KENNETH CUKIER Nominated by: Gavin Blair Seconded by: Pio d'Emilia

Candidate for Director-at-Large

Kenneth Cukier

The Club is in terrible shape, but improving it need not be dramatic, cause undue friction, or take long.

The finances are weak. Member politics are uneasy. Our loyal and overworked staff get short shrift. News events, speakers and activities need rejuvenation. Meanwhile, there are increasingly fewer foreign correspondents in Japan, and the Club is less relevant to those who remain.

I would be honored to serve the Club as a Director-at-Large to improve things. It won't happen in a single year's term, but the process must start right away.

Specifically, I would focus on three fundamental reforms:
1. Finances: improve the Club's finances so that it is on solid footing.

2. Speakers: improve the quality and frequency of speakers, press events and news-related activities and outings.

3. The Future: initiate a review on how the club can better serve the needs of current members and associate members, as well as increase membership in both categories.

Having put forward what I intend to do, I should also signal what I will not do:

1. Personal politics: with rare exception, I will abstain from all board votes concerning disciplinary action against members; yet in my neutrality I will not play a peacemaker role among members. There are a lot of serious issues facing the Club, and although this is one of them, it's not my issue -- mine are the three that I identified above.

About myself, I've been reporting from Tokyo for three years, and earlier was The Economist's technology writer in London. Over the past two years I've served on the FCCJ's Professional Activities Committee. I'm a life member of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club and a member of America's Overseas Press Club, in which I've served on a board committee and as a judge for its annual awards.

When Japan was a big news story, the club functioned more smoothly because members were working so hard that they simply didn't have time to squabble or turn triflings into major ordeals. The good news is that I don't have a lot of time. So I'll perform my board duties without turning it into a blood-letting exercise -- and hope to help make the Club a more efficient, effective and pleasant place that serves all stakeholders.