Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Pia Sarkar and Ted Han were elected by AAJA members to serve as National President, Vice President of Civic Engagement and Vice President of Finance, respectively, for the 2019-2020 term beginning January 1, 2019. The election results were announced Saturday, August 11 at the 2018 AAJA National Convention Gala Scholarship & Awards Banquet in Houston, Texas.
AAJA will also be holding a special election for Senior Vice President to complete the remainder of Michelle’s term in 2019. More information will be announced Monday, August 20 at 5pm PDT. The Senior Vice President-elect will be expected to attend the 2018 AAJA Fall Board Meeting taking place November 16-17, 2018 in San Francisco, California.
NATIONAL PRESIDENT-ELECT: MICHELLE YE HEE LEE
Michelle Ye Hee Lee is a reporter on the national political enterprise and accountability team at The Washington Post, covering money and influence in national politics. Previously, Michelle was a reporter on The Washington Post Fact Checker. Prior to joining The Post in 2014, she was a government accountability reporter at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, Arizona. For her investigation into Arizona’s failures in tracking and monitoring homeless sex offenders, she was named a finalist for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists. Michelle is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and previously served as Senior Vice President of the Asian American Journalists Association. She was born in Korea and raised in Guam, and was naturalized in 2011.
VICE PRESIDENT OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT-ELECT: PIA SARKAR
Pia Sarkar oversees coverage of autos, airlines and energy as an editor at The Associated Press, guiding breaking news and distinctive enterprise. She also serves as co-leader for the AP’s Race & Ethnicity team. She was previously deputy editor for the AP’s East region. Prior to the AP, Pia served as executive editor of The American Lawyer’s website and associate editor for The Daily Journal legal publication in California. She was also a reporter at The San Francisco Chronicle, TheStreet.com, The Record of Woodland Park, New Jersey and The Providence Journal. In 2016, she was elected Vice President for Civic Engagement on AAJA’s national board. She has also served as president, vice president and board member of AAJA’s San Francisco Bay Area chapter and as an editor/reporter for Hyphen Magazine.
VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE-ELECT: TED HAN
Ted Han is a leader in development and strategy for journalism products. He’s led DocumentCloud’s technology efforts since 2011, and has worked with journalists and news organizations across the globe during his time with Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). Ted has worked in the technology sector for more than a decade and holds a degree in computational linguistics. He resides in Oakland, California and is a member of the AAJA-San Francisco Bay Area chapter.
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