There are a total of 16 seats on the ONA Board, including one appointed, non-voting student representative. In 2017, eight members were in the middle of their terms and not up for re-election, including one appointee. Those members included:
- Joshua Hatch, Knight Science Journalism fellow at MIT & President, Online News Association
- Imaeyen Ibanga, Senior Digital Video Producer and Manager, AJ+
- Mandy Jenkins, Head of News, Storyful & Vice President, Online News Association
- Celeste LeCompte, Director of Business Development, ProPublica (Appointment)
- Greg Linch, Data Developer, McClatchy
- Elite Truong, Product Manager, Partner Platforms, Vox Media
- Benét Wilson, Aviation Queen LLC & Secretary, Online News Association
- José Zamora, Vice President of Strategic Communications, Univision Network News
The other eight directors were at the end of their two-year terms or appointments. Those members included:
- Meredith Artley, Editor-in-Chief, CNN Digital
- Michelle Baruchman, Student, University of Georgia
- Kim Bui, Editor-at-Large, NowThis
- Eric Carvin, Social Media Editor, The Associated Press
- David Cohn, Senior Director, Advance Digital
- Steve Herrmann, Editorial Director, BBC Monitoring, The BBC
- David Skok, Digital Media Executive, Intrepid Media
- David Smydra, Editorial Director, Google Play Newsstand, Google
Meredith Artley and Steve Herrmann chose not to run for re-election. Michelle Baruchman completes her two-year appointment as student representative at the end of the year.
Three of eight seats were held back to be filled by appointment following the election to address needs as determined by the Board, including the non-voting student representative. That left five seats up for election.
To give ONA members insight into each candidate’s views on the future of ONA and digital media, candidates appeared in an interactive session on Oct. 5, during the 2017 Online News Association Conference in Washington, DC.
Incumbents
New Candidates
At the close of voting, 414 voters — representing 12.65% of ONA’s eligible membership of 3,274 at the time of vote start — cast 1,747 votes.
Elected/re-elected to five open seats were:
P. Kim Bui – 232 votes (13% of votes)
Shazna Nessa – 219 votes (13% of votes)
Charo Henríquez – 196 votes (11% of votes)
Versha Sharma – 173 votes (10% of votes)
Eric Carvin and Nathalie Malinarich – 160 votes (9% of votes) each
Angela Pacienza – 150 votes (9% of votes)
David Smydra – 134 votes (8% of votes)
David Cohn – 132 votes (8% of votes)
Dan Gilgoff – 96 votes (5% of votes)
David Skok – 95 votes (5% of votes)
The Board unanimously voted to release one of the three appointments to accept the two candidates tied in fifth place as elected members.