SUMMARY

Award-winning journalist with strong writing and editing skills. Excels at working with a wide range of sources to distill complex issues into clear and concise stories and reports. Able to research, analyze and explain topics in a way that resonates with readers. Adept at writing long-form and explanatory articles for expert and general audiences. Produces videos, slide shows and other digital-based media. Trained in search engine optimization and social media promotion.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ARIZONA REPUBLIC, Phoenix,  AZ          

Experienced Reporter 2001- 2014

• Growth and development reporter for the West Valley area of metro Phoenix. Covered cities, real estate and statewide transportation issues. Wrote news stories, features, storytellers and business stories for print and web publications. Promoted stories with social media, increasing page views by 5,000 to 20,000 clicks after publication. Shot and edited videos for stand-alone postings and to accompany stories. Co-created a video series on independent restaurants that attracted more than 10,000 followers to our brand. Took photos and built slide-shows to illustrate progressive narratives for the web.
• Covered higher education in the West Valley, including features, explanatory stories and financial issues at Arizona State University.
• Built relationships with government leaders, planners, developers, experts and academics and helped them translate complex issues for lay people. Solicited and analyzed city and business records. Worked with sources to promote Republic stories on their networks.
  Scottsdale City Hall reporter. Areas included City Hall politics, growth and development and business news. Stories included front-page analysis of state trust land reform initiatives. Became expert in issues around the tourism industry, growth and development. Created a personal brand with a weekly political column that exposed closed-door meeings in Scottsdale City Hall.
• Mentored reporters in the West Valley bureau, giving feedback and advice on beat coverage and story writing.

LOS ANGELES TIMES, Costa Mesa, CA         

City Editor for Irvine 1999-2000

• Launched and edited Irvine pages in the Metro section, covering news, features and sports. Worked with photographers, graphic artists and designers to produce section.
  Supervised three entry-level reporters.

Correspondent 1994-1999

• Covered several Orange County city halls, school boards and colleges for the Metro section.
  Co-wrote a year-long investigative series about corruption in the City of Orange that led to indictments and the firing of the police chief. Was co-recipient of the Orange County Press Club’s Investigative/Watchdog Award.
• Wrote features, weekend stories and spot news for Metro, Business, Religion and Life & Style sections. Wrote weekly column analyzing county-wide issues.

EDUCATION

Master of Journalism, Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley
Bachelor of Arts, State University of New York at Albany