Speaker Biographies
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Illinois Press Association/Foundation 2021 Convention Speakers Craig Anderson Craig Anderson became the 32nd individual to serve the IHSA as an Assistant Executive Director when he was named to the position by the IHSA Board of Directors on February 11, 2010. On June 9, 2015, Anderson was named to replace Marty Hickman as executive director of the IHSA, upon Hickman's retirement in January, 2016. This makes Anderson the seventh individual to serve as the organization's Executive Director. In this role Anderson provides oversight of investigations, eligibility rulings, strategic planning, fiscal managements, office operations and working with the IHSA Board of Directors. Prior to starting at the IHSA, Anderson held the position of Athletic Director at Washington High School and also served as the Tournament Director for the nationally renowned State Farm Basketball Tournament of Champions. He began his teaching and coaching career at Morton High School, before moving on to Olympia High School, where he was the head football coach for two seasons. Anderson then moved into the role of Activities Director at Olympia, a position he held from 2002-05 before leaving for Washington in 2006. Mark Baldwin Mark Baldwin is the former executive editor of the Rockford Register Star. During his tenure, he led efforts to introduce news literacy education to Rockford-area classrooms. He previously worked for news organizations in Wisconsin, Kansas, Chicago and Washington, D.C., and was an adjunct lecturer in journalism at Northwestern University. He served as a member of the boards of the Associated Press Media Editors and the News Leaders Association. He was named GateHouse Media Editor of the Year for 2017. Devlyn Brooks Devlyn Brooks is the president of Modulist, a company he founded for the family-owned Forum Communications Co., headquartered in Fargo, N.D. Modulist is a media services company that processes paid and unpaid user content for newspapers and other media. It specializes in the processing of obituary notices, milestones and business announcements, which drives his passion for excellent customer service. Devlyn has been in the newspaper business for 25 years, serving in nearly every capacity imaginable, including reporting, editing, photography, design, production and management. In addition, Devlyn is an intern pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, working on his master's of divinity degree, upon completion of which he will become an ordained pastor. He currently is a minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He also serves as the chair of the Fargo-Moorhead Big Brothers Big Sisters Advisory Committee, and has experience with serving on numerous other community boards and committees. Jeffrey Couch Jeffry Couch has led the Belleville News-Democrat’s newsroom for 17 years. In 2018, he was appointed general manager, making him the newspaper’s top executive while also remaining as its editor. Couch joined the BND as executive editor in 2004. During his tenure, the newsroom has expanded its investigative and enterprise work as the BND has evolved into a digital media company and has had a record of strong digital audience growth. With more than 40 years as a professional journalist, Couch has worked as a reporter and editor in western Pennsylvania, North Carolina and South Carolina. Don Craven Don Craven was born and raised in Springfield, Illinois. He attended high school in Pleasant Plains, Illinois, and graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1978. He attended Southern Illinois University School of Law in Carbondale and graduated in 1981. While in law school, he taught legal writing and Moot Court courses, and was an articles editor for the Southern Illinois University Law Journal. Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Craven went to work in Springfield for the firm of Londrigan & Potter (now Londrigan, Potter & Randle). For five years he enjoyed a general business practice with that firm. In 1986 Mr. Craven joined his father, James C. Craven, in practice in Springfield, and his practice from 1986 to 1989 concentrated on media issues and voting rights litigation on behalf of Black and Hispanic communities in Illinois and California. Since 1989, the voting rights portion of Mr. Craven's practice has been significantly reduced, and he now concentrates on libel and First Amendment issues, access to government meetings and records, and the business issues of concern to newspapers. Mr. Craven is general counsel to the Illinois Press Association, the Illinois News Broadcasters Association, the Illinois Broadcasters Association, and he also maintains a general business practice in Springfield. Corina Curry Corina Curry was named news director, the top newsroom leadership position, of the Rockford Register Star in March. She has worked for the newspaper for 22 years as a reporter. She has covered everything from crime and courts to