Milwaukee Times announces 2020 Black Excellence keynote speaker Kimberly Godwin

The Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper is proud to announce the keynote speaker for the 2020 Black Excellence Awards, CBSNews Executive Vice President Kimberly Godwin.

Godwin has top editorial oversight of news gathering around the world, including the national desks, foreign desks and bureaus. She also served as their executive director for development and diversity and a senior broadcast producer. With dozens of years in newsrooms across the country, Godwin is a proven executive and respected newsroom leader.

Godwin has helped shape the evening news broadcast and coverage of major national and international events. She was a key part of the teams covering the Newtown, CT school shooting, the Boston Marathon bombings, the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections, Hurricane Matthew, the Orlando Pulse nightclub tragedy, the eclipse, and the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Godwin began her career as a news writer, and continued as a investigative reporter, producer, and an executive producer at television and radio stations in West Palm Beach and Tallahassee, FL.

In addition to being a veteran of network and local news, Godwin has spent time as a journalism educator. She was the interim director for journalism at the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication at Florida A&M University (FAMU) from 2004-2005 and an adjunct faculty member (2003- 2004), teaching news writing, reporting and ethics. She is currently chair of the Board of Visitors of the journalism school at FAMU.

Godwin is the recipient of many distinguished awards, including six Emmys; two Edward R. Murrow awards; an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia award; and a Sigma Delta Chi award.

She is the former chair of the board of managers of the North Brooklyn YMCA and member of the board of managers of the YMCA of New York City. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Godwin graduated from Florida A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. She grew up partly in Milwaukee and still has family in the area.

Godwin is married and lives in New York City.

The 2020 Black Excellence Awards is scheduled for February 28, 2020, starting at 6:00 p.m., at the Italian Conference Center, 631 E Chicago St, Milwaukee, WI 53202.