THE FLORIDA TIMES-UNION / JACKSONVILLE.COM
Jacksonville, Fla. 2013 - 2017
Jacksonville, Fla. 2013 - 2017
SPECIALTY PUBLICATIONS EDITOR 2015-2017
Enhanced and developed new brands and audiences while working with institutional partnerships. During my tenure in this position, the company purchased two existing magazines and created two more to add to a growing portfolio of products targeted to vital demographics.
MANAGING EDITOR / OPERATIONS (July 2014 -October 2015)
Newsroom operations for Times-Union Media products. Digital operations — content and presentation — including Jacksonville.com, Sports, Newsroom copy / design desks and photo, art, graphics and IT departments. Company and corporate project leadership as assigned.
NEWS OPERATIONS DIRECTOR (October 2013-July 2014)
Newsroom operations for Times-Union Media products. Digital oversight, Sports content, copy / design desks and photo and graphics departments. Company and corporate project leadership as assigned.
INTERIM MANAGING EDITOR (August-October 2013)
Newsroom operations for Times-Union Media products, Sports content, copy / design desks and photo and graphics departments. Company and corporate project leadership as assigned.
ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR / PRESENTATION (June-August 2013)
Oversight of copy/design desks and photo and graphics departments. Newsroom liaison to the St. Augustine Record, a nearby sister publication. Company and corporate project leadership as assigned.
Enhanced and developed new brands and audiences while working with institutional partnerships. During my tenure in this position, the company purchased two existing magazines and created two more to add to a growing portfolio of products targeted to vital demographics.
MANAGING EDITOR / OPERATIONS (July 2014 -October 2015)
Newsroom operations for Times-Union Media products. Digital operations — content and presentation — including Jacksonville.com, Sports, Newsroom copy / design desks and photo, art, graphics and IT departments. Company and corporate project leadership as assigned.
NEWS OPERATIONS DIRECTOR (October 2013-July 2014)
Newsroom operations for Times-Union Media products. Digital oversight, Sports content, copy / design desks and photo and graphics departments. Company and corporate project leadership as assigned.
INTERIM MANAGING EDITOR (August-October 2013)
Newsroom operations for Times-Union Media products, Sports content, copy / design desks and photo and graphics departments. Company and corporate project leadership as assigned.
ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR / PRESENTATION (June-August 2013)
Oversight of copy/design desks and photo and graphics departments. Newsroom liaison to the St. Augustine Record, a nearby sister publication. Company and corporate project leadership as assigned.
CALM, RESOURCEFUL NEWSROOM LEADER responsible for all aspects of appearance of print and digital products, daily operations and employee oversight.
Developed and implemented Continuous Content plan for workflow and creative accountability. Since my June 2013 arrival as Presentation Editor -- in charge of Copy Editing, Design, Photo and Graphics, I stepped up when asked to take on additional oversight for Sports, Digital and Newsroom IT.
Significant responsibilities include staff development, hiring, internship program coordination, disaster planning, presentation of election materials and so much more.
I have been part of several committees, including Morris Publishing Group's Mobile Advisory Group and the Times-Union's Digital Strategy Team.
Advocatng more sophisticated digital storytelling through the presentation of robust interactives. Engaged community through a variety of inspired-results contests.
Developed and implemented Continuous Content plan for workflow and creative accountability. Since my June 2013 arrival as Presentation Editor -- in charge of Copy Editing, Design, Photo and Graphics, I stepped up when asked to take on additional oversight for Sports, Digital and Newsroom IT.
Significant responsibilities include staff development, hiring, internship program coordination, disaster planning, presentation of election materials and so much more.
I have been part of several committees, including Morris Publishing Group's Mobile Advisory Group and the Times-Union's Digital Strategy Team.
Advocatng more sophisticated digital storytelling through the presentation of robust interactives. Engaged community through a variety of inspired-results contests.
ADVERTISING INITIATIVES
WORKING UNSELFISHLY ACROSS DEPARTMENTS to guide and develop solutions that truly offer value to readers while creating unique opportunities for corresponding business development and burgeoning relationships.
