The Club celebrated the holidays in style in the historic Greenwich Village brownstone of the Salmagundi Club. Some 75 members and guests congregated in the atmospheric lounge, wood-paneled bar and billiard room on Thursday, Dec. 12. There was plenty of good cheer—from the holly on the walls to the piano player tapping out Christmas carols in the parlor—and many members commented that it was The Club’s best holiday party in recent memory.
Guests were entertained by ace piano player Ron Gold, while munching on a variety of appetizers, including some delicious smoked-salmon sandwiches contributed by Green Mansions Catering at Manhattan Penthouse. In a tasty turn of events, Magnolia Bakery kicked in a donation of cupcakes, their delicious confectioneries made famous by “Sex and the City,” to round out the holiday cheer.
A fun silent auction earned more than $200 to benefit The Club’s scholarship fund. Prizes were donated by Broadway Comedy Club, Gotham Writers Workshop, IFC Center, International Center of Photography, Museum of Moving Image and The Paley Center for Media.
The Club returned to the tradition of holding its annual election at the holiday party. Upon taking the podium, J. Alex Tarquinio, who was wrapping up her two years as President, thanked many of the board members who had contributed to some of the biggest successes of her term, including a major revision of the bylaws, the revival of the New York Journalism Hall of Fame and the redesign of this website.
Chairwoman Rebecca Baker followed with the slate for the 2014 board, which won unanimous approval from the members present.
Topping the slate was Peter Szekely, of the Newspaper Guild of New York, who will become President in 2014. The Club will have six vice presidents next year. Returning in the same offices will be Michael Arena, of the City University of New York, for the awards contest, Jessica Seigel, of New York University, for events, Heather Struck, of Thomson Reuters, for communications, and Polly Whittell, a freelancer, for membership. Two members of the Executive Council will become vice presidents, Mark Prendergast, of St. John’s University, will be the Vice President of Special Projects, and Claire Regan, of the Staten Island Advance, will be the Vice President of the Awards Dinner.
Colin DeVries, of The New York Daily News, will continue as Treasurer, and freelancer Melissa Heule will continue as Secretary. Rubina Madan Fillion, of The Wall Street Journal, will join the board as Assistant Secretary, and Roland Jones, of Time Inc., will join the board as Assistant Treasurer.
Baker will join the Advisory Council, which is always made up of three past presidents. Currently at The Record, she took her moment at the podium to announce that she will become the New York Law Journal’s new managing editor in January. Steve Dunlop, of CBS News, and John C. Long, who is retired from The Wall Street Journal, will remain on the Advisory Council.
As the immediate past president, Tarquinio will become Chairwoman of the Board. The Executive Council will include Allan Chernoff, of Fleishman-Hillard, Jonathan Dahl, of The Wall Street Journal, Anastasia Economides, of The New York Times, Howard Goldberg, of The Associated Press, freelancer Betsy Kim, Heidi Moore, of The Guardian, Anjali Mullany,of Fast Company, Dan Roberts, of Fortune, Alicia Stewart, of CNN, and Lauren Young,of Thomson Reuters.
Betsy Ashton, of the WNET board, will move from the Advisory Council to the Professional Council. The other members of the Professional Council will include Rich Barbieri,of CNNMoney.com, Janell Crispyn, of Clear Channel Communications, Robert Greenman, a journalism educator and writer, David Joachim,of The New York Times, Karen Kaiser,of The Associated Press, Pamela Kawi, a producer, Keith Kelly, of The New York Post, Jacqueline Leo,of The Fiscal Times, Brandon McCoy,of Condé Nast, and Abi Wright,of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.