September 21, 2010: The Board of the Women’s Media Center (WMC) is pleased to announce Julie Burton as WMC’s President.  Julie Burton is a veteran leader and activist for women’s rights and progressive causes. For more than a decade, she was on the frontlines of the women's movement as the youngest CEO of a national pro-choice political action committee, Voters For Choice (where she helped elect and train hundreds of pro-choice candidates at the Federal and State levels).  She co-founded and was the founding executive director of Choice USA, a national organization focused on developing the next generation of activists and leaders, expanding voter registration, and countering right wing efforts to limit women’s reproductive freedom. She also created the Women’s Council of People For the American Way and developed and ran Project Kid Smart to promote policies and political efforts for voluntary preschool education for all American children.   Early in her career, she worked with pioneering legal activists at the National Women’s Law Center.

WMC’s former President, Jehmu Greene resigned for personal reasons, and the Women’s Media Center is grateful for the accomplishments achieved during her successful tenure, including the expansion of the Progressive Women’s Voices program, the launch of the ‘Name It. Change It.’ campaign to address sexism against women candidates, the development of the ‘Not Under the Bus’ campaign opposing anti-choice measures in health care reform, and the transformation of WMC into a social media leader.  Jehmu brought a wealth of energy and experience to the WMC. We thank her for her contributions and wish her the best.

The Board and the WMC team are grateful to Ms. Burton for stepping up at a moment’s notice to continue to build on the strong foundation laid by Carol Jenkins and Jehmu Greene. This fall holds a number of exciting projects for the WMC. 

Julie Burton, along with WMC partners WCF Foundation and Political Parity, looks forward to working with the media to achieve fair coverage of women candidates in this midterm election season with the ‘Name It. Change It.’ campaign.  Ms. Burton will also oversee the SPARKsummit, a collaborative effort with the ASAP Initiative, CUNY Hunter, Hardy Girls Healthy Women, the Ms. Foundation for Women, and TrueChild, which will address the sexualization of girls while empowering girls to speak out and become their own activists.  With Ms. Burton at the helm, the Women’s Media Center anticipates an active and successful future.

Women’s Media Center (WMC) was founded in 2005 by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem to positively impact the visibility of women in the media, amplify women's voices on key issues in the national dialogue, fight sexism and bias against women in the media, and increase professional opportunities for women across all forms of media. Through training, advocacy, and the development of original content, WMC is changing the conversation in the media so that media more accurately represents the perspectives, positions, and priorities of women.