Charles Overby is chairman and chief executive officer of the Freedom Forum an independent non-partisan foundation dedicated to First Amendment and media issues. Overby also is chairman and CEO of an affiliate organization: The Newseum a state-of-the-art museum of news in Arlington VA. Overby is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning editor in Jackson Miss. He worked for 16 years as reporter editor and corporate executive for Gannett Co. the nation's largest newspaper company. He was vice president for news and communications for Gannett and served on the management committees of Gannett and USA TODAY. As a reporter he covered the White House presidential campaigns Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. He was named president and chief executive officer of the Gannett Foundation in 1989. The foundation was renamed The Freedom Forum in 1991. He became chairman as well as CEO in 1997. Overby has served two stints in government: He was press assistant to Sen. John Stennis D-Miss. chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and special assistant for administration to Gov. Lamar Alexander R-Tenn. |