Tim BennettBennett is president of Oprah Winfrey's media enterprise, Harpo Productions, Inc., where he oversees the daily business operations of her television/film studios, O magazine and oprah.com.
Mark BrownBrown, the Chicago Sun-Times' top columnist, is a veteran of the newspaper, formerly serving as one of the paper's top investigative reporters. Brown serves on the Northern Star Publication Board and was elected to the inaugural class of the Northern Star Hall of Fame.
Terry BoersBoers co-hosts an afternoon show on Chicago sports radio station 670AM WSCR (The Score). Prior to joining WSCR in 1992, Boers worked at newspapers throughout the Midwest, including the Detroit Free Press and Chicago Sun-Times. He has won several awards for outstanding journalistic coverage, including the prestigious Peter Lisagor Award and three Associated Press awards for column and feature writing.
Jeff Forrester, B.A., Journalism, '81The Forrester brothers produced the DVD documentary, Ted Healy and His Stooges, which sold out all of its copies within the first several weeks of its release. The brothers' company, Donaldson Books, is already in pre-production on Mousie Garner: The Last Stooge, a documentary on the legendary Vaudeville comedian and remaining veteran of Healy's famous Stooge troupe. They also co-authored five biographies on The Three Stooges.
Marcus LeshockIn a span of months, Leshock made the leap from working as a teaching assistant for Communication Professor Laura Vazquez to appearing nightly on TV in the nation’s number three market. After completing his master’s degree at NIU, where he worked for both the Northern Star and Northern Television Center, Leshock took a job with the Tribune-owned CLTV. He is a reporter and associate producer for metromix, a nightly program focusing on Chicago’s entertainment scene. “I’m a one-man band here,” Leshock says, “meaning I shoot, write and edit all of my stories on the show.” Another NIU graduate, Matt Knutson (B.A. Communication, ’05) also is a metromix associate producer.
Deborah NelsonMost recently, Nelson was the editor for "The Widow-Maker," a series of stories by L.A. Times reporters Alan Miller and Kevin Sack about safety problems with the Marines' vertical-lift Harrier aircraft. The series won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. In 1997, Nelson was one of three Seattle Times reporters to win the Pulitzer for Investivative Reporting, for a series about corruption in the federally sponsored housing program for Native Americans.
Ken SchmidtSchmidt joined Harley-Davidson in 1985 to help restore the company’s image and create demand for its motorcycles. In 1990, he became director of communications for Harley-Davidson Motor Company, and played an active role in one of the most celebrated turnarounds in corporate history. In 1997, Schmidt left Harley-Davidson to take an ownership position with a highly successful Chicago-based marketing firm, VSA Partners. In July 1999, he sold his portion of VSA to start his own business, Ken Schmidt Company. Today, he is a frequent speaker to business groups and academic communities throughout the world.
Darryl SilverSilver's company, "The Idea Factory," has established itself as a top reality television production company in Hollywood. Silver is executive producer and creator of "Bound for Glory," a primetime reality-based series on ESPN featuring NFL legend Dick Butkus as head coach of a once-proud high school football program in McKees Rocks, Pa. He also is executive producer and creator on the A&E five-episode reality series, "God or the Girl." The series is about five men who are struggling with the decision of whether to enroll in a seminary or find love. Silver also served on the original creative team for "The Apprentice," starring Donald Trump, and produced "The Apprentice II" and "The Apprentice III." He provided writing services on "Survivor VII" and Survivor IX" for Mark Burnett Productions.
Mark VancilVancil has written and edited books for Michael Jordan, Mario Andretti, Dan Marino, Ken Griffey, Jr., and the National Basketball Association. He is the principal owner of Rare Air Media, a Chicago-based publishing and marketing communications company specializing in sports and entertainment properties and programs.
Gary WatsonAs president of the Newspaper Division of Gannett Co., Inc., Watson oversees 91 daily newspapers and 180 non-daily and specialized publications.
Allan ZulloZullo is the author of more than 70 books, including the 11-book series “The Baseball Hall of Shame,” which has sold more than 2 million copies. He also has written kids’ ghost-stories series, titles such as “World’s Dumbest Crooks” and books for Scholastic about Holocaust children.