Carrie Budoff Brown, senior vice president for politics at NBC News, has been named chair of the International Center for Journalists’ board of directors, ICFJ announced at its annual Tribute to Journalists.

Budoff Brown succeeds Michael Golden, the longtime New York Times executive who led ICFJ for more than 12 years through major strategic, technological and financial transformations, expanding its impact, reach and global network.

Budoff Brown becomes the fourth chair in ICFJ’s 40 years. ICFJ serves a network of journalists – more than 160,000 worldwide – helping them to provide the trustworthy news essential to free and strong societies. ICFJ enables them to cover the most critical issues of today, innovate to connect with communities and build news organizations that thrive.

“Carrie will do a superb job leading ICFJ into the next decade,” said Golden, who will remain a vice chair of the board. “She has shown a firm commitment to the principles that ICFJ seeks to foster among journalists around the world, and she understands the urgency of supporting our colleagues as they bring us the news – often against dire odds.”

Golden passed the torch at the annual Tribute, which honors extraordinary journalists who exemplify excellence in bringing vital information to audiences at home and abroad.

Budoff Brown praised Golden’s leadership, saying that he had done “a fantastic job leading ICFJ through the profound changes that have roiled the journalism field. ICFJ is in excellent shape and achieving so much, due in no small measure to his leadership. I am honored to follow in his footsteps.”

Budoff Brown, who joined ICFJ’s board of directors in 2019, has been a journalist for 25 years, starting as a reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer and serving in multiple leadership roles at Politico and now at NBC News. 

As senior vice president for politics at NBC News, she oversees the Meet the Press brand and the network’s politics and elections reporting across digital and broadcast. She led the network’s coverage of the 2022 midterm elections, strategically placing correspondents and reporters in key states nearly a year ahead of the midterms to provide the network’s platforms with an on-the-ground perspective from the communities driving election outcomes from day one of the campaign. She has continued that approach this year, overseeing the entire team of correspondents, reporters, producers, and campaign “embeds” covering the issues and candidates defining the 2024 presidential race.

Budoff Brown was previously editor at Politico, responsible for leading the newsroom and their team of political and policy reporters since November 2016. Prior to assuming the top role, she was managing editor of Politico Europe and a White House correspondent for the outlet.