LZ Granderson

Interesting, out of the ordinary, fascinating. These are the words we look for when we try to describe our speakers at PINC. Well, LZ gets all of the above. Not only is he a valued journalist and commentator on the topic of sports for ESPN, he also is a highly respected journalist and commentator on the topic of politics for CNN. A combination you don’t find often.

Besides writing about sports and politics, LZ’s work often mixes in social aspects like race, gender and gay issues. Both his personality and his work come across as passionate, genuinely interested and intellectual. Being an award-winning journalist, Granderson produces words people feel compelled to read. His weekly columns for CNN.com are among the most popular on the network’s website, twice finishing on Facebook’s annual “most posted” list. As a result, CNN has trusted him to be the leading voice on some of the biggest stories of the past three years, including the re-election and inauguration of President Obama, the George Zimmerman trial and the Supreme Court hearings on same-sex marriage.

Granderson was the 2009 winner of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation award for online journalism, and was nominated for the award again in 2010. He is also a 2008 and 2010 honoree of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for column writing, and a member of the Advisory Board for You Can Play, a campaign dedicated to fighting homophobia in sports.