Ron Nessen is Journalist in Residence at the Brookings Institution. Previously, he served as Vice President for Communications at the Washington think tank. He was Press Secretary to President Gerald R. Ford from 1974-1977. In his journalistic career, Nessen was a writer/editor at the UPI, an award-winning radio and TV correspondent for NBC News, and Vice President for News of the Mutual Broadcasting System, the world’s largest radio network. He has written six books, fiction and non-fiction, and is co-author of a produced play, “The Presidents.” Nessen writes frequent commentaries for newspapers, magazines, and broadcast outlets, and is a sought-after speaker on media topics. He served eight years on the Board of the prestigious Peabody Awards for excellence in broadcasting, including a year as chairman.