Award winning journalist Jeanne Theismann joins Living Legends Board | . | Courtesy Photo |
The board of directors of Living Legends of Alexandria is pleased and proud to announce its new member, Jeanne Theismann, whose three-year term will begin on January 1, 2012.
Jeanne Theismann is an award-winning journalist with more than 25 years of experience in broadcast, print and online media.
She began her professional career at WTNH-TV in New Haven, Conn., where she was a news reporter as well as co-host of the daily Good Morning Connecticut program. She went on to work for Seaway Communications, the first minority owned broadcasting company before moving to Tokyo, where she spent several years working as a writer and editor for the Yomiuri Shimbun, the world's largest daily newspaper.
During her time overseas, Ms. Theismann traveled extensively, covering the third Indochina War between Vietnam and Cambodia as well as the Seoul and Sydney Olympic games. She began several relief projects for children and refugees and has personally delivered more than five tons of medical supplies to orphanages throughout the world. She has worked with organizations such as Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, the National Defense Council Foundation and Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu's St. George's Cathedral Foundation.
For the last nine years, Ms. Theismann has served as a visiting professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University, teaching at the Institute for Nonprofit Management in L'viv, Ukraine, and implemented the first ever Executive Leadership Exchange program between Ukraine and the United States.
Ms. Theismann has served on numerous boards, including Stop Child Abuse Now, the Washington, D.C. area chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America, and Goodwill Industries of Greater Washington. Ms. Theismann currently serves on the board of directors for First Night Alexandria, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, the Salvation Army and the Alexandria Sportsman’s Club. She is a member of the National Press Club, American Legion Post 24 and Rotary International, and is the media representative for the City of Alexandria’s Emergency Planning Commission. In addition, she served as the Executive Director of the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremonies in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Theismann is presently the Special Assistant to the Publisher of The Connection Newspapers, a group of locally-owned community newspapers serving the Washington, D.C. region with a total circulation of 120,000. This includes the Alexandria Gazette Packet, the longest continuously published newspaper in America. She continues her work in Ukraine as an advisor and guest lecturer at the new L’Viv School of Journalism.