WORK EXPERIENCE
June 2012 - present, Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minn.
June 2012 - present
Economy reporter
- I try to write stories identifying new trends in the economy. The more surprising the trend, the better. The job includes coverage of BLS and state of Minnesota job reports, the Federal Reserve bank in Minneapolis and an occasional whirl at something happening in D.C., either with the Fed or in politics. But the job also allows me to be a business news generalist. I did stories on paper mills, railroads, truckers, machine shops and trade with Canada in my first six months at the Strib.
June 2010 - June 2012, The Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa
Jan. 2011 - present
Financial services reporter
- I covered banks and insurance in Des Moines, a national center for financial services. The beat included coverage of the Principal Financial Group, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Aviva USA, financial reform, health care reform, the Iowa Insurance Division, the Iowa Division of Banking and any consumer or personal finance news that had to do with banking or insurance. I also wrote general business and economics stories, with an emphasis on agriculture, and occasionally did a story for USA Today's Money section.
June 2010 - Jan. 2011
West Des Moines reporter
- Wrote stories about West Des Moines, mostly related to city council, and occasionally filled in as metro police reporter or helped with statewide breaking news.
May 2006 - May 2010, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
2008 - May 2010
Local government/general assignment reporter
- Bylined the Gazette's lead story on four of five key days during the 2008 flood. Our newspaper won the Society of Professional Journalists Deadline Reporting Award for our work covering the disaster. Assigned to three-reporter team that monitored flood recovery for several months.
- Reported from Postville during and after immigration raid in May 2008, largest in U.S. history.
- Covered Linn County budgets, property tax policy, political squabbles and dozens of local
races in primary and general elections.
- Learned to shoot video.
- Won Iowa Newspaper Association's 2008 Outstanding Young Journalist Award.
October 2006 - December 2007
Night police reporter
- Covered murders, robberies, car wrecks, plane crashes and various local government
meetings. Often filled in on courts.
Summer 2006, Intern
Summer 2005, Citizen’s Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Intern
- Learned to cover all kinds of hard and feature news.
- Wrote a story on the thrills and dangers of mountain swimming holes that won a 2006 Keystone Press Award for special projects.
2005-2006 The Bagpipe, student newspaper at Covenant College
Editor
- Helped transform the paper from a sporadic black and white biweekly into a weekly newspaper in full color. Two former staffers are now full-time journalists, not including me.
EDUCATION
- BA, history, Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga., 2006.
- World Journalism Institute fellow
MISCELLANEOUS
- Spent three months in 2001 washing dishes for Mercy Ships, a medical relief
organization that serves West Africa.
- One year each as varsity boys soccer coach and assistant junior high boys basketball coach at Cono Christian School, my alma mater.
- Held a lot of summer jobs through high school and college: electrical apprentice,
landscaper, corn detasseler, carpet cleaner, lumber mill worker, hotel clerk, and claims taker for an insurance company.