Michael Kress

Michael Kress 900 Massachusetts Ave. #3 • Cambridge, MA 02139 • 617-441-3603 • michael@michaelkress.com PROFILE • Experienced journalist with solid research, writing, and editing credentials across print, web, and radio • Founding editor at Beliefnet.com, the award-winning, leading religion/spirituality website • News, features, and personal essays published in leading newspapers, websites, and magazines, including Newsweek, The Dallas Morning News, The Boston Globe, and Slate.com • Editor-in-Chief of MyJewishLearning.com, an award-winning Jewish information and community website PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE MyJewishLearning.com Editor-in-Chief 09.01—Present • Head of content for a Jewish educational website that receives more than 300,000 visits per month and features 2,500 articles on all aspects of Jewish life, religion, and history. • Manage all aspects of the editorial process: set editorial policy; negotiate content agreements; design content approach; oversee budget; set scope of coverage. • Manage staff of one full-time and seven part-time editors. • Website was a finalist in the Spirituality category of the 2004 Webby Awards, the most prestigious awards for internet excellence. Beliefnet.com Producer/Editor 10.99—08.01 • A founding editor, was in charge of covering multiple religions as well as Gender & Sexuality issues for a multi-faith website that receives 1 million unique visitors per month and has received multiple awards, including a Webby for Best Spirituality site. • Coordinated content, solicited articles, edited copy, and worked with eight columnists. • Developed story packages and interactive content, wrote articles, and organized page layout. • Content included news analysis, commentary, personal essays, and trend stories, including coverage of Joseph Lieberman's vice presidential nomination, which was a finalist for an Online Journalism Award in Breaking News. The Saratogian Staff Writer 06.95—08.97 • Covered police, religion, and general assignment beats for a 13,000-circulation Gannet daily in Saratoga Springs, NY; created first-ever religion beat. • Won several Gannet company-wide awards for enterprise journalism and beat reporting. FREELANCE JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE Write extensively for print, web, and radio outlets in a writing career spanning over 13 years. Clips and additional credits at www.michaelkress.com. Newspapers & Magazines Newsweek Newsday The Dallas Morning News The Jerusalem Report The Philadelphia Inquirer The Boston Globe The Jerusalem Report Publisher's Weekly Religion News Service Bloomberg Business News The Forward Websites Slate.com Salon.com Beliefnet.com JBooks.com Radio National Public Radio, commentator for Day to Day program PUBLICATIONS • Spiritual Innovators: Seventy-Five Extraordinary People Who Changed the World in the Past Century (SkyLightPaths, 2002), contributing author • Rabbis: The Many Faces of Judaism (Universe, 2002), editor/ghostwriter • There Is No Messiah… And You're It (Jewish Lights, 2002), editor EDUCATION Harvard University Master of Theological Studies 06.99 Studied American religious pluralism and American religious history at Harvard Divinity School. Yale University Bachelor of Arts 05.95 English major; graduated cum laude, with honors. SKILLS Microsoft Office; Adobe Pagemaker; Adobe Photoshop; various Content Management Systems; basic HTML; Macintosh and Windows PC systems.