Kathleen A. Graham was appointed executive director of the Securities and Exchange Commission Historical Society in June 2023. With more than 30 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, including 15 years as an executive director across three organizations, she brings a proven track record of strategic vision, program management and impactful leadership to the role.
Most recently, Graham served as executive director of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW), the nation’s largest association of business journalists, for nine years. She championed First Amendment freedoms and developed innovative programs to support journalists covering economic issues. SABEW’s 3,000 members represent major news organizations such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNBC, Fortune, Forbes, NPR, the Associated Press, and more.
At SABEW, Graham facilitated newsmaker events connecting business journalists with world leaders and top government officials, including Federal Reserve leaders and U.S. Secretaries of Labor, Commerce, and Treasury. She launched an annual program spotlighting the heads of key statistical agencies—the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Census Bureau. Under her leadership, SABEW also produced a government data-immersion economic fellowship in Washington, D.C., with participation from the White House Council of Economic Advisers and other Federal agencies.
Prior to her role at SABEW, Graham was executive director of the Alfred Friendly Press Partners in Washington, D.C., where she helped strengthen international newsrooms through U.S. partnerships, including an economic fellowship she established with the Kiev Post. U.S. participating newsrooms included the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, among others.
Earlier in her career, she served as executive director of the Radio Television Digital News Foundation, the professional development arm of the RTNDA, the largest association of broadcast news managers. Over her 17-year tenure, she focused on fundraising for leadership, ethics, First Amendment, and diversity initiatives.
Graham’s commitment to nonprofit leadership extends to her volunteer roles, including service as a board member for Dress for Success, Washington, D.C. She also judges the Robert and Ethal Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards and is an active member of the National Press Club and the American Society of Association Executives.
Graham was a RIAS Berlin Commission Fellow in the German-American journalist exchange program. RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) was a prominent Berlin radio station during the East-West conflict from 1946 to 1989.
She has been honored with RTDNA’s Rob Downey Service Award and SABEW’s Appreciation Award for her executive leadership.
Kathleen Graham can be contacted at 202.549.0158 or [email protected].