i wrote him a letter and said my name is peter cherukuri and so on. i never heard back. that was a problem. i held it in and never mentioned it to him because unlike me he has been a huge steward of a lot of careers coming out of colgate and more importantly what he was a steward of in the newsroom as editorial director for a new aol huffington post media group is harnessing everything we're doing as an organization. he is qualified by the wonderful things he has done in his career. addition to being with us he is a senior nbc analyst. he is all the time espousing great things and before that at newsweek had several roles and winning every conceivable award in our industry. we are excited to have howard. let me turn it over to howard fineman. [applause] >> for me this is the beginning of a period of atonement in my religion. the first thing ninety-two do is apologize to peter cherukuri for not answering his letter all those years ago. is this mike on? i am really sorry. i really missed a bet because if you play your cards right you will be running the company some day an

my name is peter cherukuri. i am the general manager of the aol political division. i have been there for a couple of years. i originally was with the huffington post. prior to that, i was the publisher of roll call. my background is in the political trade industry in washington. i am going to let everyone on the panel introduce themselves. >> i am jim barnett to. a strategic adviser to our digital publication and strategy group. at 43, i went back to graduate school and thinnest a master's degree and a nonprofit management. i study about non-profit models for journalism. i was a washington correspondent for the oregonian. >> i am jeff selingo, vice president and editor of the chronicle for education. i started as a reporter and moved up to the editor. now i am in charge of strategy on the digital side and the press side for our publications. >> steve buttry. i am the director of communications and social media for the journal register company. i have been active in teaching journalists how to use twitter and other social media for a couple of years now. >> i am eyde