Sharon Sutker McGowan was named to the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame in November 2019. McGowan was the founding editor of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS), a nonprofit online news organization that covers the central city of Milwaukee. McGowan left NNS in February 2019 to become the Collaborations Leader for the Institute for Nonprofit News.
Jack Modzelewski (MSJ80)
The stakes for today’s leaders are high. Leadership communication practices can be a differentiator, bringing new meaning to Winston Churchill’s statement: “The difference between mere management and leadership is communication.”
Leaders today spend up to 90 percent of each day communicating to make good things happen in their organizations. With compelling stories and strategies, “Talk Is Chief — Leadership, Communication & Credibility in a High-Stakes World” will inspire leaders to treat their communication practices as seriously as all of their other executive responsibilities.
Modzelewski has more than 35 years of experience working with many Fortune 500 companies as a communications consultant. “Talk is Chief” suggests that too many leaders undervalue and underperform their vital communication responsibilities. They do so at their own disadvantage in this age of heightened activism, transparency, disruption, disinformation, and crisis.
Leon Panetta, former congressman and US Secretary of Defense, recommends “Talk is Chief,” calling it “a guide to leadership at a challenging time of tweets, fake news and growing divisions within our democracy. The simple fact is that words matter – and that simple words matter the most when they speak to our values.”
Dean Charles Whitaker spoke to Jack about “Talk is Chief” – watch the interview on YouTube.
A “leap of faith” has taken Hannah Gebresilassie on a journey from working as a television reporter in a small-town in Illinois to launching headfirst into developing her own media brand.
Late in 2018, Gebresilassie launched HannahJoyTV and the and the Promote Positivity Movement, combining her passion for entrepreneurship and her love of storytelling to share uplifting news and promote a message of worldwide peace and unity for her followers across social media platforms.
Today, her personal brand and her company are still growing and evolving in ways she never expected.
“It’s taken its own form, honestly,” said Gebresilassie. “I went from just focusing on the storytelling aspect to releasing a brand, like a whole merch line that goes along with it. It went from just sharing positive stories to sharing a positive message in many forms.”
At the end of February, Gebresilassie was the keynote speaker for Project Africa, an annual event hosted by the African Student Association at Georgia Tech, her alma mater.
HannahJoyTV is simultaneously a celebration of Gebresilassie’s Ethiopian-Eritrean heritage and universal content that “anyone and everyone” can enjoy. This duality is reflected in HannahJoyTV’s logo: four hearts of green, yellow, red, and blue, from the colors of the Ethiopian and Eritrean flags.
The design reflects the desire for unity and peace between the two countries that Gebresilassie says she and many members of the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities hope for.
“But it’s also the same colors as Google, if you think about it,” Gebresilassie said. “I wanted to create something neutral that anybody could relate to.”
The daughter of Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants, Gebresilassie grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. After earning an undergraduate in business administration from Georgia tech and a master’s in journalism from Medill, Gebresilassie fell in love with telling stories and became a television reporter for WSIL-TV in southern Illinois in the summer of 2017.
In her first year, Gebresilassie brought global perspectives to her local TV audience that rippled out across social media. After just a few months on the job, her coverage of an Ethiopian New Year celebration went viral. Not long after, Gebresilassie wore a traditional braided hairstyle on air that again caused a buzz.
“It was actually pretty crazy that I was reporting on this international situation in this little rural town in southern Illinois and people actually really appreciated it,” she said.
By the end of her first year she was in charge of WSIL-TV’s “Going Global,” a news segment where she could report and share stories about immigrant communities in southern Illinois.
“I just saw what I could do,” Gebresilassie said. “When I was working as a reporter, a lot of my stuff went viral. I just kind of said, ‘if I can do this here, what I could do on my own?’”
Gebresilassie said that what inspired her to transition to create HannahJoyTV was gaining a new perspective on the potential that was in front of her. The biggest challenge Gebresilassie faced was money— she moved from Southern Illinois back to Atlanta, Georgia, where her parents live.
“I’ve been the brokest I’ve been since undergrad, to be frank,” Gebresilassie said. “But I’m happy. I’m happy with the flexibility that I have and I’m thankful.”
Gebresilassie took on side jobs that were easy on her mental health as she developed HannahJoyTV— washing dishes and babysitting.
“I always tell people, everyone doesn’t come from the same type of financial situation,” she said. “And it’s okay to take jobs that can fill the gaps in the meantime.”
