RIAS Berlin says farewell to outgoing board members, welcomes new Commissioners

The RIAS Berlin Commission bid farewell to three distinguished members of its 10-person board at its 37th Commission meeting in Berlin on December 9. Chairperson Christina M. Higgins (pictured on the right) and co-chair Peter Limbourg (third from left) thanked Melissa Eddy (fourth from left) and Dr. Melinda Crane (third from right) for their long service and dedication to the RIAS Berlin Commission, a bi-national organization to promote broadcast journalism, and its exchange programs.

Crane, a reporter and anchor at Deutsche Welle, has been on the supervisory board of the RIAS Berlin Commission since 2005 while Eddy, a Berlin-based reporter for The New York Times, has served since 2016. Both have also been long-serving members of the RIAS Berlin Commission Media Prize jury. Also leaving the board is Dr. Helena Kane Finn, a former Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, who has served on the RIAS Berlin Commission since 2007.

Joining the 10-member board — which is made up of five Americans and five Germans — were Jamie Kirchick (fifth from left), a visiting fellow the Brookings Institution, and Matt Karnitschnig, Politico’s chief Europe Correspondent, based in Berlin (fourth from right). Also joining the board was Peter Rough from the Hudson Institute in Washington DC, who took part in the meeting via teleconference.

The new board pictured below got right down to business at their meeting at Deutsche Welle’s headquarters in Berlin. The members of the new board are, from left: Matt Karnitschnig, Dr. Richard Meng, Jamie Kirchick, Dr. Hildegard Boucsein, Peter Limbourg and Christina M. Higgins. Also pictured is RIAS Berlin Commission Executive Director Erik Kirschbaum