Professional/Personal Overview
I'm a versatile journalist who has covered business and the financial markets for more than 17 years. My beats have ranged from fast food and consumer products to the automotive industry and manufacturing. I'm equally comfortable interviewing CEOs of Fortune 100 corporations, small business owners, politicians, analysts, investors and everyday consumers.
Work Info
Expertise
Content Editor (online)
4 Years
Copy Editor
3 Years
Reporter
17 Years
Specialty
Entrepreneurship
6 Years
Law
6 Years
Consumer Products
16 Years
Total Media Industry Experience
16 Years
Media Client List (# assignments
last 2 yrs)
Reuters.com (11+), ABA Journal (11+), American Banker (3-5), Crain's Chicago Business (3-5), Success (3-5), The Grid (Chicago Sun-Times) (1-2), Indianapolis Monthly (1-2), Smart Money (1-2), Law Technology News (1-2)
Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)
Baker & McKenzie (1-2), Johnson & Johnson (1-2), Lincoln International LLC (1-2), Thomson Reuters Westlaw (1-2)
Other Work History
Former correspondent for Reuters, Crain's Chicago Business, Bloomberg News.
Computer Skills
Word, Excel, Mac OS 10
Technical Skills
Digital SLR photography, basic photo editing
Equipment
Macintosh G5 desktop, Mac laptop, Canon digital camera, digital recorder, Flip cam, iPad with keyboard
Foreign Language Skills
conversational Spanish
References
References supplied upon request
Awards
2009 SPJ award winner for best lifestyle feature in a magazine (Indianapolis Monthly); 2003 finalist, Peter Lisagor Award for exemplary Chicago journalism (business reporting on McDonald's Corp.)
Associations
Member, American Society of Journalists and
Other
MSJ, Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism, 1996
Freelancer Availability
I freelance full-time. I live near Chicago, IL. I am willing to travel anywhere. I have a driver's license. I have access to a car.
Work Samples
Restaurant Industry
(QSR Magazine , 2/1/2010)
QSR followed four Wing Zone executives as they took the brand beyond U.S. borders and into Central America.
(Indianapolis Monthly , 8/1/2008)
A look at how chain restaurants have changed the social landscape of Indianapolis
(Bloomberg Businessweek , 3/19/2008)
A hit on public TV, Chicago's Check, Please! sees the Net as a bigger market for its popular videos.
Legal
(ABA Journal , 5/1/2013)
Attorneys seek redress over consumer abuses in the credit industry, including harassment, "sewer service" and borrowers being thrown in jail for failure to appear in court.
(ABA Journal , 2/1/2013)
While many lawyers are aware of emergency precautions they need to take to back up their files and client needs, solos may be especially vulnerable to the financial impact of natural disasters.
(ABA Journal , 1/1/2013)
Networking is a critical component for building a successful solo practice. To help boost their networks, some lawyers are putting together informal career groups. More than just being a good place to talk shop, the groups help solos combat the feelings of isolation that can come from running a smal
(ABA Journal , 1/1/2013)
James Ring wants to eliminate the time lawyers spend bullying and bluffing their way through monetary disputes and other protracted negotiations. So the Boston-based trial lawyer has borrowed from the practice of game theory, the science behind conflict resolution, to introduce a series of online so
(ABA Journal , 10/1/2012)
A Florida case is among recent incidents where the forced consumption of alcohol, physical brutality and other forms of hazing on and around college campuses have resulted in acts of cruelty and death. Other high-profile cases have garnered national attention. In June 2011, a $25 million lawsuit was
(Law Technology News , 10/1/2012)
The photocopy is dying a slow death, one that's particularly costly for law firms. In today's digital world, most legal documents are scanned, emailed, and electronically edited, then sent to local printers at attorneys' desks or to sophisticated multi-function machines at in-house copy centers.
(ABA Journal , 8/1/2012)
Part-time teaching has always been a time-consuming and sometimes thankless pursuit. Even so, with a glut of attorneys competing for work in a down economy, more solos appear to be considering adjunct teaching jobs as a means to supplement their income and test an alternative career path.
