BU Alumni Association in DC: Serving Truth in News & Media

Date: October 24, 2018
Time: 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM 
Location: National Press Club, The Holeman Lounge

Featuring:

Jacqueline Policastro (COM ’06), Washington Bureau Chief, Gray TV
Jacqueline Policastro created the Gray Television Washington News Bureau and has a decade of experience covering Congress and the White House.

Jacqueline launched her first DC Bureau under Lilly Broadcasting as a one-woman-band in 2007. She also worked as a breaking news reporter and anchor at former CBS network affiliate WISH-TV in Indianapolis, IN, as an evening anchor at CBS WSEE in Erie, PA, and as a producer at Associated Press Television in Washington, DC.

Jacqueline graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science. She attended BU’s Sydney, Australia and Washington, DC journalism programs, served as a Paul Miller Washington Fellow, an NAB Professional Fellow, and a fellow with the International Women’s Media Foundation.

She is originally from New Jersey and is featured on the current cover of Bostonia, BU’s alumni magazine.

Kimberly Atkins (LAW ’98, COM ’98), Washington Bureau Chief

Kimberly Atkins is the chief Washington reporter for the Boston Herald, focusing her coverage on the White House, Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court and national news. She is also an MSNBC contributor, and has appeared as a political commentator on a host of television and radio networks, including CNN, Fox News, PBS, NPR, Sky News (UK), and CBC News (Canada). Kimberly was formerly guest host of C-SPAN’s morning call-in show ͞Washington Journal,͟ where she interviewed lawmakers, public policy experts and journalists about the issues on Capitol Hill. Kimberly rejoined the Herald’s staff in 2014 after previously helming paper’s State House and City Hall bureaus in Boston from 2004 to 2006, and also writing a freelance political column for the paper from 2012 to 2014. Prior to returning to the Herald, Kimberly served as the Washington bureau chief for the Dolan Company newspapers, a group of legal and business publications, where she focused primarily on covering the Supreme Court. She has also worked as a staff writer at the Boston Globe and the Journal News in Westchester County, New York. Kimberly is also a fashion designer. She’s the founder and designer of the Kim Elleen Collection womenswear line, and she currently serves as Regional Director of the Washington, D.C. chapter of Fashion Group International, a global non-profit trade organization of fashion, beauty and home design professionals. Before launching her journalism career, she was a trial and appellate litigation attorney in Boston. Kimberly is a native of Michigan, and a graduate of Wayne State University, Boston University School of Law and Boston University College of Communication, and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Donna Borak, Senior Economics Writer, CNN 

Donna Borak is a senior economics writer at CNN, where she reports on regulatory and economic policy. Her work has spanned everything from the unprecedented steps taken by the Trump administration to roll back regulations on U.S. businesses and Wall Street banks to the Treasury Department’s economic sanctions on North Korea.

Borak previously covered bank regulation following the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis for The Wall Street Journal and the American Banker newspaper. She’s also been a business reporter for The Associated Press and United Press International, covering defense and international trade, respectively.

In 2014, Borak was selected as a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. She now lives in Washington, D.C.

Moderated by Linda Roth (COM ’88)​, VP, External Relations, The Woodrow Wilson Center & former Sr. Producer, The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.

Linda Roth is a strategic communication executive and award winning journalist. She is the founder and CEO of Fern Strategies, a media consulting firm offering trusted advice to corporations, non-profits and individuals. Her expertise includes crisis communication, media training and journalism education. For more than a decade, she was Wolf Blitzer’s top producer at CNN, relied upon to manage nearly every aspect of his editorial projects, trips and newsmaker interviews. She is a veteran observer of presidential campaigns, covering every one since graduating from Boston University’s College of Communication. Her political journalism career includes eight years as the Executive Producer of CNN’s Sunday political talk show “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer”. Guests of the newscast included world leaders, ambassadors, cabinet level officials, congressmen, CEOs and celebrities. She has interviewed Presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton and Carter — and almost all of this season’s past and present presidential candidates including Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. Roth’s journalistic honors include Emmy, Peabody and Headliner awards. Her most recent Emmy award was for her contribution to CNN’s 2012 “Election Night in America” coverage that crushed the competition in the ratings. In his televised goodbye segment to his long time producer, Blitzer said: “I wouldn’t be where I am today without her. She’s a legendary producer here at CNN.”

As Vice President of External Relations at The Woodrow Wilson Center, Roth provides guidance on making their excellent content available to key audiences in Washington and around the world.

This event is presented by the BU Women’s Leadership Council.

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