2018 – Page 16 – The Washington Journalism and Media Conference

BRIAN LAMB

Executive Chair and Retired CEO, C-SPAN

Brian Lamb is the retired CEO of C-SPAN Networks and now serves as Executive Chairman of its Board of Directors. He’s been at the helm of the public affairs channel since he helped the cable industry launch it on March 19, 1979.

Today, C-SPAN employs approximately 270 people and delivers public affairs programming on three television channels to the nation’s cable and satellite customers; globally to Internet via C-SPAN.org and 15 other internet sites; and to radio listeners through C-SPAN radio—an FM station in Washington that can also be heard on XM satellite service nationwide.

Brian has also been a regular on-air presence at C-SPAN since the network’s earliest days. Over the years, he has interviewed Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush and many world leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev. For 15 years, beginning in 1989, he interviewed 800 non-fiction authors for a weekly program known as Booknotes. Four books of collected interviews have been published based on the Booknotes series. Currently, Brian hosts Q and A, an hour long interview program on Sunday evening with people who are making things happen in politics, media, education or technology.

Brian Lamb is a Hoosier, born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana. Interested in broadcasting as a child, he built crystal radio sets to pick up local signals. During high school and college, he sought out jobs at Lafayette radio and television stations, spinning records, selling ads, and eventually hosting his own television program.

After graduating from Purdue with a degree in speech, Brian joined the Navy. His tour included the USS Thuban, White House duty during the Johnson Administration and a stint in the Pentagon public affairs office during the Vietnam War.

In 1967, his navy service complete, Brian returned home to Lafayette. However, it wasn’t long before he returned to the nation’s capital where he began as a freelance reporter for UPI radio. Later, he served as a Senate press secretary and worked for the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy at a time when a national strategy was being developed for communications satellites.

In 1974, Brian returned to journalism, publishing a biweekly newsletter called The Media Report. He also covered telecommunications issues as Washington bureau chief for Cablevision Magazine. It was from this vantage point that C-SPAN began to take shape. Congress was about to televise its proceedings; the cable industry was looking for programming to deliver to its customers by satellite. Brian brought these two ideas together with C-SPAN, which launched with the first televised House of Representatives debate on March 19, 1979.

Brian and his wife Victoria are longtime residents of Arlington, Virginia. When he’s not reading newspapers or non-fiction books, Brian is often in hot pursuit of the latest country music release.

Susan Goldberg

SUSAN GOLDBERG

Editorial Director, National Geographic Partners, and Editor in Chief, National Geographic Magazine

Susan Goldberg is editor in chief of National Geographic and editorial director of National Geographic Partners. As editorial director, she leads all journalism across platforms, including digital journalism, magazines, podcasts, maps, newsletters, and Instagram. She was named editorial director in October 2015 and editor in chief of National Geographic magazine in April 2014. She is the 10th editor and first female editor of the magazine since it was first published in October 1888.

Under her leadership, National Geographic has been honored with nine National Magazine Awards, including four awards in 2020 and the top prize for General Excellence in 2019. In 2020, National Geographic also was named the Webby Media Company of the Year, with a total of 15 awards, as well as earning the Gold Medal as Brand of the Year for the Society of Publication Designers, the most prestigious award for visual journalism in the industry. In addition, National Geographic was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 2019 and for Explanatory Reporting in 2017. The magazine has received numerous other awards for photography, storytelling and graphics. Goldberg also has led reporting that was honored with multiple local, state and national awards, including the Pulitzer Prize at the San Jose Mercury News (1990/Breaking News), and four finalists for the Pulitzer at The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer (2008/Commentary; 2009/Feature Writing and Commentary; 2010/Commentary).

Before her employment at National Geographic, Susan was executive editor for federal, state, and local government coverage for Bloomberg News in Washington, D.C. From 2007 to 2010, she was editor of the Plain Dealer, the daily newspaper of Cleveland and the largest newspaper in Ohio. Prior to that, from 2003 to 2007, she was the executive editor of the San Jose Mercury News, and served as the paper’s managing editor from 1999 to 2003. From 1989 to 1999, Goldberg worked at USA Today, including stints as a deputy managing editor of the News, Life, and Enterprise sections. Previously, she worked as a reporter and editor at the Detroit Free Press. She began her career as a reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A Michigan native, Susan has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University, where she now funds the Susan Goldberg Scholarship at the university’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences’ School of Journalism.

In addition to awards for journalism, Susan has been recognized repeatedly for leadership. In 2013, she was voted one of Washington D.C.’s 11 most influential women in the media by Washingtonian magazine; in March 2015, Susan received the Exceptional Woman in Publishing Award from Exceptional Women in Publishing. In 2017 and again in 2019, Washingtonian named Susan among the most powerful women in Washington D.C. across professions. In 2020, InStyle magazine included Susan on its “Badass 50” list, naming her as number seven in its issue about “women who are changing the world,” and she was selected as one of Folio’s Top Women in Media for having an “exceptional impact” on the direction of the industry; and she was recognized by the International Women’s Media Foundation as the Leadership Honoree for her work in uplifting women journalists and telling under-reported stories

Susan lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Geoffrey Etnire, a real estate lawyer. They have one grown son.

As a host from National Geographic, Susan will join the Exploring Tradition and Innovation: A Journey by Private Jet expedition from Nairobi to Washington, D.C.