BRAND MANAGEMENT
THE GOAL: TO ESTABLISH POWERFUL VITALITY among a readership base has lacked such synergy.
As we imagine, deliver and introduce new products, it has been important to introduce the many faces behind our brand.
As we imagine, deliver and introduce new products, it has been important to introduce the many faces behind our brand.
BLOGGING
Yogi Berra: " In baseball, you don't know nothing'
Praising the 'Moose': Mike Moustakas' performance more than a great game
Playing GM: Two baseball fans try to beat the deadline and strike a deal
Say what? The maddening moments leading up to MLB's trade deadline
Another decade, another thorn when it comes to Rose
Take a hack: What we know (and need to know) about baseball's latest scandal
Remembering "The Man': Appreciating the greatness of Stan Musial
Praising the 'Moose': Mike Moustakas' performance more than a great game
Playing GM: Two baseball fans try to beat the deadline and strike a deal
Say what? The maddening moments leading up to MLB's trade deadline
Another decade, another thorn when it comes to Rose
Take a hack: What we know (and need to know) about baseball's latest scandal
Remembering "The Man': Appreciating the greatness of Stan Musial
BREAKING NEWS
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ALWAYS PREPARED to notify, organize and mobilize various components of a 24/7 Newsroom. Naturally, verification, accuracy and trust are the strongest bonds between our 150-year-old organization and its readers and viewers.
While our mission is to attempt to be first with the most important news — and often we can do this by virtue of having the largest and most aggressive newsroom in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, we will not sacrifice our credibility just to be the initial purveyor of news and information.
Our readers and viewers know they can trust our reporting, our presentations and our family of print and digital products. We deal in facts. We specialize in confirmation. And we not be rushed into publishing anything that smacks of innuendo or sensationalism.
While our mission is to attempt to be first with the most important news — and often we can do this by virtue of having the largest and most aggressive newsroom in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, we will not sacrifice our credibility just to be the initial purveyor of news and information.
Our readers and viewers know they can trust our reporting, our presentations and our family of print and digital products. We deal in facts. We specialize in confirmation. And we not be rushed into publishing anything that smacks of innuendo or sensationalism.
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ALTHOUGH REPORTERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS rightfully have their names on the final product, it takes a team to think of our readers and what they deserve and expect.
Along with assigning editors, photo editors, copy editors, digital producers and those handling color correction and the run and distribution of the newspaper (and digital dissemination), we work as a team to present facts and details, to tell stories that evoke emotions, and above all else, we seek the truth and accountability. 
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COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
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CONTENT EDITING
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These stories come to life on local National Public Radio
'A Storm. A Stampede. A Sobering Realization
'A Storm. A Stampede. A Sobering Realization
DESIGN
DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT
jacksonville.com
Versed in API Metrics, Content Watch, CXense, Drupal, NewsEngin
ENGAGE readers and digital viewers through aggregation, interpretation and assimilation.
ENGAGE readers and digital viewers through aggregation, interpretation and assimilation.
AS THE LEADER OF THE DIGITAL TEAM, I found a local obituary languishing in the pages of the print product and brought in online, where it soon went viral for several days.
TAUGHT AND ENCOURAGED REPORTERS to utilize digital tools as a daily part of their reporting repertoire.
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DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
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FUN! FUN!! FUN!!!
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GRAPHICS
NON-TRADITIONAL PRESENTATION — pages that surprise — is not just a goal; it happens with regularity within Times-Union Media products.
The mindset is to at least once daily offer the equivalent of the "surprise inside the box of Cracker Jacks"; although, we naturally hope the "prizes" we deliver will have quite a bit more value and importance to those individuals we seek to serve.
We want to make our words, image and graphics meaningful, easy to understand and always relevant.
The aim of our presentations is to make them clear and easily digestible, and to leave our readers with a much better understanding than they would have had before consuming our products.
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RARE QUALITY AND VISUAL PERSPECTIVES that readers expect and still deserve, even amid the unfortunate reality of severely diminished visual resources.
