Attorney and First Amendment Professor Gregory V. Sullivan to Serve as Coalition President
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT Justin Silverman | 774.244.2365 | justin@nefac.org
The New England First Amendment Coalition is pleased to announce the election of attorney Gregory V. Sullivan, long-time media counsel and First Amendment professor, as its new president.
Sullivan succeeds Karen Bordeleau, former executive editor at The Providence Journal, who will continue to serve on NEFAC’s Board of Directors.
“We are indebted to Karen and her work as president over the last several years,” said Justin Silverman, NEFAC’s executive director. “We look forward to Greg building on the momentum she helped create and steering us in the years to come.”
A member of NEFAC’s Board of Directors since 2010, Sullivan has served as counsel for the Union Leader Corporation for more than 40 years. He has represented Union Leader and many other media organizations regarding First Amendment issues in federal and state courts.
Sullivan also served on the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s Committee on the Judiciary and the Media, as well as the Committee for Public Access to Courts, and is president of the Hingham, Mass.-based media law firm, Malloy & Sullivan.
Sullivan successfully argued before the New Hampshire Supreme Court in several landmark First Amendment and public access cases. He teaches First Amendment Law at Suffolk University Law School in Boston and at the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications in Manchester, N.H.
Bordeleau, Sullivan’s predecessor, became president of NEFAC in 2018. She presided over a period of significant growth for the organization. During her time as president, she increased its yearly fundraising, helped steer the coalition through the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic and expanded the public services NEFAC provides to the region.
Now serving on NEFAC’s Executive Committee with Sullivan are Maggie Mulvihill of Boston University, Topher Hamblett of The Foundation for West Africa, NEFAC Executive Director Justin Silverman, Shirley Leung and Emily Sweeney of The Boston Globe, and Carlos Virgen of The Day.
NEFAC Executive Committee 2023-24
The following were elected to the coalition’s Executive Committee last month and will serve two-year terms.
Gregory V. Sullivan | President
Sullivan has served as counsel for the Union Leader Corporation for more than 40 years and has represented media organizations regarding First Amendment issues in federal and state courts.
Maggie Mulvihill | First Vice President
Mulvihill is an attorney, veteran investigative and data journalist, news entrepreneur and impassioned defender of the public’s right to know about government. She is Associate Professor of the Practice of Computational Journalism at Boston University.
Topher Hamblett | Second Vice President
Hamblett is president and founder of The Foundation for West Africa, a Rhode Island-based organization that supports community radio stations in Sierra Leone and neighboring countries.
Justin Silverman | Treasurer and Clerk
Silverman is executive director of NEFAC. A Massachusetts-based attorney, he helps lead the coalition’s First Amendment and open government advocacy throughout the six-state region.
Shirley Leung
Leung is a columnist and associate editor at The Boston Globe. She has written on everything from the intersection of business and politics to gender and diversity issues in the workplace.
Emily Sweeney
Sweeney is a multimedia journalist at The Boston Globe and author of the books Boston Organized Crime and Gangland Boston. She has been a staff writer at the Globe since 2001.
Carlos Virgen
Virgen is a journalist with more than 15 years’ experience in audience engagement, data analysis, and multimedia production. He is the assistant managing editor for audience development at The Day in New London, Conn.
NEFAC was formed in 2006 to advance and protect the Five Freedoms of the First Amendment, including the principle of the public’s right to know. We’re a broad-based organization of people who believe in the power of an informed democratic society. Our members include lawyers, journalists, historians, academics and private citizens.
Our coalition is funded through contributions made by those who value the First Amendment and who strive to keep government accountable. Please make a donation here.
Leadership Circle donors include the Rhode Island Foundation, Hearst Connecticut Media Group, The Boston Globe, Paul and Ann Sagan, and the Robertson Foundation. Major Supporters include Boston University, the Academy of New England Journalists, the Society of Professional Journalists Foundation, Genie Gannett for the First Amendment Museum, Linda Pizzuti Henry, Connecticut Public and GBH-Boston.