Lisa Matthews, U.S. Planning Editor, Associated Press 

Lisa Matthews is a 20+ year veteran of the Associated Press (AP), where she currently serves as U.S. Planning Editor, responsible for next-day coverage and planning for major events. Previously, she was the assignment manager for U.S. Video. She began her career with the AP in 1995 as a writer and in-house reporter for AP’s broadcast wire.

Matthews has earned two Edward R. Murrow Awards – one in 2002 for outstanding coverage of the events on September 11, 2001, and her second in 2010. Matthews is also the first working journalist inducted into the National Capital Chapter Public Relations Society of America Hall of Fame. She was also honored as one of the Multicultural Media & Correspondents Association’s ‘Sheroes in Media.’

Matthews served as the 114th President of the National Press Club (NPC) in 2021 where she led the first ever all-woman leadership team at the Club. She also expanded NPC outreach to historically black colleges and universities, offering free one-year memberships to journalism and communications graduates.

In 2014, Matthews served as vice president at Hager Sharp where she developed media strategy for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health, the National Diabetes Education Program, the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, the National Alliance on Mental Health, and many others.

Matthews earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from James Madison University. She spoke at the January 2023 training session.