Sandra Long Weaver is President & CEO of The Dawson Media Group, a multi-media communications and consulting practice and Managing Partner of Tea and Conversations. She has an exceptional ability to understand and leverage market segment trends and requirements. Mrs. Long Weaver has extensive experience in newspaper and internet operations, including editing and production. She has a demonstrated ability to conceive, develop, and implement strategically-focused events, publications, and new distribution channels. Mrs. Long Weaver effectively promotes collaboration between and consensus among diverse constituencies while achieving top quality outcomes.
She is known for her decisive, proactive responses to evolving competitive dynamics in media and communications. As CEO of The Dawson Media Group, Mrs. Long Weaver enables organizations to learn about and tap into opinions and preferences of target audiences with a focus on women and on African Americans. During her lengthy career with the Philadelphia Media Network (and its predecessor organizations), she held multiple leadership roles, including VP of Editorial Product Development and Managing Editor / VP of Newsroom Operations for the Philadelphia Inquirer & Philadelphia Daily News. Mrs. Long Weaver had continued growth in her early career in the newspaper industry, advancing from reporting and editing roles at The Philadelphia Bulletin, The News Journal, and The Philadelphia Inquirer to become Assistant Managing Editor for Finance and Administration at the Philadelphia Inquirer before becoming Deputy Managing Editor of Newsroom Operations and eventually Vice President for Newsroom Operations.
Mrs. Long Weaver’s academic experience includes her long-time leadership of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s PSNE Online Reporter internship for Pennsylvania college students covering the annual Keystone Awards program. She taught at Temple University as both a Guest Lecturer and Adjunct Professor, instructing undergraduates in Newsroom Management, Reporting, and Leadership. Mrs. Long Weaver has also served for the last decade as Chairperson & Publisher for the Acel Moore Minority Career Development Workshop, which teaches reporting, writing, editing, online publishing, and photography to minority high school students.
Representative career accomplishments for Mrs. Long Weaver include:
Creating the messaging around the Imagine No Malaria fundraising campaign by the United Methodist Church. The campaign’s goal is to raise $75 million to reduce the number of deaths from malaria in Africa. In addition to winning an Award of Excellence for a poster designed for the campaign, she managed a website and a Facebook page and twitter account. She wrote and edited stories around the campaign. She also managed a grass roots marketing campaign that raised over $500,000 for Imagine No Malaria.
Mrs. Long Weaver earned her BA in Journalism from the University of Maryland and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She serves on the Board of Visitors for the Phillip Merrill School of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Mrs. Long Weaver also attended the Advanced Executive Program at the Northwestern Media Management Center.
Mrs. Long Weaver has provided significant leadership within her industry as a Founding Member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). In 2011, she organized the first “Divine Nine” breakfast for NABJ members who belonged to one of the Black Greek organizations. Mrs. Long Weaver has received many professional and industry awards, but is especially proud of having twice been a Juror for the Pulitzer Prizes in Arts & Journalism.
Mrs. Long Weaver attended Annapolis Elementary and Parole Elementary Schools, graduating with honors in 1964. She then attended Annapolis Junior High and Bates Middle Schools. She graduated from Annapolis Senior High school in 1970. She worked on the high school newspaper, Tally-Ho. Her first front page story for the Tally-Ho was about Alex Haley, who visited Anne Arundel community college to talk about writing the autobiography of Malcolm X and his research into the history of his family which became the book, Roots and a television mini-series.
She is known for her decisive, proactive responses to evolving competitive dynamics in media and communications. As CEO of The Dawson Media Group, Mrs. Long Weaver enables organizations to learn about and tap into opinions and preferences of target audiences with a focus on women and on African Americans. During her lengthy career with the Philadelphia Media Network (and its predecessor organizations), she held multiple leadership roles, including VP of Editorial Product Development and Managing Editor / VP of Newsroom Operations for the Philadelphia Inquirer & Philadelphia Daily News. Mrs. Long Weaver had continued growth in her early career in the newspaper industry, advancing from reporting and editing roles at The Philadelphia Bulletin, The News Journal, and The Philadelphia Inquirer to become Assistant Managing Editor for Finance and Administration at the Philadelphia Inquirer before becoming Deputy Managing Editor of Newsroom Operations and eventually Vice President for Newsroom Operations.
Mrs. Long Weaver’s academic experience includes her long-time leadership of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s PSNE Online Reporter internship for Pennsylvania college students covering the annual Keystone Awards program. She taught at Temple University as both a Guest Lecturer and Adjunct Professor, instructing undergraduates in Newsroom Management, Reporting, and Leadership. Mrs. Long Weaver has also served for the last decade as Chairperson & Publisher for the Acel Moore Minority Career Development Workshop, which teaches reporting, writing, editing, online publishing, and photography to minority high school students.
Representative career accomplishments for Mrs. Long Weaver include:
Creating the messaging around the Imagine No Malaria fundraising campaign by the United Methodist Church. The campaign’s goal is to raise $75 million to reduce the number of deaths from malaria in Africa. In addition to winning an Award of Excellence for a poster designed for the campaign, she managed a website and a Facebook page and twitter account. She wrote and edited stories around the campaign. She also managed a grass roots marketing campaign that raised over $500,000 for Imagine No Malaria.
- Launching “Tea and Conversation” in 2005, an annual meeting for Philadelphia-area African American women. Under Mrs. Long Weaver, this event’s attendance grew to 380 from 50 in just six years, enabling reporters and editors to learn of emerging concerns from an under-represented population segment.
- Overseeing the joint creation of 12 special sections by three newsrooms (Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Philly.com). Mrs. Long Weaver led the selection of topics of interest to readers and advertisers that were in alignment with corporate priorities and generated significant incremental revenue.
- Leading the first shared services newsroom in the US. Mrs. Long Weaver merged the production, photo, and graphics arts departments from two large independent newsrooms and managed a dramatic culture change, from competitive to collegial. Under her leadership, the joint newsrooms operations were recognized with numerous local awards for page design, headline writing, and photography.
- Achieving significant synergies by overseeing resource sharing by the newsrooms prior to their merged operations under a shared services model (for example, a server to exchange and store content and the news research library, with daily news archives and special reports resources).
- Leading a cross-divisional team charged with using newsroom content to generate new revenue through partnerships with various companies to maximize community profile. Mrs. Long Weaver’s team enriched the value of special sections by collaborating with multi-media editors to produce related, supplemental online content and drive web site traffic.
Mrs. Long Weaver earned her BA in Journalism from the University of Maryland and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She serves on the Board of Visitors for the Phillip Merrill School of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Mrs. Long Weaver also attended the Advanced Executive Program at the Northwestern Media Management Center.
Mrs. Long Weaver has provided significant leadership within her industry as a Founding Member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). In 2011, she organized the first “Divine Nine” breakfast for NABJ members who belonged to one of the Black Greek organizations. Mrs. Long Weaver has received many professional and industry awards, but is especially proud of having twice been a Juror for the Pulitzer Prizes in Arts & Journalism.
Mrs. Long Weaver attended Annapolis Elementary and Parole Elementary Schools, graduating with honors in 1964. She then attended Annapolis Junior High and Bates Middle Schools. She graduated from Annapolis Senior High school in 1970. She worked on the high school newspaper, Tally-Ho. Her first front page story for the Tally-Ho was about Alex Haley, who visited Anne Arundel community college to talk about writing the autobiography of Malcolm X and his research into the history of his family which became the book, Roots and a television mini-series.