But in the past months, Gebresilassie has seen a burgeoning income from emceeing at events around the country and freelance projects she found through connections she made at Medill.
And she has developed an expert eye for cost-saving opportunities to promote her brand— in 2019, she organized a pop-up tour across eight states, around her existing travel plans to visit family.
But managing her time to address every aspect of her platform is also a challenge for Gebresilassie.
“The to-do list never seems to end,” she said. “For me, it’s like my mind goes in sometimes a hundred different directions, so I’m still working on building a structure and making sure that I’m just taking care of everything equally.”
But Gebresilassie has never doubted the direction she is taking— and for that she acknowledges her time at Medill.
“My time at Medill really prepared me to be the ultimate journalist…you’re at Medill with these incredibly talented people from all over,” she said. “And I found my niche while I was there. I found that my heart was in the community.”
Sports journalist Christine Brennan was awarded the 2020 Associated Press Sports Editors’ Red Smith Award, presented annually to an individual who has made “major contributions to sports journalism,” on March 4.
“This is such an honor,” said Brennan, who joined USA TODAY in August 1997. “I’ve been so fortunate to know or work with quite a few of the Red Smith Award winners over the years. They have been my role models, my editors and my mentors, so to join them is very humbling.”
Brennan is a sports columnist for USA Today, a commentator on ABC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour, NPR and a best-selling author.
Karen Entriken recently began a new role as Marketing Manager at Franklin Energy Services. The company designs and implements energy efficiency programs for utility, state, and municipality clients nationwide. Karen manages a team of marketing professionals to support energy companies in the mission to achieve energy efficiency and sustainability goals for industries and households.
The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado has asked Rosenberg to launch a podcast series, Grid Talk, to explore dramatic changes in the national energy grid to accommodate surging renewables and more distributed energy sources. Listen in at https://smartgrid.gov/gridtalk/- or subscribe via your favorite podcast platform as Marty talks to thought leaders about offshore wind in Virginia, Tesla batteries in Vermont, innovations in Australia and the wild proliferation of EV charging spots in Kansas City.
Mauricio Pena, a news reporter for Block Club Chicago, was named one of the Chicago Scholars 35 under 35 on March 10.
Mauricio Peña covers Pilsen, Little Village, West Loop and Back of the Yards. Before joining Block Club Chicago, Peña was an Associate Digital Editor at Chicago magazine. He previously worked as a breaking news reporter at DNAinfo, and an investigative reporter covering immigration and equality at the Desert Sun for the USA Today Network. His investigative, data-driven series on heat deaths and illnesses among farmworkers won state and regional awards for highlighting the plight of California farmworkers.
Peña was a Staff Research Associate at the UCLA School of Nursing where he managed a research laboratory before getting his master’s from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
Chicago Scholars 5th annual 35 under 35 Awards recognizes a group of diverse, talented young professionals making an impact in Chicago. Chicago Scholars is a mentoring and leadership development organization that helps first-generation college students and students from under-resourced communities navigate the complex transitions into college, through college, and beyond to a career.
After six years as an Editor at LinkedIn, Lorraine joined visual communications platform Prezi in October as its first Managing Editor. At Prezi, Lorraine leads the Editorial team, leveraging the top Prezi content to educate, inform and inspire people all over the world.
Lorraine also had the honor of joining the Council of 100, a prestigious invite-only organization of Northwestern alumnae. Membership selection is based on factors including career trajectory and achievements and commitment to mentoring/service.
Most recently, she attended Poynter Institute’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media, a highly competitive week-long program focused on the skills and knowledge needed to rise to the highest levels of media leadership. The program receives hundreds of applications each year; Lorraine was accepted into the 2020 Winter Cohort alongside 29 other women.
Bartlit Beck Founding Partner Mark Ferguson was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. The special induction ceremony took place before an audience of 561 during the 2020 Spring Meeting of the College in Tucson, Arizona.
Founded in 1950, the College is composed of the best of the trial bar from the United States and Canada. Fellowship in the College is extended by invitation only and only after careful investigation, to those experienced trial lawyers of diverse backgrounds, who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Lawyers must have a minimum of fifteen years trial experience before they can be considered for Fellowship.
