After serving two years as president of Military Reporters & Editors Association, USA Today reporter Kelly Kennedy stepped down as president. Bryan Bender of the Boston Globe was elected by the board of directors as the organization’s new president.
During Kennedy’s two years as president, she led MRE to conduct two very successful annual conferences which included speakers such as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, journalist and author Bob Woodward and journalist Michael Hastings. Kennedy will remain on the board of directors.
Bender’s first order of business was to establish two committees: Conference Committee to begin work on next year’s event in Washington, D.C., and a Membership/Outreach Committee to begin drawing up plans to increase membership and connect with all current members for ideas and concerns they may have in their daily military reporting. He will serve as president and board member until elections are conducted in 2013.
Bender is the national security reporter for the Boston Globe. In 15 years on the Pentagon beat he has covered military operations in the Middle East, Asia, South America, and the Balkans. His articles have also appeared in Jane’s Defence Weekly, The New Republic, National Journal, and The Los Angeles Times. Since joining the Globe in 2003, Bender has also written about weapons manufacturers, homeland security, and government secrecy.
Read more about Bender on Wikipedia.