The Association of Alternative Newsmedia board of directors met in Detroit on Saturday, December 3. It was the first meeting of the current board that was elected at AAN's annual meeting in July.
With custom tablet publishing now the talk of the digital journalism world, we catch up with three AAN members -- NOW Magazine, Gambit and Colorado Springs Independent -- that have already unveiled apps for iPad and other e-readers to find out what they've learned.
At the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies annual meeting on Saturday, July 23 in New Orleans, members voted unanimously to change the organization's name to Association of Alternative Newsmedia. The association also elected Colorado Springs Independent CEO Fran Zankowski as President and admitted its first online-only publication: The American Independent News Network.
At the annual meeting of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies on Saturday, June 27, Willamette Week's Mark Zusman was elected the association's new president. He succeeds Metroland's Stephen Leon, who will take the advisory role of Immediate Past President. The membership voted on nine other board seats on Saturday, including two that were created just minutes earlier when AAN's bylaws were amended.
There will be up to ten board positions up for election at the annual meeting this Saturday in Tucson. So far, ten AAN members have thrown their hats into the ring for nine of the board spots; they tell us why they want to be on the board and what they think the most important issues facing the association are.
All of the members who have announced their candidacies are thus far running unopposed. However, AAN bylaws do not require individuals to declare their intention to run in advance. Any regular members who are interested in seeking a seat on the board can be nominated from the floor at the annual meeting, which will be held on Saturday, June 7, during the association's annual meeting in Philadelphia. Read here to find out who has announced they are running, why they want to serve on the board, and what they view as the important issues facing AAN and its members.
Fran Zankowski (pictured), CEO of the Colorado Springs Independent, will fill the position vacated by Rob Jiranek until an election is held at the June 2007 annual meeting. Zankowski is a veteran of the AAN Board of Directors who also served on the Admissions Committee for eight years. Jiranek resigned last week after announcing that he had accepted a position as vice-president of sales and strategic planning with the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
On July 30, Fran Zankowski is leaving his role as chief executive officer of the company that publishes the Hartford Advocate, the New Haven Advocate and the Fairfield County Weekly, all in Connecticut, and the Valley Advocate in Massachusetts. He has been CEO of New Mass. Media since 1999, when the company was purchased by The Hartford Courant. Zankowski chairs the AAN board's Organization and Bylaws Committee, whose proposed amendments to the AAN bylaws were accepted at the annual membership meeting in June. He is also a member of the Admissions Committee.
