Schedule for 2014 MRE conference

Agenda

Thursday, Oct. 2 at the Medill News Room
6-9 p.m. —Conference reception and author talk. This will be at Medill School of Journalism’s Washington, D.C., Bureau, 1325 G Street NW, Suite 730. Washington, D.C. 20005

Friday, Oct. 3 at the Army and Navy Club; 901 17th St NW, Washington, DC 20006

8:30-9 a.m. — registration and coffee

9-10 a.m. — Women in Combat; breaking down the final barriers:

Panelists:
Marine Corps Lt. Col. Michael Samarov, plans officer, Marine Corps Force Innovation Office; Army Col. Linda Sheimo, chief of the Command Programs and Policy Division at the Human Resources Policy Directorate, Army G-1; Lt. Col. Veronica Senia, Chief, Air Force Assignments and Women in Service Review branch; Navy Cmdr. Renee Squier, Office of Women’s Policy for the Chief of Naval Personnel.

10-11 a.m. — Weapons of Mass Destruction

Panelists:
Laura Holgate, Special Assistant to the President and senior director for weapons of mass destruction terrorism and threat reduction at the National Security Council.

11-11:10 — Break

11:10-12:10 — Discussion with Top PAOs: On-the-record discussion.

Panelists:
Army Col. Steve Warren, Office of the Secretary of Defense; Rear Adm. Dawn Cutler, chief of Navy Information; Brig. Gen. Ronald Lewis, chief of Army Public Affairs; and Marine Corps Col. Dave Lapan, acting chief of Marine Corps Public Affairs.

12:10-12:30 — Lunch/MRE Awards

12:45-1:30 — Keynote Address

Speaker:
Rear Adm. Margaret “Peg” Klein, senior adviser to the Secretary of Defense for military professionalism.

1:30-1:40 — Afternoon coffee break

1:40-2:40 — When Journalists are the Target

Speaker
McClatchy reporter Jonathan Landay (recently returned from Syria); Frank Smyth, founder and executive director of Global Journalist Security. He is also Senior Advisor for Journalist Security at the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Special Bonus: Not to be missed is the War Correspondents Dinner at 8 p.m., Friday in the Old Ebbitt Grill. This has been an ongoing tradition with MRE co-founder Sig Christenson. For more information, contact Sig at saddamscribe@yahoo.com.

To register for the conference click here.

The list will be updated as we confirm additional speakers.