Peter Szekely moves up to top job at NewsGuild of New York

Former Reuters correspondent Peter Szekely, seen here with his wife Chizu Nomiyama, a desk editor in New York, is to be president of the NewsGuild of New York, which represents journalists in the United States.

He succeeds Bill O'Meara who announced that he would retire on 31 August “for health and personal reasons,” after 27 years, the last eight as the union’s leader.

The union is part of the Communications Workers of America. Until earlier this year it was known as the Newspaper Guild of New York. The name was changed as part of a re-organisation that reflected the demise of many newspapers in the United States and the growth of digital media.

Szekely was elected secretary-treasurer in 2007 when O'Meara, then secretary-treasurer, was elected president. Previously Szekely was in Reuters’ Washington bureau for more than 20 years, 17 as chairman of the Guild’s unit. He will take office as president for the remaining 16 months of O’Meara’s three-year term. ■