city government and education. In recent years, she has focused on watchdog journalism and investigative reporting that exposes disparities and inequities throughout the community. She is the daughter of an Indiana native and a Taiwanese immigrant, and is the first person of color to serve as newsroom leader at the Register Star. Jeff D’Alessio Jeff D’Alessio is in his second act with The Champaign News-Gazette, where he worked as a sportswriter from 1994-2000 and returned as editor in 2013. In between, he served as sports editor of Florida Today, deputy sports editor and senior editor/news at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and editor-in-chief of Sporting News. Ryan Dohrn Ryan Dohrn is the founder of media sales strategy firm Brain Swell Media and the creator of the 360 Ad Sales System taught to over 30,000 media sales professionals in 7 countries. Ryan works with over 200 newspapers per year and has a deep passion for the community newspaper business. Ryan’s 30-year media sales and marketing career includes leadership roles at PennWell Publishing, Morris Publishing, Disney/ABC TV and The NY Times Company. He is an Emmy Award winner, business book author, and has been featured in USA Today and on Forbes.com. Robert Feder Robert Feder has been keeping tabs on Chicago area media for more than 40 years, most recently with his column in the suburban Daily Herald and his daily blog at RobertFeder.com. He previously was a media critic and columnist for the Chicago Sun- Times, the Chicago Tribune Media Group, Chicago Public Media’s Vocalo Blog network and Time Out Chicago. A lifelong Chicagoan who founded the first and only Walter Cronkite Fan Club at age 14, Feder is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He also has served as an instructor and guest lecturer at Medill. In 2009, he was inducted in the Medill Hall of Achievement. He is the recipient of a Page One Award from the Chicago Newspaper Guild and was named best daily newspaper columnist in Chicago by NewCity in 1997. Markus Feldenkirchen Markus Feldenkirchen brings over two decades of media experience to his current role at Lineup Systems. During his time working in Germany and the United States for media and technology companies, he became passionate about helping media companies grow, adapt and thrive in a challenging industry. As Lineup’s President of Sales in North America, he consults with some of the region’s largest media organizations to ensure their tactics and tools will serve them well for years to come. Brad Guettel Brad Guettel has been the Talent Acquisition Manager, Advertising Sales with Lee Enterprises since Feb 2019. He has over 18 years’ Talent Acquisition experience, with majority of time spent recruiting for B2B Sales within Telecommunications, Software, IT and Media industries. His forte is attracting and driving sales talent to the organization. He grew up in Mukwonago, WI and attended Carroll University where he graduated in 2001 and was inducted into their Athletic Hall of Fame (football and track) in 2013. He now resides in Waukesha, WI. He is married to my wife Gina with two daughters Julia (15) and Lyla (14). He is a family man with passion for the outdoors, sports, travel, music, and a good bbq. For several years he has been a volunteer youth coach for football and softball and recently has been coaching at the high school level. His favorite quote to live by is from Steve Prefontaine: “To Give Anything Less Than Your Best, Is To Sacrifice The Gift” Senate President Don Harmon Don Harmon was elected to serve as the 39th president of the Senate in January 2020. An Oak Park native, Harmon was first elected to the Illinois Senate in 2002. During his time in the General Assembly, he has championed early childhood education, ethics reform, curbing gun violence, protecting civil rights and expanding voter access. In the Senate, he previously served as president pro tempore and chaired the influential Executive Committee. Jason Hegna Jason Hegna has been in the industry for over 26 years starting his career in a local sales territory for the Daily Herald and moving thru various category sales roles before entering the sales management team. Jason has been in various sales management roles for the last 17 years spending 7 as the Director of Advertising for Daily Herald and the last 6 with Shaw Media currently serving as the VP of Sales. Brant Houston Professor Brant Houston holds the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting at the University of Illinois. Houston teaches investigative and advanced reporting in the Department of Journalism in the College of Media at Illinois. He also oversees the online newsroom at Illinois, CU- CitizenAccess.org, which serves as a lab for digital innovation and data journalism. Houston became the chair in 2007 after serving for more than a decade as the executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), a 5,000-member organization, and as a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.