MEET DAVID CALLAWAY:

Former Head of USA Today, TheStreet,
MarketWatch to Speak at Dec. 18 Lunch

David Callaway

David Callaway once headed USA Today, but in an award-winning career that goes back to the 1980s and his time as a reporter and columnist at the Boston Herald, his journalistic horizons have expanded far beyond the borders of the United States.

In addition to running USA Today from 2012 to 2016, Callaway is the former editor-in-chief of MarketWatch and its predecessor, CBS MarketWatch, an international news gathering organization with bureaus around the world; former chief executive officer of TheStreet Inc., a New York-based financial news and information company; and former president of World Editors Forum, a global advisory board to the world’s major news publishers.

These days, he recently wrote, his “true love remains with journalism and all it stands for in maintaining our freedom and helping societies grow.”

“The near future,” he added, “with climate change and immigration so important around the world, will see enormous opportunities for journalists and I’m working on how to develop those for our industry right now.”

Perhaps he’ll have more to tell us when he joins us as our guest luncheon speaker on Dec. 18 at the National Arts Club. The best way to find out is to make your reservation now. (See below for instructions.)

Following his graduation from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in the late 1980s, Callaway spent six years at the Boston Herald, where he co-wrote a daily column that focused on news coming out of Boston’s business district. In 1994, he was hired by Bloomberg LP and spent almost all of the next five years in London, heading a team that covered the banking, investment banking and asset management business throughout Europe.

Looking back on his career, he once said, “I’m most proud of my reporting in Europe for Bloomberg News in the 1990s, which included coverage of the Northern Irish peace process to end The Troubles, and the lead up to the euro single currency.”

Callaway returned to the U.S. in 1999, when he joined CBS MarketWatch, becoming editor-in-chief in 2003 and managing the day-to-day coverage for a news organization with 11 bureaus around the globe. He left MarketWatch in 2012 to become EIC of USA Today, overseeing some 300 journalists and more than 150 correspondents on three continents and across all digital and print platforms. Callaway remained with USA Today until 2016, when he was named CEO of TheStreet, composed of businesses based in the U.S., the UK and India. Its flagship site was TheStreet.com. Most of the businesses were sold late last year and Callaway left this past February.

As president of the World Editors Forum, Callaway has spoken passionately and eloquently about press freedom. This past June, right around the time he stepped down from his WEF post, he took part in presenting a Golden Pen of Freedom Award posthumously to the murdered Jamal Khashoggi at a ceremony in Glasgow, Scotland. The award is given annually by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) to individuals or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the defense and promotion of press freedom.

“At the World Editor’s Forum,” said Callaway to the audience in Glasgow, “we stand for a united effort among the global media to hold tyrants and governments accountable for their actions to suppress free speech and inhibit the growth of free societies for all their people. It’s an uphill battle. Our enemies seek to divide us. Our leaders ignore the jailings, shootings, and intimidation. Only by all of us working together can we protect our journalists, and by extension our freedom. Jamal Khashoggi  understood this. He knew he was in danger but he would not be silent.”

Please make your reservation now to meet David Callaway at our next lunch.

The date: Dec. 18, 2019
The time: Noon
The place: The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South

PLEASE NOTE: You may reserve via Eventbrite by linking to:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dave-callaway-an-editors-editor-tickets-84156220521

When you reach that site, click on the word “TICKETS” and follow the directions. You will then receive an email confirming your reservation.

You can no longer reserve by emailing Michael Serrill, but you may continue to reserve by calling the Silurian reservation line at 212-532-0887. Please spell your name clearly and include a contact number or an email address. Lunch prices are $55 for members, $65 for guests, payable at the door by cash (exact change, please), check or credit card. Regardless of how you reserve, if you’re bringing a guest, make sure to give us your guest’s name. Each member is allowed to reserve for one guest, with additional guests put on a waiting list, pending a final count.

One other reminder. Because we must give a final tally to the National Arts Club at noon on Dec. 16 — the Monday before the luncheon — we cannot cancel any reservations after that time. No-shows will be asked to pay for their seats.