Hill and Young (LRI ’92) to be Honored as “Leaders as Hosts” at 30th LRI Awards Luncheon

Last (but certainly not least!) in a series of honoree announcements. LRI Volunteer Award recipient still to be announced.

John Hill and Carol Young (LRI ’92) will be recognized for their spearheading of the Providence Newspaper Guild Follies, which have used comedy  and levity to bring Rhode Islanders together for the past 45 years 

For the 30th edition of the Inspiring Leaders Awards Luncheon, Leadership Rhode Island is proud to recognize leaders in our community who have been effective conveners, facilitators, bridge builders, and alliance creators, in keeping with the 2018 theme of “Leaders as Hosts.”

As defined by Margaret Wheatley, hosting leaders must:

  • Provide conditions and good group processes for people to work together;
  • Provide resources of time, the scarcest commodity of all;
  • Insist that people and the system learn from experience, frequently;
  • Offer unequivocal support- people know that the leader is there for them;
  • Keep the bureaucracy at bay, creating oases (or bunkers) where people are less encumbered by senseless demands for reports and administrivia;
  • Play defense with other leaders who want to take back control, who are critical that people have been given too much freedom;
  • Reflect back to people on a regular basis how they’re doing, what they’re accomplishing, how far they’ve journeyed;
  • Work with people to develop relevant measures of progress to make their achievements visible;
  • Value conviviality and esprit de corps– not false “rah rah” activities, but the spirit that arises in any group that accomplishes difficult work together.

Carol Young (LRI ’92), a retired Providence Journal deputy executive editor, created the Providence Newspaper Guild Follies in 1974 to build bridges between staff and management after a bitter union dispute. John Hill, a current Providence Journal reporter, has been a champion and sustainer of the event for many years, in his role as president of the Providence Newspaper Guild. For 45 years, the Follies have brought Rhode Islanders together annually at the Venus de Milo to bond over good food and laughter. With the Follies set to end after this year’s show, Leadership Rhode Island is proud to be recognizing them on March 22nd for the great impact they’ve made on our state!

Please join us at the Providence Marriott Downtown as we celebrate John, Carol, and the other leaders as hosts we’ve announced over the past week. Tickets and sponsor packages are available at lriluncheon.eventbrite.com.

Bios

John Hill, Reporter, The Providence Journal; President, Providence Newspaper Guild 

John Hill has been a reporter at The Providence Journal since 1989 and president of the Providence Newspaper Guild, the union representing its editorial and advertising workers, since 2003.

He graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in history. His first newspaper job was at the Manchester (Conn.) Journal Inquirer. At the “JI,” as it is known, he covered, among other beats, municipal government, courts and the state legislature.

John left the JI in 1986 for a position in the business news department of the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, where he covered the restaurant industry, tourism marketing, and the Walt Disney World theme park.

He returned to New England in 1989 when he joined the staff at The Journal.

He worked in nearly every Journal bureau in the state, as well as the city of Providence.

John was elected secretary of the Providence Newspaper Guild in 1998 and president in 2003. Besides the Journal, the Providence local represents employees at the Woonsocket Call and the Pawtucket Times in Rhode Island and the Brockton Enterprise and Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Massachusetts. In 2011, he was elected the international Guild’s vice president for the Northeastern United States.

At The Journal, John has written extensively on the state Central Landfill, the Central Falls municipal bankruptcy, the ACI and prison recidivism.

Carol Young (LRI ’92), Retired, Deputy Executive Editor, The Providence Journal

Carol J. Young, a graduate of Syracuse University, spent her entire 45-year newspaper career at the Providence Journal.  After several years as an education writer, she moved into editing.  She served as state editor, city editor, metro managing editor and deputy executive editor. She also had a major role in the recruiting and hiring for the reporting staff and managed a highly successful reporting internship program.

She received numerous reporting awards and was selected by the New England Association of Newspaper Editors to receive its first Spirit of Journalism Award. After retiring in 2010, Carol was inducted into the Rhode Island Journalism Hall of Fame.

A member of the MU class (1992), Carol was a volunteer presenter for LRI’s Media Day program long before she went through LRI herself.  Alumni in the l980s and l990s may remember the “page one game” she created just for LRI, the journalism ethics discussions she led, or the visits to the Providence Journal she orchestrated.  In recent years, she has edited LRI’s newsletters and two of LRI’s publications: Crossing the Line and Dear President.

In addition to volunteering for LRI, Carol serves on the Board of Directors for Inspiring Minds, the Advisory Council for the President of the University of Rhode Island, and the board for the Hummel Report.