Louis D. Boccardi was president and

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of The Associated Press (AP), the world's largest news organization, from 1985 until his retirement in 2003. Prior to assuming the presidency, he served one year as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and 10 years as executive editor in charge of AP's news operations. During his tenure as CEO, Boccardi repaired the news cooperative's sometimes-shaky finances and started the process of moving AP's news report into the Internet age. That process has quickened substantially under his successor, Tom Curley. Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, Boccardi holds a bachelor's degree from

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

and a master's degree in journalism from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He joined the AP as executive assistant to the general news editor in 1967 after eight years with New York newspapers, during which he rose to the position of assistant managing editor of the '' New York World-Telegram and Sun'' and its successor newspaper, the '' New York World Journal Tribune''. He was appointed AP managing editor in 1969, executive editor in 1973 and vice president in 1975. In 1990, Boccardi was elected a fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the highest honor SPJ awards journalists for public service. He has received the William Allen White Foundation Award for Journalistic Merit, the

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Award and was elected a Distinguished Service Member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Boccardi and the AP were awarded the 2001 John Peter and Anna Catherine Zenger award for Freedom of the Press and the Public's Right to Know. Boccardi was a member of the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

Board from 1994 to 2003 and Chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board in 2002. Boccardi was a member of the

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...

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from 2003 to 2006. Boccardi is a member of the national advisory board of the Freedom Forum Center for Media Studies, and a trustee emeritus of the Newseum, and the board of visitors of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, and is an honorary trustee of the William Allen White Foundation at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

. He is a member of the special committee appointed to monitor the editorial integrity of The Wall Street Journal after its purchase by News Corp.

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* * American chief executives in the mass media industry Living people Fordham University alumni Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni American corporate directors American chief operating officers Associated Press people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-journalist-20thC-stub