Japanese League Announces Gala Host

WASHINGTON - The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) has announced that Joie Chen will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies at the JACL Gala to be held on Thursday, September 16, 2010, in Washington, DC at the J.W. Marriott Hotel.

Chen, who is half Japanese, was born in Chicago and raised in Evanston, Illinois, where her father retired as a professor emeritus from the Medical School at Northwestern University. Her mother is from Nagoya, Japan. Chen was a Medill Cherub ('77), and received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Medill School at Northwestern University ('82 and '83).

Currently she is Executive Vice President for Branded News Worldwide, which creates online platforms for organizations and industries to deliver news and information to niche audiences. She is responsible for helping to develop news and programming models for clients, business, and staffing newsrooms, and creating new lines of business.

Before joining Branded News, Chen spent 25 years as an internationally recognized television journalist. She was a CBS News correspondent based in Washington, DC, covering the White House and Capitol Hill and a frequent contributor to CBS Sunday Morning. She spent 10 years at CNN in Atlanta. She was an anchor and a correspondent for CNN and CNN International, the sister network that reaches 210 countries and territories. In that role, she had an opportunity to interview numerous world leaders and cover many international events.

Among the many news stories she covered for CNN, Chen was the principal anchor of the network's Columbine school shooting coverage and contributed extensively on the reporting of military developments during the strikes on terror targets in Afghanistan. She also covered the September 11 terrorist attacks and the trial of Timothy McVeigh.

Chen has received two national Emmy Awards. The Gerald Loeb awards in financial journalism awards recognized her for business reporting, and she has received numerous other awards for journalism and leadership in the industry.

The JACL Gala "A Salute to Champions" event is honoring outstanding women this year. Awards will be presented to Corporate Partner, Eli Lilly, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Etsu Mineta Masaoka, Roxana Saberi, and Christine Toy Johnson, who will also entertain at the event.

Floyd Mori, National Executive Director of the JACL, stated: "We are very fortunate and grateful to have someone of the caliber of Joie Chen to be the emcee at our Gala this year. She will lend a professional atmosphere as she shares her considerable talent with the Gala participants."