The Star Newspaper’s Chief Operating Officer Agnes Kalekye has joined the World Association of News Publishers executive board.
Kalekye joins the board alongside newly elected President Ladina Heimgartner, Mariam Mammen Mathew and Werner Zitzmann as members for the next two years.
They will work alongside Vice President Stig Ørskov, Treasurer Paul Verwilt, Sandy Prieto-Romualdez and Martha Ramos Sosa, the chair WAN-IFRA’s World Editors Forum.
Kalekye will be the only representative from Africa in the 11-member executive board.
Kalekye has also been re-elected to the Wan-Ifra's Supervisory Board where she will serve for the next two years.
She was first elected to the board on June 17, 2022.
Kalekye is a seasoned media leader with over 17 years of experience in the media industry.
She also serves as the current chairperson of the Media Owners Association, an umbrella body that represents media houses in Kenya and speaks with one voice on issues affecting the industry.
The Executive Board will work alongside and report to the organisation’s larger Supervisory Board.
The election also saw another four new members elected to the WAN-IFRA Supervisory Board.
They are Noora Alanne, Director of new Growth at Medialiitto (Finland) and incoming Chair of WAN-IFRA’s Global Alliance for Media Innovation; Patricia Fonseca (editor-in-chief Media Tejo, Portugal); Denis Pierrard (Directeur general IPM Group, Belgium); and Werner Zitzmann (Colombia).
The Supervisory Board is designed to help the organisation focus on activities that contribute most to Wan-Ifra’s overall objectives.
It is also responsible for the strategic planning of programmes and the patronage of the association.
The World Association of News Publishers, or Wan-Ifra, is the global organisation of the world’s press.
It was founded in 1948 and has a global network of 3,000 news publishing companies and technology entrepreneurs, as well as 60 member publisher associations representing 18,000 publications in 120 countries.