Membership in the College cannot exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province. There are currently approximately 5,800 members in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, including active Fellows, Emeritus Fellows, Judicial Fellows (those who ascended to the bench after their induction) and Honorary Fellows. The College maintains and seeks to improve the standards of trial practice, professionalism, ethics, and the administration of justice through education and public statements on independence of the judiciary, trial by jury, respect for the rule of law, access to justice, and fair and just representation of all parties to legal proceedings. The College is thus able to speak with a balanced voice on important issues affecting the legal profession and the administration of justice.
Ferguson is resident in Bartlit Beck’s Chicago office, and has been practicing law for 36 years. He received his B.S.J. from Medill and his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as Executive Note Editor of the Michigan Law Review.
As the COVID-19 battle rages, Northwestern alumni are reporting daily from Washington, New York, Chicago and numerous other cities hit so hard by this pandemic. NBC correspondents Gabe Gutierrez (BSJ05), pictured, Peter Alexander (BSJ98) and Sam Brock (BSJ05, MSJ07) are reporting practically 24-7 on national television. Christine Brennan (BSJ80, MSJ81), one of the nation’s foremost Olympic experts, has been interviewing members of Team U.S.A. about the postponement of the 2020 Games.
Medill alum Justin Kerr (BSJ93) shifted the McKinley Park News 
toward coronavirus coverage and features starting in early March when the effects of the pandemic first started hitting the neighborhood. The publication, a micro-local news website covering Chicago’s McKinley Park Community Area and Central Manufacturing District, updated its neighborhood event calendars, de-listing canceled events and adding a coronavirus-specific community schedule, including senior shopping hours and food distribution for families of Chicago Public Schools students.
“We changed our coverage, too,” Kerr said. “Some articles in development had to be shifted aside to focus on more immediate coronavirus news.” This has included a directory of neighborhood restaurants staying open for delivery and take-out, published immediately after Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s order to shutter in-restaurant dining, and a local fabricator’s efforts to manufacture 150,000 face shields for Chicago’s first responders and front-line medical workers. All news and event content published on the McKinley Park News has been freely available and will remain so, Kerr said.
The coronavirus pandemic also inspired the relaunch of the publication’s community forums, including the new McKinley Park Support Network, a set of discussion boards designed to support fast and easy coronavirus communication. Kerr said it’s been a handy channel for him to quickly aggregate and share general info that might not have a neighborhood-specific hook to justify a news article, but that’s still important and relevant for the readership of the McKinley Park News.
“All of our members — including participating local Institutions — have access to participate in the McKinley Park Support Network,” Kerr said. “Access to this and other features on the McKinley Park News is automated and available at no cost.”
Kerr noted how the publication’s progressive privacy practices support coronavirus dialogue. “Our member privacy policies and tools are best in their class,” he said.
According to Kerr, this ethos will help the McKinley Park News weather an environment of economic catastrophe caused by the pandemic. “Our operating costs are designed to be dirt-cheap,” he said. Kerr noted his own currently unpaid role as the publication’s sole staffer. “Where the pandemic will hurt is expanding our revenue to enable staff compensation and look at business expansion into adjacent neighborhoods,” he said. “However, I strongly believe in the demand and business potential of high-quality local news: When the pandemic ends, surviving local news publications will hopefully have even more opportunities in what’s already a mostly ignored, wide-open market.”
Leigh Ann Winick (BSJ84) is a medical producer for CBS News based in New York who is helping shape the network’s coverage of the 
pandemic. Since January, she has produced frequent segments on the emerging virus, fronted by the network’s practicing physician contributors. With the first U.S. death in late February, the medical team became command central for the network’s multi-platform coverage. Then, on March 11, two colleagues were diagnosed, and the entire CBS Broadcast Center was emptied in one afternoon. Since then, everyone based in New York has been working remotely.
“It’s taken a lot of improvising,” Winick says. “We no longer obsess over camera angles or lighting. Travel restrictions have increased our reliance on cell phone video. There’s an urgency to convey the latest information – which can literally be life saving – and if that comes via a phoner or a Zoom interview from a scientist’s hotel room, we’ll use that. We are finding many ‘real people’ stories through social media. While I’m working harder than ever, I’ve been fortified by the basic skills I learned at Medill, and the hope that we are positively impacting millions of lives during this heartbreaking time.”
Alumni journalists, however, aren’t the only Medillians making a difference during the pandemic.
