Our fabulous new spring faculty members can definitely keep up with the beat this semester: one was a college disc jockey who did a little spinning at New York hotels; another was a drummer in a rock band that recorded with the longtime engineer for Led Zeppelin. Intrigued? In addition to music, in the classroom we have muscle power (summitting Mt. Kilimanjaro), style (personal shopper, anyone?), a penchant for egg farming, playing the ponies, and more! Read on to learn more about the publishing executives joining our distinguished roster of adjunct faculty members this month.
Marisa Benedetto (The Role of Video in Publishing) is Executive Producer for the HarperCollins Video Studio, Creative Development, where she manages a full-service video production studio, the first of its kind in the publishing industry. She oversees a production staff and strategizes daily with marketing managers, social media directors and audience development managers, as well as supervising live Ustream events both in-house and throughout the country, conceptualizing and delivering content across social, mobile and web platforms. Previously, she worked at The Wall Street Journal as a multimedia producer and was instrumental in bringing video journalism to WSJ.com. She was also an editor/producer for Discovery, A&E, TLC and the Scripps Network. Marisa received her degree from the State University of New York College at Purchase.
Because of her young son, Marisa knows way too much about Minecraft.
Laura Begley Bloom (Editing Creative Content) is Executive Editor of Yahoo Travel, where she manages content for the site and a small team of editors; develops a global network of over 300 writers and correspondents; directs all editorial content, overseeing anywhere from 15-20 stories daily; spearheads user-acquisition and social-media strategy; and oversees integrated marketing. Laura was previously Deputy Editor of Travel + Leisure, Associate Travel Editor of Brides, a reporter for Money, and a stringer at The New York Times; she has also been a freelance writer and editorial consultant. She earned her degree from Smith College.
Throughout college, Laura was a disc jockey and used to have a radio show and spin at parties. Her hobby continued when she moved to New York City and had a brief stint DJing at hotels like the Soho Grand and the Dream in Times Square.
Ellen Chodosh (Workshop in Applied Book Strategies) is Director of New York University Press, where she leads all aspects of NYU Press operations, including strategic planning, acquisitions, production, marketing, sales and distribution, and financial management; manages the Faculty Advisory Board; liaises with the University Leadership Team, Provost’s Office, Deans, and faculty; and oversees fundraising. Prior to joining NYU Press, she was Vice-President and Publisher of the Trade Division at Oxford University Press, and then created her own publishing consultancy, working with a range of clients, including Brookings Institution, Barnard College, Westview Press, Perseus Books Group, Georgetown University Press, American Enterprise Institute, NYU School of Professional Studies, Elizabeth Publishing, Inc., and Feminist Press. Ellen received her degree from Syracuse University.
Ellen is a horse racing fan who picks a lot of winners, but rarely makes any money.
Victor Hendrickson (Publishing and Internet Law) is Assistant General Counsel at HarperCollins Publishers, where he represents HarperCollins Children’s Books group on matters related to contract drafting and interpretation, copyright (licensing, fair use, anti-piracy, statutory terminations), publicity/privacy rights, defamation, trademarks, and consumer product safety, as well as advertising, marketing and publicity initiatives across all media. He also provides pre-publication legal review of manuscripts for HarperCollins General Books Group and pre-litigation counseling and litigation management for the company. Before joining HarperCollins, he was Senior Counsel, Legal & Business Affairs, at The Madison Square Garden Company’s MSG Media / Fuse Networks LLC; Associate in the Media Practice Group of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP; Litigation Associate for Ropes & Gray LLP; and Law Clerk in the Office of Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Ranking Member of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Victor earned his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School.
Growing up in the Green Mountains of Vermont near the Quebec border and with Montreal as the closest large city, Victor began learning French at age 7.
Angela Matusik (Website Production: Managing a Digital Brand) is Executive Editor, Digital, at Time Inc.’s InStyle.com, where she oversees growth, expansion, and product evolution of the leading women’s luxury brand’s digital properties and daily programming, as well as a full-time staff. She also initiates integration with the print team through training and innovation on social, CMS and analytics; increases social media reach and grows traffic and scale; develops new franchises such as the Guest Editor program; manages partnerships with media, entertainment, and social media companies; and expands the magazine’s video strategy. She previously was Chief Content Executive at iVillage; Development Editor for People.com; Editor-in-Chief of Budget Living; Digital Consultant for Domino magazine’s launch website; Development Editor at Time Inc.; Assistant Editor at Harper’s Bazaar; and was one of the founding editors of InStyle, launching InStyle.com in 2000 as Site Editor and creating many of the brand’s signature franchises and annual events. Angela earned her degree from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
Angela grew up in Niagara Falls, NY, which instilled in her a deep love for wax museums, putt-putt golf, and kitschy mementos.
