Boston Editorial Bios


ANDREW PUTZ, EDITOR
Andrew Putz joins Boston magazine after a two-year stint at the helm of Minnesota Monthly, which during his tenure garnered numerous awards for design and writing, and saw its newsstand sales increase in 2008 and into 2009. Before that, he was senior editor at Boston’s sister magazine, Philadelphia, and previously held the same title at Indianapolis Monthly. Putz’s background as a writer has earned him a widespread reputation for editing narratives; he covered politics and business for Philadelphia, and has won two national Clarion Awards for feature writing.


PAIGE WILLIAMS, EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Williams joined Boston in October 2009 after deputy-editing and editing city magazines in Atlanta and Portland, Oregon. Her stories have appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Financial Times magazine, New York magazine, GQ, Men's Journal, and Playboy, and have been anthologized in The Best American Magazine Writing, The Best American Crime Reporting (2003, 2006), and The Best American Legal Commentary, among others. Her most recent journalism honors include the 2008 National Magazine Award for feature writing, a shared National Magazine Award nomination in 2009 for an Atlanta magazine project on Martin Luther King Jr., and the City & Regional Magazine Association Gold Award for reporting. She has taught literary journalism, magazine writing, investigative reporting, and news writing/reporting at New York University, Emory, and the University of Mississippi, and is a former Robert Laxalt Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno. Williams holds an M.F.A. from Columbia University. She last lived in the Boston area a decade ago, while a Nieman Fellow at Harvard.


JENNIFER L. JOHNSON, MANAGING EDITOR
After a decade spent in newspapers, Johnson joined Boston magazine full time as online editor in 2006, and became managing editor later that year. Since college she’s lived and worked across the country—challenging friends, family, and the U.S. Post Office with more than a dozen change-of-address forms to date—but has stayed put in Boston for more than seven years, a personal best. Before joining Boston she freelanced as a copy editor/writer for publications including the Boston Herald, the Boston Phoenix, and Technology Review.


GEOFFREY GAGNON, ARTICLES EDITOR
Gagnon was previously managing editor of Legal Affairs, a national general-interest magazine, where he wrote about culture and ideas. His writing has appeared in Newsweek, Wired, and Best Life, among other publications. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan.


PAUL KIX, SENIOR EDITOR
Kix came to Boston from Dallas, where he was an associate editor at D Magazine, the city monthly there. His story “Framed,” for which he found evidence that a man serving a life sentence for murder didn’t do the crime, won the silver medal for reporting in the 2007 City and Regional Magazine Awards. A graduate of Iowa State University, he has also written for the Chicago Tribune and ESPN the Magazine.




imageRACHEL BAKER, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
A native of Mississippi, Baker edits the City Style section of the magazine and is also plugged into the local music scene. The Boston University graduate has worked at Nickelodeon magazine and Details, and her writing has appeared in the Improper Bostonian and on Spin.com.


DONNA GARLOUGH, SENIOR EDITOR AND INTERIM FOOD EDITOR
Before taking over the reins as editor of the newly redesigned Boston Weddings, Garlough spent a year freelancing, during which she cowrote and edited a book on green living for National Geographic. She had worked previously as beauty, home, and style editor at Martha Stewart's Body + Soul magazine. A rabid fan of Julia Child, Dior mascara, and home renovation, Garlough also contributes to Boston Home, New England Travel, and the food section of Boston magazine. The California native received her B.A. from Cornell University, and will happily admit that her most valued course was Hotel Administration 430, or Introduction to Wines.


MATTHEW REED BAKER, RESEARCH EDITOR
Previously research editor for ForbesLife, Baker has also worked as a staff writer at Brill’s Content, and as a researcher and copy editor for such publications as National Journal, Rolling Stone, and Rick Steves’s travel books.


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JAMIE COELHO, ONLINE EDITOR
Coelho not only manages the entertainment listings for the website, she also produces and edits our email newsletters, including The Restaurant Club, The Weekender, and Shop Talk. Originally from Methuen, MA, she returned home after spending more than two years as the assistant online editor at Men’s Health. A 2004 graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School, Jamie has also worked as a newspaper reporter for The Eagle Tribune. She began her magazine career as an intern at the Improper Bostonian.


FRANCIS STORRS, STAFF WRITER
Storrs, a native of Connecticut, joined the magazine staff in 2007 after several years as a freelance contributor. He has a master’s degree in English from Boston College, where he taught freshman writing, and his work has appeared in Boston Home and the Weekly Dig. His story for this magazine on unscrupulous real estate professionals, "Double Agents," earned him an award from the National Association of Real Estate Editors.