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INTERACTIVES
View our interactives
PROVIDE CREATIVE DIGITAL ENCOUNTERS that fully engage, enlighten and often delight. Developers work in tandem with graphic experts, reporters and photographers to isolate and present information and/or full story packages.
INTERNATIONAL INVOLVEMENT
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SHARE KNOWLEDGE, TENETS AND CORE VALUES with visiting journalists (Moldova, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Mexico and Latin America), who seek direct and meaningful engagement with members of the United States' Fourth Estate. I maintain contact with these eager journalists long after their departure.
INTERN RECRUITMENT & OVERSIGHT
MENTORING
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PROVIDING OUTREACH, guidance and mentoring to students from local high schools and area college journalism programs.
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MOBILE INGENUITY
DEFTLY PRESENTING NEWS, INFORMATION AND MORE in easy to use mobile-friendly environments.
JAXEATS
JAXNEXT
JAXEATS
JAXNEXT
ENCOURAGE TASK-SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT of significant new products — predominantly apps available to users of Android and Apple products.
NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
SERVED AS MANAGEMENT'S primary liaison to the new staff when Times-Union Media acquired First Coast and Health Source publications.
Times-Union Media launches J, a magazine about the rebirth of downtown Jacksonville.
NON-CORE DEVELOPMENT
PHOTOGRAPHY
CONSTANTLY SHAPING APPROACHES FOR A SEASONED TEAM of professional and community photographers. These individuals tirelessly blanket the largest city/county in terms of land mass in the United States.
PREPAREDNESS
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IN AN EFFORT TO STAY AHEAD OF THE NEWS AND INCREASINGLY RIGID DEADLINES, I conceived of the artwork in this series that will accompany prepared obituaries about our five living former presidents.
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SHOWCASING COMPANY AND CORPORATE STRENGTH
SPECIAL EFFORTS
KEEPING A CREATIVE, STEADY AND DELIBERATE HAND in efforts to chronicle the expected, while developing special projects that provide service and commitment to our community.
SPECIAL RECOGNITION: The ninth annual Morris Award for Community Engagement, went to Kenneth Amos, Chanel Martin, Tom Szaroleta, Steve Nelson and Bob Self for their work on the annual Project Pink campaign for breast cancer awareness.
The project in 2013 included envisioning and facilitating the creation of a queen-size quilt that was handmade by community volunteers. It was raffled off, with Bosom Buddies of Jacksonville receiving the funds.
SPECIALTY PUBLICATIONS
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SPORTS
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STAFF RECRUITMENT
TRAINING: SEEKING & PROVIDING NEW UNDERSTANDINGS
Reuters Editors Lab and Cxense Hackdays
As one of three Times-Union employees to participate in an annual competition to develop digital tools for journalists, I took part in this event in New York City, which was organized by Reuters and the Global Editors Network (GEN), and sponsored by Cxense.
The May 2014 Editors Lab brought together teams representing major media outlets from throughout the world. The teams represented print, digital and broadcast media platforms. The Hackdays theme: Improving Loyalty: How to boost the ‘stickiness’ of your website? How to build a community of frequent users and encourage them to stay longer on the website? How to optimize loyalty using Big Data analytics and real-time tools?
The Editors Lab was one in a worldwide series of Hackdays, which was to conclude with an international Hackathon at the GEN Summit in Barcelona in 2015.
The team from Jacksonville, representing Morris Communications, included a journalist (Kenneth Amos), a developer (Linda Cook) and a designer (Steve Nelson). We were expected to build a working prototype of a news app or digital service during the event.
At the end of three-day exercise and competition, a Cxense vice president of sales commented that our concept, product and presentation — Social Yoga — was the best from his perspective. In the end, though, the British Broadcasting Corporation earned the opportunity to move on in the competition.
Our concept: Social Yoga would be an experience unlike anything offered by other media platforms. I would encourage brand loyalty by rewarding our readers' active content sharing and commenting with an interactive system of points and rewards.
