Tonda F. Rush, President Former CEO of the National Newspaper Association and associate general counsel of the American Newspaper Publishers Association. American PressWorks now represents National Newspaper Association and manages its Washington Office. It also manages and represents the organizations listed on the APW home page. Tonda is an attorney and consultant in Arlington, Virginia, with a background in newspaper law. Practicing with the law firm of King & Ballow, Nashville, Tennessee, as of-counsel, she represents newspaper clients in matters involving postal affairs, public policy, business regulation and issues generally affecting small media. She is a lecturer and writer on the First Amendment, media law and the business of newspapering.
Tonda was president and chief executive officer of the National Newspaper Association from 1992-1997 and associate general counsel/vice president of industry relations for the American Newspaper Publishers Association, now the Newspaper Association of America. Rush began her career managing a small newspaper in Kansas and working as a reporter and editor in that region. She has been involved in First Amendment and open access matters on behalf of the press since her days as director of the Freedom of Information Center of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in the early 1980s. She has taught media law as adjunct faculty at the American University School of Communications, Washington, DC, and the College of Journalism of the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, and presently serves on the advisory board of the William Allen White Foundation. She is a director of the Student Press Law Center and the Virginia Coalition of Open Government and an ex officio member of the board of directors of the National Newspaper Association, which she represents in Washington through APW.   In 2004, she became a part-owner of the Wyandotte West newspapers in Kansas City, Kansas, where she got her start as its first reporter in 1968. Rush is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law and the William Allen White School of Journalism. She is a published writer and frequent lecturer on media law, the economics of journalism and the importance of newspapers in developing community. Rush is licensed to practice law in Virginia, the District of Columbia and Kansas, three federal Courts of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
	Carol S. Pierce, Vice President Former Vice President of the National Newspaper Association. An educator with a background in motivating volunteers. Carol served as Vice President the National Newspaper Association (NNA) for five years. During her tenure with NNA she had responsibility for developing and supervising educational programs including professional development seminars, conventions, and the Government Affairs Conferences. In addition she has served as chief operating officer of the National Newspaper Foundation and supervised NNA internal operations. She has had budget oversight responsibility for both NNA and NNF.
Before joining NNA in 1993, Carol served as Director of Operations and Membership Services for the National Association of Partners in Education where she had primary responsibility for internal association operations including budget oversight, membership retention and recruitment, and organizational responsibility for all major national and regional conferences. In addition, she was instrumental in establishing and organizing the first international conference on school/business partnerships. She served as director of membership services for the National School Volunteer Program where her primary responsibility was to build membership through developing a strong regional and state affiliate structure. She began her work in professional association management in 1985 as conference coordinator for the National School Volunteer Program, in Washington, DC. Carol was an adjunct faculty member for both the University of Maryland and the Los Angeles Community College on Okinawa, Japan. She began her career in Papillion, Nebraska, where she spent five years as a teacher of language arts in the junior high school. She was a 1987 Fellow in the Education Policy Fellowship Program of the Institute for Educational Leadership. She holds a Masters Degree in Education.
Staff
Sara A. DeForge, Government Relations Manager, National Newspaper Association
	Sara DeForge, a graduate of the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, joined American PressWorks in October 2006 as the Government Relations Manager for the National Newspaper Association. In this position, Sara represents the 2,500 member association on issues before Congress and the Executive Branch. NNA's members are primarily community newspaper publishers from around the country. Prior to attending law school, DeForge received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont. She is licensed to practice law in Virginia.
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Mattie C. Porter, Office Manager/Receptionist
	Mattie Conerly~Porter joined American PressWorks, Inc. as office manager/receptionist in 2002.   She was the receptionist and assistant administrator for the National Newspaper Association from 1980 until 2002. Prior to coming to NNA, Mattie worked for 10 years as receptionist and PBX operator at the Washington Afro-American Company, and before that she was a telephone solicitor for The Washington Star. Mattie came to Washington from New Orleans, Louisiana where she grew up.
Gloria J. Watkins, Database Manager
	Gloria is the Database Manager and Conference Registrar. She maintains 5 different databases, is in charge of membership renewals for 3 of them. She is APW's principal copy editor.   She has worked as Secretary for the U.S. Navy Department, Writer/Editor for the Economic Development Administration, Bookkeeper for Kay Walsh & Associates and Database Manager for the National Association of Partners in Education. She is the proud mother of a son (computer engineer) and daughter (a pilot in the U.S. Air Force). Her passion is golf and she is very involved in Springfield Golf & Country Club.
	Gwen A. White, Projects Consultant Journalist and association manager with unique experience in contest and conference management. Gwen assists American PressWorks in contest and conference management. A past president of the National Federation of Press Women, she has developed her expertise in communications contest management since 1985. She was the national contest director for six years before assuming the presidency of NFPW in 1993. During those years she traveled extensively presenting communication contest workshops for state affiliates.
Gwen has also managed the communications contest for the National Newspaper Association for the past four years. She began her public speaking career as a pre-teen 4-H'er in Northeast North Carolina. She has entertained and challenged audiences in 50 states with her homespun humor that draws upon experiences from her rural eastern North Carolina childhood in Gum Neck and being the mother of two boys. Gwen began her journalism career as a correspondent with the Elizabeth City Daily Advance in 1972, working her way to the editor's job. She has 23 years experience with newspapers and five years as a county government public information director. She owns a public relations company and spends much time in event management and public speaking.