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JASON SCHWARTZ, STAFF WRITER
The Newton native joined the Boston staff in the summer of 2007, and contributes both to the magazine and Boston Daily blog. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied history and wrote for the student newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian. His writing has also appeared in the Boston Globe, the Patriot Ledger, the Pennsylvania Gazette, and New Jersey Monthly. Additionally, Schwartz has fond memories of the 1996 Final Four UMass men’s basketball team and has a soft spot for former Celtic Dino Radja, if anyone would care to discuss.


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BRITTANY JASNOFF, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR
Hailing from a sleepy Philadelphia suburb, Jasnoff fell head over heels for Boston after moving here to attend BU. She first worked for Boston magazine as an intern in the editorial and online departments, then joined the staff full time in December 2007. As assistant managing editor, she works with both the editorial and art departments in the production of Boston and its branded publications, and also writes for the monthly magazine and its news, style, and food blogs. Her resume includes a stint covering the critter realm for the New York–based magazine Animal Fair.


ALYSSA GIACOBBE, WRITER AT LARGE
A former editor for Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and Teen Vogue, and part of the original staff hired to launch celebrity mag In Touch Weekly, Giacobbe joined Boston magazine in 2005. She is a columnist for Martha Stewart’s Body + Soul and has written for publications including Lucky, Self, InStyle, and Forbes Life. A native New Englander, Giacobbe is certified to teach yoga, but doesn't.


ART



HEATHER BURKE, SENIOR DESIGNER
A native of San Francisco, Burke has proudly called Boston home for more than 10 years. She earned a bachelor’s in studio art from UMass Boston and studied graphic design at Massachusetts College of Art; before landing at Boston magazine, she worked as a bartender, a painter, a photographer, and most recently the photo editor for Panorama magazine. Burke has also produced photo shoots for Lemon, Brilliant, and Design New England. She is a painter in her free time.


BETSY HALSEY, DESIGNER
Originally from New Jersey, Halsey moved to Boston in 2004. She is a graduate of Simmons College, where she studied all three of her passions: photography, writing, and design. Before joining Boston magazine in 2008, Halsey was an intern at the Boston Phoenix and worked as a freelancer photographer for Panorama magazine and for New Jersey’s Hunterdon County Democrat. She enjoys cooking, silkscreening, and road trips.


SPECIAL PROJECTS



RACHEL LEVITT, HOME DESIGN EDITOR
As the editor of Boston Home—formerly Boston Home & Garden—Levitt draws on her experience as a designer and writer to show how the best homes in Massachusetts are not just beautiful, but also skillfully reflect their owners’ unique lifestyles. After getting her master’s in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, she worked at the award-winning Boston architecture firm Leers Weinzapfel Associates. Five years into her architecture career, though, she realized that writing about great projects was more fun than designing. Levitt, who lives in Cambridge and Maine, is also on faculty at Northeastern University. An avid bicycle commuter and a rower at dawn on the Charles River, she’s clearly a masochist, too.


BRIGID SWEENEY, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Sweeney joined Boston in August 2007 as a writer and researcher for Boston Home, Boston Weddings, and New England Travel. Previously, she worked at Chicago magazine and as a Washington correspondent for an Indiana newspaper. A native Chicagoan, she holds a master's degree from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.


CONTRIBUTING EDITORS



CORBY KUMMER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Food critic Kummer is the former restaurant critic for New York Magazine. A past winner of the gold, silver, and bronze medals for food anddining criticism from the City and Regional Magazine Association, he isalso a senior editor at Atlantic Monthly and writes about restaurants for Departures magazine. He is the author of The Joy of Coffee.


JON KELLER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Political columnist Keller has been a print and broadcast journalist in Boston for 20 years. He has worked for the Boston Phoenix, the Boston Herald, and the Boston Globe, and his freelance credits include People magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic.Keller is the political analyst for CBS-4 as well as a politicalcommentator for WBZ Radio. He has been honored with an Emmy Award forhis television commentaries, and a New England Press Association Awardfor investigative print reporting.


MICHAEL BLANDING, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
A graduate of Williams College, Blanding has been a writer and editor at Bostonmagazine since 1999. He has also written for The Nation, the New Republic, Salon, the BostonGlobe, and Cond Nast Traveler. Blanding has won awards from the City and RegionalMagazine Association and the National Association of Real Estate Editors, and hastwice been a finalist for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists.He teaches magazine writing at Emerson College. Read more ofhis work at michaelblanding.com.