Karen is an Elmhurst resident born and raised. She attended Jefferson Elementary School, Sandburg Junior High and York High School. She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She also attended CU Boulder and worked for The Denver Post as a writer and photographer. 

She moved back to Illinois, where she took a job at The Doings Newspapers. During her first 11 years at The Doings, as a writer, she won many national, state and regional awards. Her last five years there she served as editor of The Elmhurst Doings, The Oak Brook Doings and The Weekly Doings, which includes news of Willowbrook, Burr Ridge and Darien.

I have been working as a writer for newspapers in the Chicago area for more than 30 years, and for LaGrangePatch since July 2010, when it started.  I have enjoyed doing police blotter, features about entertainers from the La Grange area and pretty much everything I have encountered.  I also am a freelance writer for the Chicago Tribune and also have worked on that basis for newspapers in Downers Grove, Oak Brook and Oak Park. You probably will find me in downtown La Grange on a Saturday night, at a local restaurant and then either at the La Grange Theater or Borders

Karlie grew up in the woods of Starved Rock State Park. She learned to read with copies of Star and Globe magazines at her grandparents' house. Inspired, Karlie started her print career in grade school--contributing drawings and poetry to the kids' section of the local newspaper--and never stopped.

Karlie covered school events and waxed nostalgic about The Golden Girls as a high school journalist; then helmed the editing desk of her community college paper and churned out the school's press releases for two years. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Journalism, focusing on magazine and online coverage. Upon graduation, Karlie had contributed news stories to ChicagoTalks and the LaSalle Daily NewsTribune, and wrote a regular opinion column for The Times in Ottawa, IL. She has detailed cultural events for Flavorpill Chicago and A.V. Club Chicago. She is proud to have collaborated with fellow Columbia students on an investigative news package about the General Assembly Scholarships, which won awards from the Chicago Headline Club and Society of Professional Journalists.

Karlie joined Patch in June 2010 and helped build Lisle Patch from the ground up. She's making her first long-term leap out of state lines as the new editor for Sunset Hills-Crestwood Patch.

In her spare time, Karlie still indulges in celebrity rags. She loves music, frequenting antique and resale shops, wandering the Arboretum and spending time with her kid sister. 

Jim is very excited to be Advertising Manager for Patch and truly believes Patch is revolutionizing the way people are getting their local news and information.  He is passionate about helping local businesses attract and retain new customers through marketing and advertising.

You can expect to see Jim  and his wife Vickie, along with their son Brian around the  area  at various sporting events, local concerts or dining out with friends.  If you have any questions about Patch or how we can help grow your business, feel free to contact him at james.hankes@patch.com or at 630-815-4171. 

I spent seven years covering state and local politics for daily newspapers in eastern North Carolina. I cut my teeth reporting on municipal and county government at The Daily Southerner before quickly moving on to start a new political beat at The Wilson Daily Times.

In addition to politics, I wrote feature articles about numerous subjects, but many pertained to local history. I wrote about eastern North Carolina during the pre-colonial period -- exploring the countryside with a local archaeologist for signs of Native American settlements -- during the revolutionary period as well as the Civil War period. I also interviewed several World War II veterans for a living history project.

I left journalism and North Carolina in the summer of 2007 to move to DuPage County, Illinois to try my hand at corporate writing. Caught up in a round of layofffs I decided to return to the profession I love. I now work as a freelance journalist writing for multiple Chicagoland publications and Web sites.

Carol is a writer living in the Chicago suburbs. Her experiences include local journalism, public relations and website content development. She is also a fiction writer, jewelry aficionado, and budding guitar player.

David Driver has covered all levels of sports in Maryland for more than 15 years, from rec sports to high school to college and the pros. He has worked for community newspapers in Laurel, Howard County and Northern Virginia, was the first sports editor of the daily Baltimore Examiner and was a copy editor for the Prince George's Journal. He can be reached at davidsdriver@aol.com or through his website.

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.