(ABA Journal , 7/1/2012)
Liberia-born solo Johnetta Paye is betting her homeland holds great promise for American attorneys. Africa is opening up as a new frontier for American business, and Paye is offering clients wanting to expand into the subcontinent a distinct advantage: She knows the culture and has direct access to
(ABA Journal , 6/1/2012)
In 2005, Chloe Gilgan bet that obtaining a law degree would guarantee her a competitive salary and a steady career path. Instead, she wound up with a mountain of debt and limited job prospects.
Gilgan, who says she relied heavily on placement data from New York Law School to decide whether to att
(ABA Journal , 3/1/2012)
As crowdfunding has grown in popularity, a diverse group of backers ranging from grassroots community activists to old-line conservatives has voiced support to allow the practice to expand beyond current models. Securities and Exchange Commission and state regulations currently impose certain regist
(ABA Journal , 2/1/2012)
When the fictional television brothers Frasier and Niles Crane attempted to open a joint psychiatric practice, sibling rivalry intervened and the effort was soon deemed hopeless.
In real life, Seattle-based attorneys Mindy Ann Terence and Thomas Terence seem to have the formula for a successful s
(ABA Journal , 1/1/2012)
Many retailers contend there is a significant disparity between online sellers of goods and their brick-and-mortar counterparts. Several states are enacting “Amazon tax laws” to go after uncollected state revenue. This story explores the legal precedents behind the trends.
(ABA Journal , 7/1/2011)
A Nevada attorney shakes up the market with a practice that sharply discounts legal services.
(ABA Journal , 3/1/2011)
Dodd-Frank lets the Securities and Exchange Commission give whistle-blower protection one last lick.
(ABA Journal , 7/1/2010)
How tax credits aided building restoration during the downturn
(ABA Journal , 11/1/2009)
A look at the pluses and minuses of starting a solo practice.
(ABA Journal , 8/1/2008)
Where the world economy goes, American law firms follow.
These days, much of the action in global finance is coming from oil-rich and developing countries in Asia and the Middle East that are pouring their bountiful equities into U.S. and Western European businesses. (See “Going for Gold in the G
Investing
(Reuters.com , 11/29/2011)
The inability of many growth companies to go public has done much to boost interest in secondary markets for private company stock. Shares in tech titans Facebook and Zynga have provided much of the buzz around secondary markets of late, as sky-high valuations have caught the eye of investors.
(Smart Money , 3/1/2010)
More companies are buying back stock, but that's not necessarily good news for investors.
(North Shore Magazine , 11/1/2009)
With endowments losing billions and fewer donations flowing to non-profits, local institutions suffer.
Profiles
(ABA Journal , 12/1/2011)
For much of her legal career, Marie-Therese Connolly has been on a crusade. While she admits it is sometimes a quixotic pursuit, her campaign to highlight the overlooked problems of senior citizens such as neglect and domestic abuse has been recognized by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Found
(President & CEO , 8/1/2011)
A look at the private equity investment strategy of brothers Jay Robert (J.B.) and Anthony N. Pritzker. The billionaire investors together run the private investment firm The Pritzker Group, which focuses on investing in little-known middle market companies.
(UIC Alumni Magazine , 5/1/2010)
Andy Cukurs believes the solution to U.S. energy needs is blowing in the wind.
(UIC Alumni Magazine , 1/1/2009)
James Wooten's career has veered from being an accounting clerk for the Burlington Railroad to serving as sergeant in the Chicago Police Department.
Entrepreneurship
(Chicago Grid/Chicago Sun-Times , 4/1/2013)
More than a decade after digital sent Kodak into a tailspin, Anthony Vizzari's thumbing his nose at the camera phone. In 2007, three years before Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger founded Instagram, Vizzari stumbled onto an object that has become a $500,000-a-year business for him and his wife Andrea.
(Success , 3/2/2013)
The Jobs Act will let internet investors buy stock. It's a change expected to transform the way startups and small businesses raise money.
(Reuters.com , 1/10/2013)
There's anecdotal evidence that an increasing numbers of teens are filling the gaps in the economy and their wallets by doing odd jobs or selling the technical skills at which many excel. And their parents are promoting them -- via Facebook, LinkedIn, neighborhood chatrooms and more.
