editor before becoming editor in 1985.

Paul Steiger is the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal and a vice president of Dow Jones & Company. The editors of the Wall Street Journal Online, the Wall Street Journal Europe and the Wall Street Journal Asia also report to him.