Preeti N. Malani (MSJ91), MD, is the Chief Health Officer for the University of Michigan and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan 
Medical School. She, too, is working on the front line against COVID-19. Rather than covering the pandemic for news outlets, her work in infectious diseases is taking her to the bedside to help care of patients who are sickened with COVID-19.
Like many regions of the country, Michigan is developing contingency plans to care for large numbers of patients (well beyond the usual capacity of our hospital), according to Dr. Malani. She is part of a large multi-disciplinary group involved with the planning of a temporary field hospital to help care for the anticipated patient surge from across the state.
As Chief Health Officer, Dr. Malani advises the university president on all aspects of health and well-being for students, faculty and staff.
“In rapid sequence, we had to make decisions on bringing students home from overseas education, suspending face to face instruction, moving day to day activities to remote locations, and how to support students who can’t leave campus,” she said. “There are numerous administrative issues that require creative solutions as there is no playbook to address this situation.”
Dr. Malani adds that in her role as an associate editor at the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), she has written a series of summaries directed toward clinicians and helped review and edit a number of time sensitive manuscripts that have helped inform patient care, public health measures, and general policies.
“Instead of writing the news story, I’ve instead given dozens of interviews, and have been asked to provide guidance to several lawmakers including Michigan’s governor,” she added. “My Medill education continues to pay dividends in unexpected ways. Always grateful for what I learned so many years ago.”
David Charns (MSJ11) left his morning anchoring job at WMTW in Portland, Maine, in January for a new challenge, but his search quickly 
slowed due to the pandemic.
“I wanted to continue working my craft while searching for a new full-time broadcast job,” Charns said. “With 24/7 news of this national emergency on many different topics, I have found there was and is a need for concrete, ‘Here’s what happened, here’s what’s next’ coverage to easily communicate important information news consumers want. I had talked to many people who said they were tuning out because the nonstop news was so grim.”
Charns set out to provide quick, daily roundups of all of the major coronavirus headlines across his social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube). In three weeks, he said, these videos have garnered tens of thousands of combined views.
“I am now branching out with interviews with people impacted by this emergency, which will be posted soon along with the news of the day.”
IMC15 graduate Sunny Williams and his team at Tiny Docs are responding to the urgent need for child-friendly content about the 
pandemic with Covid-19 health information just for kids.
Tiny Docs, co-founded by Williams in 2015, produces “Health Caretoons,” — animated cartoons that teach kids about their health in a fun, relateable, and easy-to-understand way. The library covers medical procedures, chronic health conditions, and general wellness. “All Tiny Docs content is vetted by our board of pediatricians, child life specialists, and nurses to ensure the information is medically accurate and beneficial,” says Williams.
“To help kids manage Covid-related stress and anxiety, we released a caretoon on mindfulness. Our Tiny Comic: A Kid’s Guide to Covid-19 teaches kids how to be healthy, how to manage their feelings, and how to be kind during this time of challenge and uncertainty. We’ve also released several Covid-19 related blogs by experienced and passionate pediatric professionals. And more free caretoons, blogs, and comics will be released in the coming weeks.”
In the United Kingdom, IMC alumna Jacine Rutasikwa (IMC10) and her husband, Paul, have converted their rum distillery, Matugga Distillers, into a production house for hand sanitizer to help combat the pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has created a very uncertain landscape for communities and small businesses. With your help, our small family-owned distillery in Livingston can support our local NHS and care workers while building our company’s resilience during challenging times,” Rutasikwa told supporters in a March e-Newsletter to supporters.
“The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on our way of life is still unfolding, but it is profound,” she said. “From the uncertainty and chaos, new norms will emerge. And therein lies the big opportunity for our resilient community – to reshape new realities. Above all, now is the time to pull together, look after one another and refuse to let our spirits drop.”
Finally, on the student side, the Northwestern News Network team created a great segment on COVID-19 coverage. And, The Daily Northwestern, under the direction of newly appointed editor Marissa Martinez (BSJ21), has been producing COVID-19 coverage with the help of Daily staffers sheltering at home nationwide. Martinez is interviewed in this Chicago Public Radio station story. First year Medill undergrad, Andrew Rowan, successfully placed his first professional story in Teen Vogue: “With college mental health centers closed, many students are working out the kinks of online therapy,” which came out of research he began in a class in the fall quarter.
Photo credit Gutierrez – MSNBC
Photo credit Malani – University of Michigan
Photo credit distillers: Stewart Attwood