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MEET THE FOUNDERS & THE BOARD
Marvin and Susan Olasky
Marvin and Susan Olasky are veteran journalists who serve as Zenger Prize judges.
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Marvin Olasky edited World from 1992 until January 2022 and is the former dean of the World Journalism Institute. From 1969 to 1973 he was an anti-war radical, a Boston Globe correspondent, and a member of the Communist Party USA. Then God grabbed hold of him: He professed faith in Christ in 1976 and became an elder of the Presbyterian Church in America in 1996. He was Professor of Journalism at The University of Texas at Austin from 1983 to 2008.
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Marvin graduated from Yale University and earned a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan. He is the author of 25 books and the co-author or editor of 23 more, along with more than 5,000 magazine and newspaper articles in publications including The Wall Street Journal and Christianity Today. Among his books: Prodigal Press, Compassionate Conservatism, The Tragedy of American Compassion, The Story of Abortion in America, Lament for a Father, and Reforming Journalism.
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Susan Olasky was a feature writer, book reviewer, and story coach at World. She wrote and voiced radio features for The World and Everything in It. She earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.A. from the University of Delaware. She is the author of the Annie Henry and Will Northaway series of novels for children.
Susan founded the Austin Crisis Pregnancy Center in 1984 and later chaired the board of CareNet, the national umbrella group for pregnancy resource centers. The Olaskys have been married for 45 years and have four sons and five grandchildren.
Zenger House Founder, Chairman
Zenger House Co-Founder
Mindy Belz writes the newsletter Globe Trot and is editor of the 2024 Christianity Today Globe project. Her writing also appears in The Wall Street Journal, Plough Quarterly, and elsewhere. She is the former senior editor of WORLD Magazine.
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Her 2016 book, They Say We Are Infidels, explores her experiences covering war in Iraq and Syria. She also reported on war and survivors in Afghanistan, Sudan, and the Balkans.
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Mindy serves on the board of World Relief and is an advisor to the Center for House Church Theology. She has taught journalism in the United States, Europe, Africa, and India. She worked on Capitol Hill, attended George Washington University, and was married to Nat Belz, who died in 2023. They have four children and three grandchildren.
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Zenger House Board Member
Jamie Dean is a journalist from Charlotte, N.C., with more than 20 years of experience in reporting and writing, including nearly two decades at WORLD Magazine. She is a longtime member of Resurrection Presbyterian Church and a member of the Board for Zenger House.
Zenger House Board Member
Michael Reneau is a managing editor at The Dispatch, a Washington D.C.-based news outlet covering politics, policy, and culture. Prior to joining the company in 2022, he was editor of WORLD Magazine and for several years was editor of a daily newspaper in East Tennessee, The Greeneville Sun. He and his wife have four children and live in Greeneville, Tennessee.