Sree Sreenivasan
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Sreenath "Sree" Sreenivasan (born October 28, 1970) is an academic and practitioner in journalism and communications, serving as the inaugural Marshall R. Loeb visiting professor at
Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...
School of Journalism in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. He was previously
chief digital officer A chief digital officer (CDO) or a chief digital information officer (CDIO) is an individual who helps a company, a government organization or a city drive growth by converting traditional "analog" businesses to digital ones using the potential of ...
at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
and chief digital officer of
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. He also served as
chief digital officer A chief digital officer (CDO) or a chief digital information officer (CDIO) is an individual who helps a company, a government organization or a city drive growth by converting traditional "analog" businesses to digital ones using the potential of ...
of the
City of New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
from October 2016 through May 2017. He has been a technology journalist based in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and served as an academic administrator and professor in the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...
. In 2015, he was named one of
Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...
magazine's Most Creative People of the year. He was also identified as the most influential Chief Digital Officer of 2016 by CDO Club.


Early life

Sreenivasan was born in
Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
, and grew up in
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
, and
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Sreenivasan's father was a diplomat for the Indian government, which meant his family often relocated. He attended kindergarten in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
;
P.S. 6 P.S. 6, The Lillie Devereaux Blake School, is a public elementary school located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1894, P.S. 6 is regarded as the top elementary school in New York City. Overview P.S. 6 has about 80 ...
, a public elementary school, in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
;
Marist Brothers High School Marist Brothers High School is a Roman Catholic all-boys' high school situated in Suva, the capital of Fiji. It is a school in the Marist tradition, founded in 1946 by the order of Marist Brothers, which has had a presence in Fiji since 1844. ...
in
Suva, Fiji Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divis ...
; and St. Stephen's College in
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. He received a
Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...
degree in journalism from the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...
in 1993.


Career

Sreenivasan was on the faculty of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism from 1993 to 2013 as a professor of professional practice. His courses at Columbia focused on new media, web design, and social media in the practice of journalism, as well as media entrepreneurship. As an
adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...
in subsequent years, he ran workshops for professional journalists on the advanced use of the Internet and multimedia reporting. In 2005, Sreenivasan was appointed Dean of Students at the Journalism School, overseeing student-oriented programs. He is the former advisor to the school's chapter of the
Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...
and won the David Eshelman Award for Outstanding Campus Advisor in 1998. In 2008, he was named Dean of Student Affairs, supervising admissions, student services and career services at the school. On July 11, 2012,
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
named Sreenivasan its first Chief Digital Officer. Sreenivasan was appointed the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Chief Digital Officer in August 2013. In this role he supervised 70 employees throughout the museum. Sreenivasan helped found SAJA, the
South Asian Journalists Association The South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) was founded in 1994 in New York City. Sree Sreenivisan, Dilip Massand, M.K. Srinivasan and Om Malik co-founded SAJA as a networking organization for South Asian journalists. It is a group of more th ...
, a group of more than 1,000 journalists of South Asian origin in the U.S. and Canada. He was the association's first president and continues to sit on its board, while also serving as an editor and writer of SAJAforum, one of the most widely read South Asian news and analysis blogs. He was also named by "UNITY: Journalists of Color" in a seed list of one of the 100 top journalists of the century. For six years, he was
WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neighbor ...
's "Tech Guru," before moving to
WNBC-TV WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...
in January 2007 to become its technology reporter. He appeared twice a week on air and on WNBC.com until January 2009. From 2009 through 2011, Sreenivasan helped launch and develop
DNAinfo.com ''DNAinfo'' was an online newspaper that focused on neighborhood news in New York City and Chicago. It was closed down by CEO and owner Joe Ricketts in November 2017 after writers in its New York branch voted to unionize, a move to which Ricketts ...
, a hyper-local Manhattan-centric news startup, launched by
TD Ameritrade TD Ameritrade is a stockbroker that offers an electronic trading platform for the trade of financial assets including common stocks, preferred stocks, futures contracts, exchange-traded funds, forex, options, mutual funds, fixed income investmen ...
founder and
Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
owner
Joe Ricketts John Joseph Ricketts (born July 16, 1941) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder, former CEO and former chairman of TD Ameritrade. He has a net worth of US$2.7 billion according to ''Forbes''. He has pursued a variety of ...
. He has contributed more than 50 articles to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' on business and technology, and has hosted more than 40 episodes of his own podcast, the @SREE SHOW, for
CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
. In May 2016, Sreenivasan made news headlines by spearheading an effort to boycott participation in all-male panels, conferences, and events. He would later update this to also pledging not to attend any all-male panels. In 2016, after three years at the top digital post at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he announced he was leaving amidst the museum's financial troubles. Although Met president Daniel Weiss called Sreenivasan "a superstar," the museum faced a looming deficit, hovering between $9 million and $10 million. This financial predicament led the Met to part ways with Sreenivasan and other high-profile executives, such as Cynthia Round, its senior vice president for marketing and external relations, and Susan Sellers, head of design. At the Met, Sreenivasan led the redesign of their website and the development of a smartphone app. On August 1, 2016, Sreenivasan was named chief digital officer of New York City by its mayor,
Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New Yor ...
. He left the role on May 12, 2017.


Accolades

* In 2004,
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
magazine named him one of the 20 most influential South Asians in the U.S. * In 2007, India Abroad named him one of the 50 most Influential Indian Americans in the U.S. * In 2009, he was named one of
AdAge An adage (; Latin: adagium) is a memorable and usually philosophical aphorism that communicates an important truth derived from experience, custom, or both, and that many people consider true and credible because of its longeval tradition, i.e. ...
's 25 media people to follow on Twitter * In 2010, Quill magazine, published by the Society of Professional Journalists, named him one of 20 journalists to follow on Twitter * In 2010, he was named one of
Poynter Institute The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Netwo ...
's 35 most influential people in social media * In 2015, he was named one of
Fast Company magazine ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...
's Most Creative People of the year at number 39. * In 2016, he won the Columbia University School of Journalism Alumni Award


Personal life

He became a US Citizen in 2013. He is married to
Roopa Unnikrishnan Roopa Unnikrishnan is an Indian-born American sports shooter and innovation consultant, based in New York City. In 1998, she was the first Indian woman to ever win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, in the 50m rifle prone position event. ...
.


See also

*
Indians in the New York City metropolitan region Indians in the New York City metropolitan area constitute one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnicities in the New York City metropolitan area of the United States. The New York City region is home to the largest and most prominent Indian ...
*
New Yorkers in journalism New York City has been called the media capital of the world. Many journalists work in Manhattan, reporting about international, American, business, entertainment, and New York metropolitan area-related matters. New Yorkers in journalism A * ...


References


External links


Digimentors
professional site
Sreetips.com
tips site
Meet Columbia's New Media Guru
OJR.org

New York Sun {{DEFAULTSORT:Sreenivasan, Sreenath Living people American academics of Indian descent American male journalists American writers of Indian descent Columbia University faculty Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism faculty 1970 births Digital media educators Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Chief digital officers People educated at Suva Grammar School