Leadership
Co-chairs
Katie Mettler, News
Katie is the co-chair for news of the Post Guild, the union that represents The Washington Post newsroom where she works as a national general assignment reporter. She is also on the guild's bargaining committee. Like many others in guild leadership, her love for unions is a family thing.
Katie loves working for The Post, too, which is why she thinks fighting to make it the best possible version of itself is so important. Our company leads the industry with its journalism. It should also strive to set the example for how newsroom’s treat their journalists.
Send her an email kemettler@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @kemettler
David DeJesus, Commercial
Dave hails from Chicago, and lived and worked in New York prior to joining The Post in 1993. At The Post Dave has worked in sales, covering advocacy and public policy advertising, and the financial, education and healthcare ad categories, and a stint in advertising sales management.
He has see the tremendous expansion at The Post in the early 90’s and the overall contraction during the “downturn years” at The Post in the late 2000’s, and understands the power of collective bargaining to preserve jobs and benefits.
Dave has been a proud supporter of the Guild for more than 20 years and enjoys representing the employees of The Post and helping to level the playing field between management and the workforce.
You can reach Dave at davemdejesus@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter @davedejesus
Vice chairs
Michael Brice-Saddler, News
Michael Brice-Saddler is a beat reporter covering D.C. politics and vice chair for News for the Post Guild. Originally from Baltimore, he came to The Post as an intern in 2018 and joined the union shortly after he became a full-time staff writer. Since joining the Guild, Michael has keyed in on issues affecting underrepresented groups at The Post, founding the Guild's Black Caucus in 2020 amid conversations about racial justice and equity in the newsroom. He is passionate about making sure all employees have a seat at the table.
Email Michael at mbb643@gmail.com or DM him on Twitter @TheArtist_MBS.
Pat Jacob, Commercial
Pat has worked in The Post’s advertising department for more than 20 years, and has always been a Guild member. She has witnessed the collective power of union workers confronting and resolving problems in our workplace. “We are the true voice of fairness and have always been committed to helping our sisters and brethren when needed.”
You can reach Pat at plj713@yahoo.com
Secretary
Hau Chu
Hau started at The Post in 2015 delivering papers and sorting mail as a copy aide, so he understands the needs of overlooked workers throughout the newsroom. He is now an editorial aide in Features and writes about interesting things to do around the District. As a devoted union member, he was part of the recent organizing effort to recruit and energize employees for a louder voice at the bargaining table.
Email him at hauchu@gmail.com or find him on pretty much any social media @hauchu
Steward Network
Sarah Kaplan, chief steward
Sarah is a science reporter and the Chief Steward for the guild, which means she’s responsible for recruiting new members and making sure that everyone can lean on the guild in times of need. Nearly five years after she first arrived at the Post as an intern for Style, the thrill of sitting down at her desk each morning hasn’t worn off. But she’s also eager to help make the Post a better and fairer place to work.
You can find Sarah at her desk, surrounded by nerdy science books, on twitter at @sarahkaplan48 and by email at sarahkaplan48@gmail.com
Anthony Rivera, chief mobilizer
Anthony Rivera is a multiplatform editor at The Post and chief mobilizer for Post Guild. Anthony started off as a steward and recruitment lead; he strongly believes that the union's strength is in its membership numbers. He has been at the company for over five years and has seen a lot of changes — some good, some bad — in that short time. He's originally from South Jersey and spends his free time going to the beach or camping with his growing family.
Equity+ Diversity Committee
Sonia Rao, co-chair
Sonia Rao is a features reporter and co-chair for the Post Guild's Equity and Diversity Committee. In the nearly four years since she started at The Post as a newsroom intern, she has seen just how much employees at every level have benefited from having union members advocate on their behalf. She is excited to help make The Post a fairer workplace for all and to help forge more of the pathways that allowed her and other journalists from underrepresented backgrounds to get to where they are today.
Email her at soniarao23@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @misssoniarao
Yu Vongkiatkajorn, co-chair
Yu Vongkiatkajorn is a community editor at The Post, where she oversees comments, live chats and other community engagement strategies, and co-chair for the Equity and Diversity Committee. She joined The Post in June 2019 and is passionate about growing equity and diversity across the organization and in news coverage.
Email her at yu.vongkiatkajorn@gmail.com or on Twitter at @yukvon.
Communications
Razzan Nakhlawi, communications chair
Razzan Nakhlawi is a social media producer and the Post Guild's Communications chair. She is currently working on the National Security desk researching far-right extremism as part of the Opportunity Year fellowship, a newsroom initiative created after the Guild called for training opportunities for employees of color. Razzan believes in the formidable combination of worker solidarity and Twitter fingers. She looks forward to making our voices heard clearly across the industry.
Email her atrnakhlawi@gmail.com and find her on Twitter at@raz_nak.
Chair Emeritus
Fredrick Kunkle
Freddy Kunkle joined The Washington Post and the Guild in February 2000, as might be expected of the grandson of a union organizer who worked with Walter Reuther in Detroit. In 2009, he became the union’s co-chair for news — a role he served in for a decade. During that time, Freddy led bargaining committees that negotiated four collective bargaining agreements with both the Graham family and the Post’s current owner, Jeff Bezos.
He has covered cops, courts, government, Maryland and Virginia politics and transportation, and he has written features on topics ranging from luxury pet hotels to Santa’s firing. He contributed to coverage of Russia’s invasion of Georgia, the Arab Spring movement in Egypt, and the early days of the separatist conflict in Ukraine.
Email him at goldstraw@comcast.net and find him on Twitter at @KunkleFredrick