Vice President and Executive Director
First Amendment Center

Gene Policinski, vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, is a veteran journalist whose career has included work in newspapers, radio, television and online news operations.

He oversees operations and programs of the Center, an operating program of the Freedom Forum, with offices in Nashville, at Vanderbilt University; and at the Newseum, in Washington, D.C. Policinski is co-author of the weekly syndicated newspaper column, "Inside the First Amendment," and executive producer/host of the touring multimedia stage production, "Freedom Sings."

Policinski is a member of the board of trustees of the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, a national trustee of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and a member of the NATAS Mid-South board of governors. He is an adjunct professor at Winthrop University in South Carolina, and is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Institute for Media, Culture and Ethics, at Bellarmine University, Louisville, He is a graduate of Ball State University, where he serves on the journalism alumni board; and attended the Nashville School of Law. He lectures and writes extensively on First Amendment topics, focusing on press, speech and new media issues.