Seven Media Leaders Join Journalism School's Board

Seven new appointments to the Board of Visitors of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism have been announced by Dean Joan Konner.

The board, composed of distinguished leaders from the media, advises and supports the School in its educational, professional and development initiatives. It meets twice a year, in March and November.

Joining the board this spring are the following:

• Frank J. Biondi Jr., president and chief executive officer of Viacom Inc. since 1987. Biondi, along with Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone, successfully negotiated the purchase of Paramount in 1994, to become one of the world's largest media and entertainment companies.

• Tina Brown, editor of The New Yorker since 1992. Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair, is credited with increasing The New Yorker's circulation 32 percent to an all-time high in her two and a half years as editor.

• William R. Burleigh, president and chief operating officer of Scripps Howard. Burleigh was editor of The Cincinnati Post before becoming vice president and general editorial manager of Scripps Howard and has held his current position since August 1994.

• Richard M. Smith, editor in chief and president of Newsweek. Smith joined Newsweek as a foreign affairs writer after receiving the M.S. in journalism from Columbia in 1970 and has served in many international and national editorial posts, before becoming executive editor in 1984 and president in 1991.

• Mortimer B. Zuckerman, chairman and editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report, chairman of The Atlantic Monthly magazine, and chairman and co-publisher of the New York Daily News. Zuckerman, who will join the board in the fall, is chairman and co-founder of Boston Properties, a national real estate development company, and chairman of Applied Graphics Technologies.

Joining the board last spring were:

• Aatos J. Erkko of Helsinki, Finland, chairman and CEO of Sanoma Corp., president of Sanoma Inc., New York, and chairman of Helsinki Media Co. Erkko is a 1953 graduate of Columbia's Journalism School.

• David Laventhol, editor at large at Times Mirror. Laventhol was president of Times Mirror from 1987 to 1989, publisher and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Times from 1989 to 1993, and publisher and chief executive officer of Newsday, among other newspaper executive positions.

The other members of the board are Louis D. Boccardi, president and CEO of the Associated Press; David Brown, president of the Manhattan Project; E. Donald Lass, president and editor of The Asbury Park Press; J. Bruce Llewellyn, chairman of the Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co.; N.J. Nicholas Jr., former president and chief operating office of Time Warner, Warren H. Phillips, director of Dow Jones Inc., and Arthur O. Sulzberger, chairman and CEO of The New York Times Co., board chairman.