Please join Simmons University for the 2026 Ifill Forum, our annual signature event in honor of Gwen Ifill ‘77, ‘93HD and her legacy as a ground-breaking Black woman journalist. Each year, the Ifill Forum brings together important national voices for a public conversation on key questions of the day.
This year features a conversation with GBH CEO Susan Goldberg on how journalism makes a difference in local, national, and international communities, and how GBH and other public media organizations nationwide can continue to be strong despite the elimination of federal funding. The discussion will be moderated by Ann M. Fudge ‘73, ‘98HD and followed by a reception with light refreshments.
The 2026 Ifill Forum takes place on Simmons University campus and registration is required to attend. Please email [email protected] with any questions.
The Keynote Speaker: Susan Goldberg
Susan Goldberg is President and CEO of GBH, America’s preeminent public media organization, the largest producer of PBS content for television and the web, and a major supplier of content for NPR and digital audio services. She is the first woman to serve in this role since GBH was founded in 1951.
A nationally recognized journalist and leader, Goldberg has transformed media organizations, taking brands from reverence to relevance by executing multi-platform transformation and expanding award-winning coverage.
Goldberg joined GBH in 2022. Prior to that, she was Editor in Chief and Editorial Director of National Geographic, a post she assumed in 2014, leading all journalism across platforms, including magazines, podcasts, maps, newsletters, and social media. Under her leadership, National Geographic was honored with 11 National Magazine Awards, including the top prize for General Excellence in 2019. In addition, National Geographic was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography in 2021, Feature Photography in 2019, and Explanatory Reporting in 2017. Goldberg also has led reporting that was honored with multiple local, state and national awards, including the Pulitzer Prize at the San Jose Mercury News (1990/Breaking News), and four finalists for the Pulitzer at The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer (2008/Commentary; 2009/Feature Writing and Commentary; 2010/Commentary). Goldberg was executive editor for federal, state and local government coverage for Bloomberg News in Washington from 2010 to 2014. From 2007 to 2010, she was editor of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland; she was the executive editor of the San Jose Mercury News from 2003-2007, and served as the paper’s managing editor from 1999-2003. From 1989 to 1999, Goldberg worked at USA Today, including stints as a deputy managing editor of the News, Life and Enterprise sections. Previously, she worked as a reporter and editor at the Detroit Free Press and an earlier stint as an assistant city editor at the Mercury News. She began her career as a reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
A Michigan native, Goldberg has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University, where she now funds the Susan Goldberg Scholarship at the university’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences’ School of Journalism.
In addition to awards for journalism, Goldberg has been recognized for leadership. In 2013, 2017 and 2021, she was voted one of Washington’s “most powerful women” by Washingtonian magazine. In 2015, Goldberg received the Exceptional Woman in Publishing Award from Exceptional Women in Publishing. In 2020, InStyle magazine included Goldberg on its “Badass 50” list, naming her as No. 7 in its issue about “women who are changing the world;” she was selected as one of Folio’s Top Women in Media for having an “exceptional impact” on the direction of the industry; and she was recognized by the International Women’s Media Foundation as the Leadership Honoree for her work in uplifting women journalists and telling under-reported stories. She is a six-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize, and President of the Board of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Goldberg lives in Boston. She is married to Geoffrey Etnire, a real estate lawyer; they have one grown son.
The Moderator: Ann Fudge
Ann M. Fudge ‘73, ‘98HD is Former Chairman and CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands, a global network of pre-eminent companies across the full range of marketing communications. Young & Rubicam Brands companies include Y&R (advertising), Burson-Marsteller (public relations/public affairs), Wunderman and VML (direct and database marketing), Landor Associates (brand consulting and creative design), and Sudler & Hennessey (strategic healthcare communications) among others.
Prior to Young & Rubicam Brands, Ms. Fudge served as President, Beverages, Desserts and Post Division – a $5 billion unit of Kraft Foods. She served on Kraft’s Management Committee and has managed many businesses including Maxwell House Coffee, Gevalia Kaffe, Post cereals, and Jell-O desserts. Before joining General Foods, she spent nine years at General Mills, where she began as a Marketing Assistant and rose to the level of Marketing Director.
She is on the Board of Directors of Northrop Grumman. She served as Chair of the Board of GBH Public Media. She currently serves on the Board of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is Senior Trustee of the Brookings Institution. Ms. Fudge served on the Boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Finance Committee of the Harvard University Corporation, and Chair of the U.S. Program Advisory Panel for the Gates Foundation. She has served as Vice Chair of the Harvard Board of Overseers, on the Board of Catalyst, the NY Philharmonic and the Board of Governors for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. She has also served on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Liz Claiborne, Allied Signal, Honeywell, Marriott International, Infosys, General Electric, Unilever and Novartis.
In February, 2010 President Obama appointed Ms. Fudge to serve on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform which issued its report in December, 2010. She also served on the Foreign Affairs Policy Board of the U.S. State Department.
Ms. Fudge was named one of Time Magazine’s Global Business Influentials. In 2019 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among her other honors are the Alumni Achievement Award from Harvard Business School, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Ebony magazine, and a Legacy Award in Business from Black Enterprise magazine. She has been named by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 most powerful women in American business.
Ms. Fudge received her Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Simmons University and her MBA from Harvard University Graduate School of Business. She has two sons and five grandchildren.