I-House NY President Calvin Sims to Join CNN Network

[Reposted from CNN. Read the full statement here] September 22, 2020  CNN announced today that Calvin Sims will join the network as executive vice president of Standards and Practices, reporting to Jeff Zucker, Chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports. He will begin his new role on September 30th. Sims is an accomplished media executive, with more than 30 years of experience in news, foreign affairs and philanthropy, serving in senior roles at International House, The New York Times, Discovery Times Channel, Ford Foundation and Council on Foreign Relations. Sims succeeds CNN’s S&P chief Rick Davis, who has announced he will retire in January 2021. They will work alongside each other in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition upon Davis’ exit at the end of January. In making the announcement Zucker said, “Calvin is a distinguished journalist and executive whose experience, integrity and commitment to fairness has been a hallmark of his entire career. That is what we pride ourselves on at CNN, and I am thrilled that Calvin is bringing his vast experience to our organization. Of course, this is also bittersweet, as one of the CNN originals, Rick Davis, prepares to retire after 40 years. I cannot overstate the impact Rick, and his leadership of an unparalleled team, has had on thousands of journalists and colleagues; for me, he has been my rock and like everyone at CNN, I will miss him.” “I look forward to building on the great legacy of CNN’s news standards and ethics established by my predecessor Rick Davis and forging new and innovative ways to tell the truth with zeal and fidelity,” said Sims. “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to return to my professional passion — quality journalism, especially at a time when it’s needed most and at a network that is as essential as CNN is today,” he continued. Most recently, Sims served as President and CEO of International House, a non-profit program founded in 1924 by the Rockefeller and Dodge families, with a mission to promote cross cultural understanding and peace and prepare world leaders. Prior to that, he served as Program Officer for the Ford Foundation, managing a portfolio of news media and journalism grants, focusing on the development of a free and responsible press worldwide. Sims spent 20 years at The New York Times, where he was a director, producer, domestic and foreign correspondent and played a central role in the newspaper’s expansion into television, documentaries and the web. He anchored the Times’ nightly television news program, hosted a weekly podcast on foreign affairs and produced an acclaimed documentary for PBS on the rise of radical Islam in Indonesia. He joined the Times right out of college, eventually became part of the newspaper’s business, metro and Washington desks. Then, as a foreign correspondent, Mr. Sims was based in Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Seoul and Jakarta. A native of California, Calvin Sims graduated from Yale in 1985. He has held the Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Ferris Professorship of Journalism at Princeton University. He has served as a trustee of Consumer Reports, Overseas Press Club, The GroundTruth/Report for America, the National Book Foundation, which administers the National Book Awards, and the Harlem Educational Activities Fund.