The Board

 
THE NEW YORK FINANCIAL WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC. 2018 BOARD
From left to right: Matt Nelko, Cezary Podkul, William Freedman, Debra Turner, Greg Miles, Peter Coy, Michael Paterakis and Melinda Crump
Front row: Claudia Deutsch, Lisa Kaplan, Olivia Carville and Carolyn Sargent

OFFICERS/GOVERNORS/ASSOCIATE REPRESENTATIVES 2019-2020 Officers:

President: Peter Coy, New York Times 

Vice President: Olivia Carville, Bloomberg 

Treas.: Michael Paterakis, Infopro Digital

Secy-Asst Treas: Lawrence Carrel, Freelance

Board of Governors:

Jan Alexander, Freelance 

Willam Freedman, Freelance

Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch

Conway Gittens, Freelance

Greg Miles, Freelance

Associate Representatives:

Zach Kouwe, Dukas Linden Public Relations

Carolyn Sargent, Rubenstein Associates

Board Member Bios.:

President: Peter Coy is an economics writer for the New York Times Opinion section. Prior to that he was economics editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, where he wrote on a wide range of domestic and international issues, contributing to the magazine’s Remarks column, cover stories, news sections, and bloomberg.com. Peter joined the predecessor publication, BusinessWeek, in 1989 as telecommunications editor. He became technology editor in 1992, associate economics editor in 1997, and economics editor in 2001. He came to BusinessWeek from the Associated Press, where he worked from 1980 to 1989 in Albany, Rochester, and New York City. Previously, he was a reporter for the Waterbury (Conn.) Republican.

Vice President: Olivia Carville is a reporter on Bloomberg's investigations team. She is based in New York City. Previously, Carville worked on the investigation teams at the Toronto Star and the New Zealand Herald. She won multiple national awards at both outlets. Carville moved to the U.S. to complete a master's degree in financial reporting at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Upon graduation in 2018, she was awarded the school's Financial Journalist of the Year and she won the New York Financial Writers' Association scholarship. She has served on the NYFWA board ever since.

Treasurer: Michael Paterakis is the data and benchmarking editor for Infopro Digital's Risk.net, FX Markets, Central Banking and WatersTechnology. Previously, he was in charge of institutional investor coverage across Pageant Media's (now known as With Intelligence) asset management titles, including HFM, the leading source of news and data in the hedge fund space. Michael has also served as editor of HFM's CTA Intelligence, a magazine focusing on quant managers and commodities traders. In the past, he reported extensively on the European debt crisis, including from the Brussels bureau of the Financial Times. Michael has a master's degree in business reporting from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. He can be found on Twitter @mikepaterakis.ussels bureau. 

Secretary-Assistant Treasurer: Lawrence Carrel is an award-winning journalist, a freelance writer, media consultant, and author of three books: ETFs for the Long Run, Dividend Stocks for DUMMIES, and Investing in Dividends for DUMMIES. He was a member of the team that created Wall Street Journal.com in 1995. At SmartMoney.com he worked as a market commentator, investigative reporter, and created the first column about ETFs on the web. He has been a staff writer at TheStreet.com; and a contributing editor for Forbes.com, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Investor's Business Daily and The Asia Times. He currently runs his own media-consulting firm, Long Run Consultants, where he creates content strategy for companies in the financial-services industry. 

Governor: Jan Alexander is an editor and writer who specializes in book and white paper collaborations. She is a former senior editor at Strategy+Business magazine and senior writer at Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine and has published two novels.

Governor: William Freedman is a freelancer who specializes in business and technology. Among the publications he contributes to are: Tom's IT Pro; Federal Computer Week; Ecolane blog; LogicMonitor blog; Global Finance (as a contributor, copy editor, interim digital editor); The Industry Spread (blockchain beat); FT Specialist and Chief Executive magazine, among others. He is also does long-term consulting and project management engagements based on his extensive background in IT infrastructure. Prior to becoming a freelancer he spent 15 years as a certified managing consultant for IBM. 

Governor: Steve Gelsi has been a full-time journalist since the late 1980s and a financial journalist since roughly 1998. He rejoined MarketWatch in late 2021 and currently works as senior reporter covering banking and cannabis after working there from 1998 until 2013. He was the first dot-com journalist to perform in the NYFWA's Follies in 1999 and became president of the NYFWA in 2008. Other experience includes M&A and private markets reporter for The Deal and private equity reporter for Buyouts/Pehub.com. 

Governor: Conway Gittens is a business correspondent for Reuters Video, where he specializes in transforming mundane business/economic/finance topics into engaging subject matter that can be understood by non-finance experts. He writes, produces and serves as the face for compelling business reports on topics ranging from corporate news to market swings to global macro-economic trends to the latest tech gadgets that will attract eyeballs on multiple platforms. Content is distributed on the Reuters TV platform, Apple TV, Roku, Reuters.com and to Reuters' syndicated video clients. In addition, he hosts a weekly business video segment produced exclusively for Reuters Top News and Reuters Business Twitter feeds.

Associate Representative: Zach Kouwe is a Senior Vice President at Dukas Linden Public Relations (DLPR). He co-heads the firm's asset management practice while assisting teams across the agency with high-level media, crisis communications and content development. Zach works closely with financial services firms including hedge funds, private equity firms to devise and execute strategic communications plans. He joined DLPR in 2011 after nearly a decade as a financial journalist, most recently for The New York Times, where he covered hedge funds, M&A, private equity and white-collar crime. He was formerly the chief M&A reporter for the business section of the New York Post. Prior to that, he covered private equity for Dow Jones and previously worked for the Denver Post and Institutional Investor. Zach holds a B.S. in Economics and History from Hamilton College and an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He serves as a Trustee of the Brooklyn Music School and lives with his wife and daughter in Brooklyn.  

Governor: Greg Miles has worked as a front-page news editor, bureau chief, enterprise writer, on-air television correspondent, guest TV anchor and podcast anchor for Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Television, BusinessWeek, CNBC, and Investopedia.com. He is currently a freelance writer and editor and also does consulting projects. During his career, he has specialized in winning and executing exclusive, in-depth TV interviews with business leaders including Bob Iger, Carl Icahn, Les Moonves, Dieter Zetsche, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Michael Dell and Sam Zell. He has a BA from Wesleyan University and two masters degrees from Columbia University: the School of Journalism and the School of Public and International Affairs.

Associate Representative: Carolyn Sargent is an executive vice president at Rubenstein. She provides media and public relations advice to global financial firms ranging from entrepreneurial investors to publicly traded institutions. With more than 20 years' experience on Wall Street as an equity analyst, journalist and media strategist, she manages and messages complex, highly sensitive situations for multiple audiences. Reputation management forms the core of her practice, which includes CEO positioning, brand building and management, transactions, leadership transitions and crisis management in an ever-complex and changing digital media environment. She joined the NYFWA in 2000 when she was a senior editor at Institutional Investor magazine. She has a BA from Smith College and an MS-Journalism and MBA-Finance from Columbia University.