Patrick Nolan (Introduction to Book Publishing) is Vice President, Editor-in-Chief, and Associate Publisher of Penguin Books at Penguin Random House, where he reports to the President and Publisher of Penguin Books and is responsible for all aspects of the publishing process of the flagship brand of the Penguin Group. This includes more than 250 frontlist titles per year and a backlist of more than 4,000 titles, including Penguin Classics. Patrick also publishes a distinguished list of best-selling and prize-winning authors including Sue Monk Kidd, John le Carré, Joël Dicker, Michael Pollan, Jojo Moyes, Nathaniel Philbrick, Tana French, Deborah Harkness, John Steinbeck, Arthur Miller, Mo Yan and Graham Greene. He previously was Vice President and Sales Director of Trade Paperback Sales at Penguin Group; Sales Director for Disney Global Publishing at The Walt Disney Company; National Accounts Manager and Field Sales Representative for The Houghton Mifflin Company; and Senior Buyer for Waterstone’s Booksellers at the W. H. Smith Group. Patrick earned his M.A. in Peace Studies awarded with distinction from The University of Ulster.
Patrick was a pioneering pasture-raised egg farmer (at the age of eight). His father bankrolled his start-up flock and held monthly meetings with him to review his P&L.
Andrew Nusca (Digital Management Strategies: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google) is a Senior Editor of FORTUNE at Time Inc., where he was the first editor to formally span their print, digital, video, and live events businesses. He edits the magazine’s Tech section; directs tech coverage on Fortune.com; stars in the biweekly ‘Tech Debate’ and weekly ‘Fortune Live’ shows; and co-chairs the magazine’s annual Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen. He previously held several positions at CBS Interactive including Editor and Product Manager, relaunching SmartPlanet and growing ZDNet; he has also worked at Money at Time Inc., Men’s Vogue at Condé Nast, Popular Mechanics at Hearst, the New York Daily News, and the Associated Press. Andrew earned his M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Andrew used to be the drummer in a rock band that recorded with the longtime engineer for Led Zeppelin.
Dana Points (Introduction to Magazine Media) is Editor-in-Chief of Parents and American Baby, Content Director of the Meredith Parents Network, and Creative Content Leader at the Meredith Corporation. She oversees all content for the Parents and American Baby brands including Parents, American Baby, and ancillary publications, including Parents Latina; oversees Spanish-language titles Ser Padres and Siempre Mujer; develops print and digital programs and partnerships across the Meredith Parents Network; and develops brand extensions and new business opportunities for Meredith Parents Network, including tablet products and American Baby’s innovative “Just For You” section. Prior to joining Meredith, Dana was Executive Editor of SELF and held senior editorial positions at American Health for Women, Mademoiselle and Family Circle. Dana received her degree from Barnard College.
Dana learned how to talk to just about anyone, how to handle demanding celebrities, and how to remain graceful under pressure (all essential skills for a career in media) while working as a personal shopper at a NYC department store during college.
Michelle Shih (Tablet and App Creation and Management) is Director of Digital Editions and Lifestyle for O, the Oprah Magazine at Hearst Magazines, where she launched the monthly iPad edition of the magazine, which won an Appy Award and was named one of the Top 5 Newsstand Apps of 2011 by Apple. She assigns and edits all print food stories, working with both writers and recipe developers and testers, and conceived and launched the new food section in 2013; manages the iPad and food teams; oversees videos; and top edits print stories. She was also awarded the company-wide annual Spotlight Award in 2013. She has held editorial positions at Food & Wine, The New York Times, Vogue, and Washingtonian. Michelle earned her degree magna cum laude from Harvard University.
One summer during college, Michelle was employed arranging the training of Department of Transportation workers who coded fatal traffic accidents for each state. All data has to start somewhere.
Daniel Stubbs (Web Analytics) recently joined Gartner Inc. as the Vice President of Digital Marketing. In his role, he is tasked with building a strategy to engage CIOs and CMOs through digital channels. He recently left Condé Nast where he was the Vice President of Audience Development. At Condé Nast, he built the digital analytics team into an organizational powerhouse; led Condé Nast’s audience development efforts as their network grew from 32 million to 102 million monthly unique visitors; built new data-targeted ad products; built financial modeling process that helped executives prioritize $25 million in internal investments; and published ‘Adapting to the Elusive Loyalty of the Mobile Audience’ in the Applied Marketing Analytics Journal. He has also been at MediaVest as the Vice President of Digital Analytics for the P&G account and Associate Director of Research & Analytics for the Kraft Foods account. Daniel received his degree from Boston University.
After graduating college, Dan spent two years in Japan learning both the Japanese language and Japanese-style fencing.
Jason Wagenheim (Media Advertising) is an Executive Consultant to the media, advertising and publishing industries. With a 20-year career working in sales and marketing management positions for some of the industry’s most notable brands, he was most recently Publisher and Chief Revenue Officer for Teen Vogue and TeenVogue.com at Condé Nast. There, he oversaw sales, marketing and innovation for the young women’s fashion brand; managed C-level relationships and programs with major advertisers in Fashion, Beauty and Retail categories; developed Teen Vogue Social Studio to create and execute social media programs for a wide variety of brands. He has also been Publisher of Glamour and Glamour.com; Associate Publisher of Vanity Fair and VF.com; Executive Director of Condé Nast Media Group and Condé Nast Digital; Associate Publisher of Condé Nast Traveler at Condé Nast; Publisher of Entertainment Weekly and EW.com at Time Inc.; Senior Vice President of SpiralFrog; Associate Publisher of Blender; Advertising Director of Maxim.com and Dennis Digital and Dennis Publishing; and Marketing Manager for News America Marketing. Jason received his Master of Media Arts from the University of South Carolina.
Jason accomplished a lifetime goal when he summitted Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, a month before his 40th birthday.