I’ve been a writer, award-winning journalist, podcaster, and international communications professional for nearly 20 years working in the U.S. and Europe. I am a proponent of cultural literacy, exchange, and understanding. I like to work for and with organizations looking to help build communities stronger, with a mission that respects the humanity of its clients and the potential of us all. I’m author of Kneading Journalism: Essays on baking bread and breaking down the news, published in 2023.
In January 2022, I began a global content leader role for a major professional services firm.
My past journalism work was published by, among others, NPR, the BBC, PRI, Deutsche Welle, Unabridged Press, and Swissinfo. I’ve also produced a vlog series on bread baking and storytelling, and I created the award-winning Faith Full Podcast.
From November 2020, I’ve served as Co-President of the Board of Directors for the Robert Bosch Foundation Alumni Association. In 2021, I was named a “NextGen Leader” by the German Marshall Fund, and attended the Young Professionals Summit at Brussels Forum.
In December 2021 I stepped away from the microphone after 8 years as anchor for the National Public Radio station in Cleveland, having overseen afternoons as the most listened-to day part. I was honored by the Ohio AP Media Editors as “Best Anchor/Host” for work in 2020.
I was also a founding member of a group of non-profits, academics, and globally-minded citizens to launch series of free conversations about global affairs, one of which was picked up by C-SPAN.
From 2010 to June 2013 I was a Zurich-based correspondent for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation’s English-language service World Radio Switzerland. I reported about a Swiss-Egyptian in revolutionary Cairo; history-making night flight of Solar Impulse; the future of Swiss banks; the reality of Swiss gun control; and I’ve interviewed bank CEOs and Nobel laureates.
I earned an M.B.A from Youngstown State University, with an emphasis in digital marketing, and an M.A. in International Relations and World Order (with Merit) from the University of Leicester. I earned my B.Sc. in Journalism from the University of Idaho.
My journalism work over the years received honors from the Religion Newswriters Association (RNA); and garnered a second place National Headliner Award in 2017; three Edward R. Murrow awards from the RTDNA in 2014; a third place National Headliner Award in 2014; five Edward R. Murrow awards in 2013; among others.
Earlier in my career I worked for the NPR station in Phoenix, Arizona, and as a stringer for the regional Northwest News Network.
In 2008, I was awarded the Arthur F. Burns fellowship, spending two months with Deutsche Welle Radio in Bonn, Germany. My major project compared U.S. and German guest worker realities by asking “Can a guest worker program work?” I returned to Germany in December that year to tour renewable energy sites, eventually leading to an in-depth series comparing Arizona energy policy to European practice.
In 2009, I was awarded a Robert Bosch fellowship for young American leaders, sponsored by the Robert Bosch Stiftung. The fellowship facilitated high-level meetings with world leaders and power brokers in major European cities. I worked with editorial teams at West German Public Radio WDR focusing on arts, culture, and immigrant communities. At Bavarian Public Radio I worked with editorial teams with a daily talk show broadcast on radio and TV; with an immigrant-focused editorial team; and with the Munich editorial team. I even traveled to Oslo to offer analysis on U.S. President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize for WDR.
In addition to radio, I like to bake bread; regularly play acoustic guitar and write my own music; I’m a former sailing instructor; I’m an Eagle Scout; and I hold multiple SCUBA certifications from PADI as a Rescue Diver.
You might also like this from The Rotarian, of Rotary International, which published a piece about me in December 2011, prompted by a thank you note.