One month shy of three years later, latimes.com introduced something exceedingly similar and quite familiar:
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THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOW
THROUGH CAREFUL COLLABORATION AND UNFLAGGING COMMITMENT, our Newsroom's leaders carry out an often-unpromoted mission to provide knowledge that otherwise might be ignored or unattained within our community. We shine bright llights into areas of darkness as we hold elected public officials and those in leadership positions accountable for their actions — or inactions. 
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ORGANIZED AND DESIGNED — Keeping the Sun Shining Across The Sunshine State — a book that chronicled told the stories of The Florida Times-Union as it fought simultaneously on three fronts to hold local and state public officials accountable to their constituents because of the Sunshine Law.
First Amendment Foundation Award
Meet the local paper that’s ‘raising hell’ to keep government open
Aggressive coverage of pension problems shapes reform
TEAM RECOGNITION ...
THE FLORIDA PRESS CLUB in 2014 awarded The Florida Times-Union the prestigious Freedom of Information Award for its ongoing pursuit for government openness during the press club’s 62nd Excellence in Journalism Competition.
Awards were announced during the club’s annual meeting in Stuart, Fla. The club includes hundreds of journalists from newspapers statewide.
Times-Union journalists received 31 awards, including 13 first-place honors in the competition. Twenty-five of these individuals were under my direct supervision.
WRITING
■ Freedom of Information Award: first place — Staff
■ Government: first place — David Bauerlein and Eileen Kelley
■ Health: first place — Beth Reese Cravey
■ Sports column: first place — Gene Frenette
Gene Frenette collection
■ General news: first place — Topher Sanders
■ Headline: second place — Steve Nelson
ONE PARTICULAR HOLLER (Nov. 25, 2013)
Full collection: Steve Nelson's Wild Life
■ Religion: second place — Andrew Pantazi
■ Public safety: second place — Topher Sanders
■ Light feature: second place — Matt Soergel
■ Sports writing: third place — Justin Barney
Ryan Freel: Full speed, crashing end (Jan. 20, 2013)
■ Light feature: third place — Steve Nelson
ONE PARTICULAR HOLLER (Nov. 25, 2013)
Full collection: Steve Nelson's Wild Life
■ Public safety: third place — Jim Schoettler
PHOTOGRAPHY
■ Photo Illustration, first place: Will Dickey
Examples: Will Dickey
■ Feature Photo Essay, first place: Bruce Lipsky
Examples: Bruce Lipsky
■ Sports Action, first place: Bob Mack
■ Sports Feature, first place: Bob Mack
Examples: Bob Mack
■ Portrait/Personality, first place: Bob Self
■ Features, first place: Bob Self
Examples: Bob Self
■ Portrait/Personality, second place: Will Dickey
■ Sports Feature, second place: Will Dickey
■ General news, second place: Will Dickey
■ Feature Photo Essay, second place: Will Dickey
■ Features, second place: Bruce Lipsky
■ Sports Action, second place: Bob Mack
■ Features, third place: Bob Mack
■ Sports Action, third place: Bob Self
■ Portrait/Personality, third place: Bob Self
■ Breaking news, honorable mention: Bob Self
ONLINE
■ Package, third place: Staff
Times-Union Investigation: Juvenile Justice?
LAYOUT
■ Feature Page Design, first place: Steve Nelson
ONE PARTICULAR HOLLER (Nov. 25, 2013)
Full collection: Steve Nelson's Wild Life
■ Front Page Design, second place: Phil Diokno
$300 MILLION CONSPIRACY; CARROLL RESIGNS (March 14, 2013)
■ Feature Page Design, second place: Chanel Martin
'THIS IS WHAT WE EXPECT FROM WAR' (April 16, 2013)
ILLUSTRATION
■ Artist Illustration, first place: Steve Nelson
JFK assassination: They remember a times of chaos (Nov. 22, 2013)
■ Infographic Presentation, third place: Steve Nelson
Steep cost for deeper channel: $733 million (May 31, 2013)
... YEAR AFTER YEAR
THE FLORIDA PRESS CLUB in 2015 awarded Times-Union journalists 51 awards (12 first-place honors among them), including Best Online News Website, in the club’s 63rd Excellence in Journalism Competition. Thirty-six of these individuals were under my direct supervision.