(Reuters.com , 12/12/2012)
American small business owners of all stripes - some relocating existing ventures and others starting new ones - are considering tax-friendly locales ranging from Bermuda to Belize. Relocation experts say the so-called "fiscal cliff" that threatens to end the Bush-era federal tax cuts at year-end ma
(Reuters.com , 11/16/2012)
Large and small businesses are inundated with requests for charitable donations. Although giving freebies or cash can shave precious dollars off already razor-thin margins, many companies find the dollars they give get repaid in publicity and customer loyalty. It helps to be strategic in choosing ta
(Reuters.com , 9/12/2012)
The hottest concepts in franchising include self-serve frozen yogurt and gourmet burgers, in-home senior care, cleaning and pet services. But financing is still tough after the 2008 credit crunch and new franchisees sometimes risk their retirement funds. In addition, franchise experts cite concern a
(www.kellogg.com , 7/27/2012)
At a time when large airlines are struggling to survive, Greg Stallkamp ’11 has managed to get a new air charter operation off the ground.
Lakeshore Express Aviation, which offered its first round-trip flight to northern Michigan less than a year ago, is focused squarely on affluent travelers heade
(Reuters.com , 7/24/2012)
Credit unions have lobbied for more than a year to get Congress to raise the lid on small business lending, but opposition from the banking industry has stalled proposed legislation.
Credit unions are now focusing on legislation introduced this spring by U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat
(Kellogg School of Management , 6/25/2012)
Out-of-towners looking for a place to stay during big college sports events need look no further than GameDayHousing, Brusznicki's fast-growing sports vacation brokerage.
(Reuters.com , 2/14/2012)
For Jeff Chimenti, a rock keyboardist who plays with offshoots of the Grateful Dead, it has been anything but a "long strange trip" getting his medical product to market.
(American Banker magazine , 12/1/2011)
Puerto Rico's Popular Community Bank leverages its position as a community-focused bank amid hostility toward big banks.
(Reuters.com , 8/4/2011)
Cleetus Friedman is convinced consumers will continue to pay a premium for healthier, locally sourced food, despite the sluggish economy that has many watching their wallets.
(Reuters , 7/27/2011)
It may take a fervent commitment to community to overcome the odds facing brick-and-mortar sellers of new books.
(Reuters , 7/20/2011)
Funding site Kickstarter harnesses the power of the Internet to let artists showcase their projects online, setting a timeframe for reaching specific monetary goals in return for a piece of the action.
(The Fiscal Times , 7/17/2011)
Combine a simple art class with consumption of wine and spirits and you have a respite from the real world that translates to the makings of a successful franchise.
(Reuters , 6/29/2011)
The push to force e-sellers like Amazon to apply local state taxes toward online purchases is hurting thousands of small Internet companies.
(The Fiscal Times , 6/4/2011)
InContext Solutions is a tech startup that makes savvy use of three-dimensional replicas of the floor plans of major retail chains.
Food & Consumer Products
(Crain's Chicago Business , 9/21/1999)
Chip giant Frito-Lay ups heat on home-grown favorite Jay's.
(Crain's Chicago Business , 9/6/1999)
Fruit of the Loom is ripe for change but recent management moves don't diminish the company's financial problems.
(Bloomberg News , 1/1/1997)
Masco may not be a household name itself, but its Delta, Merillat and other brands are becoming increasingly familiar to baby boomers moving into bigger homes -- and to investors looking for bigger returns.
Personal Finance
(Reuters.com , 4/16/2013)
Savvy home owners are finding creative ways to pass along some of the financial burdens of home ownership to others. For many, the fiscal benefits offset concerns about troublesome tenants and privacy. It can be a wise move, but hopeful homebuyers should be aware of running afoul of zoning laws.
(Reuters.com , 3/18/2013)
Margaret DiSantis always wanted a child.
But the Chicago advertising executive never expected she would have to sell her house, drop out of business school and move back in with her parents to tackle costs associated with hiring the surrogate mother who delivered her baby.
(Reuters.com , 10/5/2012)
Ed Zwirner and his wife, Alison Loeppert, recently bought an historic house in the Chicago suburbs without brokers' fees, tight moving deadlines, undetected defects or other stresses that accompany one of life's biggest purchases. At the same time, Loeppert's parents made a similar move.
The secr
Architecture & Design
(Crain's Chicago Business , 10/22/2012)
Take a tour of Chicago's coolest office spaces for 2012. We identified five.
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June 4, 2013 | San Francisco
