Steve Sadin has lived on the North Shore most of his life where his journalism career began in high school, had a stint as sports editor for the North Shore Group of Pioneer Press and continues today as an editor for Patch. Along the way, Steve has been a political consultant focusing on the communications ends of campaigns and an editor of both online and print work. He has been lucky enough to write about two of his passions, politics and sports, as well as everything else about the community. While sometimes Steve can be a little star struck when meeting one of those fields' celebrities, he loves seeing them as people no different than everyone else. When not writing, Steve, who has finished 10 marathons, can be seen running on the streets of the North Shore and teaching Sunday school.

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Chi-an is a graduate of Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University with a concentration in new media. She helped launch atyourlibrary.org, a website dedicated to raising public awareness of libraries for the American Library Association. She has served as editor for the site as well as Discovery, an internal magazine for board members, staff and volunteers of YMCA of USA.

Her works have appeared in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the Daily Herald, Northwest Indiana Times, Chicago Reader, Xinhua News Agency and Taiwan Headlines. For more of her works visit: www.chianchang.com. Having spent her life living in Taiwan, England, America and Japan, she appreciates technological advancements that help her stay in touch with the people she loves around the world.

Melanie was bitten by the news bug back in 2000 when she began writing and reporting for a central Illinois newstalk radio station.  After gaining a few years of experience there, she moved back to the city of Chicago and began working as a general assignment reporter and newswire writer for Shadow Broadcasting/Metro Networks. News, and writing about it are two of Melanie's passions, and she is truly excited about bringing thoughtful and focused community journalism back to life.

Angela Sykora is a staff editor for the following Patch sites: Grayslake, Libertyville, Vernon Hills, Lake Forest-Lake Bluff, Highland Park and Deerfield.

She was a staff writer for Pioneer Press/Sun-Times Media for 10 years. Angela was also a reporter at the former Lakeland Newspapers in Grayslake and she has freelanced for Patch and Shaw Suburban Media.

She may be reached at angela.sykora@patch.com and (847) 643-6001.

Jacob recently graduated from Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern. During those four years, he interned and freelanced for Time Out Chicago, The Onion's A.V. Club, The Miami New Times and the Chicago Reader. He's from Miami but, for the most part, doesn't mind Chicago winters. He lives in Highland Park.

Hi! I'm the Advertising Manager for Northbrook Patch.  I live in Northbrook with my wife, my 9 year old daughter, 7 year old son and our family dog.  I've been working in the local market for the past 12 years helping my customers with an integrated marketing approach.  I can develop an effective and personalized advertising campaign for your business, please email me at Michael.Shalin@patch.com

Go Patch!

Chris grew up in Joliet, attended Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox and graduated from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in May 1994 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He has covered high school sports for several newspapers since 1999, including the Daily Herald, Beacon News, Courier News, Sun Publications, St. Charles, Batavia and Geneva Republican, Wheaton Leader and Warrenville Post.

Phil Meyer is Professor Emeritus in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was inducted into the North Carolina Hall of Fame in Journalism in the spring of 2008.  He joined the Journalism School in 1981 and served as Knight Chair in Journalism Professor from 1993-2008.  Prior to joining the school, he held a number of reporter and research positions at various media outlets. 

He has won numerous awards including the 2005 Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award for Research About Journalism (with Scott Maier). He was named a Fellow of Society of Professional Journalists in 2005. In 2004, the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication gave him its Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award. And in 2000 he received the American Association for Public Opinion Research Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement.

Meyer is the author of several books including The Vanishing Newspaper:  Saving Journalism in the Information Age and Precision Journalism:  A Reporter’s Introduction to Social Science Methods.  Journalism Quarterly in 2000 listed this book as one of the 35 significant books of the 20th century in journalism and mass communication; and the American Association for Public Opinion Research, observing its 50th anniversary in 1996, listed it as one of 50 significant books on public opinion research.

He received his B.S. in technical journalism from Kansas State University and his M.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina.

Steven Berlin Johnson is a pioneer in the web world, as a co-founder of FEED, Plastic.com, and Outside.in, which was acquired by Patch in March of 2011. He also co-created Findings.com, which launched in late 2011. Steven was the 2009 Hearst New Media Professional-in-Residence at The Journalism School at Columbia University, and served for several years as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU’s Journalism School. He is a bestselling author of seven books, and won acclaim and a Newhouse School Mirror Award for his 2010 Time Magazine cover story, "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live." 

Speaking of Steven's editorial prowess, check out this video based on Steven's book, Where Good Ideas Come From, which was named one of the best books of 2010 by The Economist.

Brian was Editor-in-Chief of Time Out New York magazine before coming to Patch. Before that he worked for a variety of publications both online and off, including Details magazine, New York Magazine, and the old, dearly departed Sidewalk.com. He has written for numerous publications, from the New York Times magazine to Harper's Bazaar. He graduated from Bowdoin College and got an MFA in creative writing at Columbia University so he could put his novel in a drawer with distinction. He lives in Manhattan with his beautiful wife, adorable son, angelic daughter and the world's most dog-like cat. He’s proud as hell of what the Patch team has built.

Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and in Washington, D.C.

Previously, Paulson served as the editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today.  He is now a columnist on USA Today’s board of contributors, writing about First Amendment issues and the news media.

Throughout his career, Paulson has drawn on his background as both a journalist and lawyer, serving as the editor or managing editor of newspapers in five different states.

He also is past-president of the American Society of News Editors, the nation’s largest organization of news media leaders.

Paulson also was the host of the Emmy-honored television program “Speaking Freely,” seen in more than 60 PBS markets nationwide over five seasons, and the author of "Freedom Sings," a multimedia stage show celebrating the First Amendment that continues to tour the nation's campuses.  

He was an early advocate of making newspaper content available online, launching online newspapers in both Florida and New York in 1993.

For 12 years, Paulson was a regular guest lecturer at the American Press Institute, speaking to more than 5,000 journalists about First Amendment issues. He was honored with the API Lifetime Service Award. In 2010 and 2011, he served as chair of the PBS Editorial Standards Review Committee.

In 2007, Paulson was named fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists, “the highest honor SPJ bestows upon a journalist for extraordinary contributions to the profession.” In 2008, he  received the Robert S. Abbott Memorial Award for Meritorious Service in Mass Communications from the Southern Regional Press Institute. He has also been elected to the Illini Publishing Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois.

He is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law and the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He also has served as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University Law School. In 2008, he received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from American University.