Lynn Povich

Lynn Povich is an award-winning journalist who has spent more than 40 years in the news business, working on weekly and monthly magazines and on the internet.

Povich began her career at Newsweek in 1965 as a secretary and went on to become a researcher, reporter, writer and editor. In 1970, she was one of 46 women who filed charges of sex discrimination against the magazine—the first women in the media to sue. Her book on the lawsuit, The Good Girls Revolt, was published in September 2012 by PublicAffairs.

In 1975, Povich was appointed the first woman Senior Editor in the magazine’s history. She went on to create several special interest publications, including Newsweek on Campus and Newsweek on Health. She also started the magazine’s first book program, packaging seven books out of Newsweek cover stories. One of those cover stories, about a Vietnam platoon called “Charlie Company,” was made into a CBS prime-time documentary, which she helped coordinate.

From1991 to 1996, Povich was Editor-in-Chief of Working Woman magazine, the only national business magazine for women. Under her direction, the magazine grew to a circulation of over 750,000. She joined Msnbc.com in 1996 to help launch the 24-hour news and information cable/internet venture between Microsoft and NBC. Povich served as Managing Editor/Senior Executive Producer of East Coast programming, overseeing all the content created with NBC News programs and correspondents as well as MSNBC Cable shows and personalities. She left Msnbc.com in 2001 and was a consultant for the New York Times Foundation to help supervise its Neediest Fund grants for mental health services to survivors, victims’ families and service personnel affected by 9/11.

From 2002-2005, Povich was Co-Chair of the International Women’s Media Foundation, which strengthens the role of women journalists around the world. She continues to be active on the Advisory Board. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.

In 2005, Povich edited a book on her father, famed Washington Post sports columnist Shirley Povich, called All Those Mornings…At the Post.

Povich has received numerous honors including the prestigious Matrix Award from Women in Communications (1976) and the 2006 Exceptional Woman in Publishing Award from Women in Periodical Publishing. She was also honored by the National Women’s Political Caucus with the Exceptional Media Merit Award in 1992 and 1995. Povich is a founding member of the Online News Association and created the Online Journalism Awards.

A native of Washington, D.C., Povich graduated from Vassar College, where she served as Executive-in-Residence in 1996. She is married to Stephen Shepard, former Editor-in-Chief of Business Week and Founding Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism of the City University of New York. They have two children.