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Friday, February 03, 2012    
     

Brett Levy
brett.levy@thejournalismshop.com
(I am not the guy from ABC News) 213 300-7790
Recent Projects
Accomplishments
  • Composed and edited documents that successfully solicited sales offers for FuturePath.
  • Co-planned and implemented multi-million dollar pagination system at Los Angeles Times.
  • Implemented award-winning redesign at Los Angeles Times.
Education

Indiana University

  • Bachelor Arts in Journalism
  • Bachelor Arts in Political Science
Resume

View full Resume.

Disciplined, organized, technically savvy communications and editorial specialist with stellar writing, editing and teaching skills has proven record of achievement in implementing a variety of websites, CRM, enterprise management and specialized application software. Multi-faceted skills in functional configuration, project management, training and user support. Energetic, tenacious achiever with broad-ranging project management and communication skills. Published author in print and web media including newspaper, freelance, editing, award-winning blogging, webinar creation and delivery, and web design and support.

Professional Experience

TheJournalismShop – Scottsdale, Arizona
Co-founder – 2009
Freelance Services
Built and manage website designed to help former Los Angeles Times journalists obtain freelance projects. Site is built on Dot Net Nuke technology. 

WriteThru.com – Scottsdale, Arizona
Owner and Editor – 2009
Media Consulting
Work with partners to build websites and develop content to fit clients' needs and budget.

TradersQuest – Chicago and Scottsdale
Editor and Partner – 2006 to May 2009
Private Company; 1-5 employees; financial education
Planned, recorded and edited successful 7.5-hour video education course on trading futures using Camtasia, Final Cut Pro, PowerPoint and Word. Built shopping cart, configured payment gateway and SalesForce CRM, launched email marketing campaigns, purchased advertising and managed consumer relations of this start-up company.

FuturePath Trading – Chicago and Scottsdale, Arizona
Communications Director and Consultant – 2006 to 2009
Private Company; 10-20 employees; financial education
Managed all facets of communications and marketing at 300+ client brokerage responsible for large percentage of CME Group’s trading volume. Migrated old CRM to SalesForce.com, managed company domain names and websites. Designed and ordered sales fliers and business cards.

Los Angeles Times – Los Angeles
Editor and Partner – 2006 to May 2009
Public Company; 1,001-5,000 employees; TRB; Newspapers industry
Managed key portions of large editorial projects and configured multi-million dollar Oracle/Sun-based system for more than 1,000 writers, designers and editors. Team leader of employees across several departments, developed user interface and trained employees. Lead configuration and implementation team that created award-winning redesign of the Los Angeles Times. Successfully overcame intense deadline pressure to finish project in time for a multimillion-dollar ad campaign. Determined and implemented editorial and production workflow solutions for multiple departments and divisions.

News Editor – 1998-1999
Designed news pages, rewrote headlines and captions. Served on pagination selection committee.

Palm Beach Post –West Palm Beach, Florida
Pagination Editor – 1997-1998
Partially managed move to Sun-based pagination system (DTI), which helped save Cox Enterprises millions of dollars. Planned and implemented incremental rollout. Trained more than 100 employees. Facilitated communications and served as liaison among multiple departments.

East Valley Tribune – Mesa, Arizona
News, Copy, Slot Editor – 1991-1997
Managed award-winning team of 35 copy editors, designers and artists covering major news events. Responsible for hiring, personnel decisions, reviews and managing complex staffing schedule. Managed newspaper’s typographical appearance and content.

Technical Skills

Basic HTML; Adobe Acrobat; Adobe Photoshop; Camtasia; CCI; Desktop Publishing; Final Cut Pro; some InDesign; Mac OS; Microsoft Excel; Microsoft Outlook; Microsoft Power Point; Microsoft Project; MS Word; Open Office; Project Leadership; BlackBerry OS; Quark; Virus and Software protection; Word Basic; and Windows.

Web-based applications include: Dot Net Nuke; Sharepoint; Volusion; SalesForce; Google Apps; Picasa; Form Assembly; Joomla Content Management System; Typepad; Open Office; Pay Pal; Authorize.net; Wufoo; MediaTemple; GoDaddy; Google Analytics, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Influxis.

Skills and Specialties

Amateur gardener and photographer.

 
Available for

Large and small projects, including:

  • Project management.
  • Nonprofit and corporate website development.
  • Content development.
  • Pagination solutions.
  • Report, RFP and letter writing.
  • Journalism and technology training.
  • Book reviews.
  • Webinar hosting.
  • In-house and virtual training.
  • System development and management.
  • Workflow solutions.
  • Writing, editing and research.
Recommendations

“Brett is a top-notch editor, writer, designer and go-to guy extraordinaire when mere mortals need to understand complex technical issues. His attention to detail and perspective on a range of topics made him a valued resource in the Los Angeles Times newsroom; his integrity and good humor made him a valued colleague.”

– Sarah Holeman
While Assistant Arts Editor at Los Angeles Times

 

“Brett is very dedicated to his work. He has a great attention to detail and wants to "get it right" every time, whatever "it" happens to be. If the path isn't clear to the goal, he'll make a new one, usually better than any workflow or process that was in place before.”

– Christian McDonald
Technology Solutions Manager at Austin American-Statesman Employees

 

“I’ve worked with Brett on several occasions – mainly on projects aimed at fine-tuning & enhancing the editorial system installed by CCI Europe for Los Angeles Times. I found Brett to be a very competent and knowledgeable person, with a strong understanding of the needs found in a modern editorial newsroom – and the technical tools involved in the complex work flows of cutting-edge newspaper production. Brett has the personality and the skills needed to handle IT-related project management tasks and I would especially recommend him as the driver of projects running in a fast-changing environment, as has been the case for the newspaper industry this past decade. His calm, friendly & constructive approach to any given challenge has made our customer-supplier relationship a very positive experience and I sincerely hope others will feel the same way about working with Brett on future jobs.”

– Jesper Seiersen
While Process Manager at CCI Europe
OUR PROJECTS: SURVEY OF FORMER JOURNALISTS

Life after the Los Angeles Times

Part I

Journalists struggle with finances, retirement after parting L.A. Times

Former Los Angeles Times journalists continue to struggle with severe underemployment, soon-to-expire unemployment benefits and worries about retirement, a recent informal survey found. Nearly three-quarters of the respondents said they had been laid off or asked to leave by the financially troubled Tribune Company; the rest left voluntarily.

Read more

Part II

Ex-Times journalists feel less secure, face variety of health problems

Nearly three-quarters of former Los Angeles Times journalists feel less secure about their lives since parting the struggling Tribune Company, a recent informal survey has found. Some of the journalists also reported increased health problems, concern over long-term health insurance and heavy reliance on their spouses’ incomes.

Read more

Part III

Former L.A. Times journalists expect newspaper, print media to fail

While nearly two-thirds of former Los Angeles Times journalists would like to remain in the news business, more than half believe their former paper eventually will fold – and nearly as many think newspapers in general have been mortally wounded, according to a recent informal survey conducted by TheJournalismShop.

 Read more


by Brett Levy

Our informal survey was designed to better understand the issues and hurdles facing JournalismShop members.
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