The Evanston RoundTable announced a major expansion of its newsroom leadership team today with the appointment of Susy Schultz as Editor.
Schultz has been a journalist for more than 20 years and spent the last six running nonprofits, including serving as President of Public Narrative, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching journalists and community nonprofits better storytelling.
The appointment was announced by Tracy Quattrocki, the RoundTable’s Executive Editor and President.
“We are delighted Susy is joining our team. She is an experienced journalist who also understands the ins and outs of nonprofits,” said Quattrocki. “And we are pleased that our news organization is growing, thanks to the support of this amazing community.”
The RoundTable is the leading source of news about local government, schools, civic and artistic activities, and other important issues facing Evanston. The RoundTable was a twice-monthly print newspaper until 2019, and converted to nonprofit status in 2020. Since that time, it has seen sharp increases in website traffic, circulation of its free email newsletter and paid membership.
“We look forward to Susy helping us continue our recent growth,” said Mark Miller, Vice President of the RoundTable board. “She’s just the right person to help build on the tradition of excellence in the reporting and storytelling that the RoundTable brings to Evanston,” he added.
Schultz has extensive experience serving in leadership roles in newsrooms and nonprofit organizations. In addition to her leadership role at Public Narrative, she is the former Executive Director of the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Schultz also led the newsroom of The Daily Journal, Kankakee’s daily newspaper, as its Managing Editor. And she is the former Associate Publisher and Editor of Chicago Parent magazine.
For two years, Schultz was named one of the most powerful women in Chicago journalism by media columnist Robert Feder. She taught journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Columbia College Chicago and Roosevelt University. She is the founding president of the Association for Women Journalists’ Chicago chapter, a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists-Chicago chapter and served as President and Vice President of Journalism and Women’s Symposium.
“Journalism is what I love,” said Schultz. “So, I’m happy to return to my roots. And in this climate, it is so vital to the profession and our democracy to shore up and ensure community journalism thrives. The Evanston RoundTable has done an amazing job and I am lucky to be able to help.”
Schultz begins her new position on April 25. She can be reached at susy@evanstonroundtable.com.
Susy was a valued colleague at the Sun-Times and I am delighted to learn this news.
Congratulations Ms. Schultz! Since moving to a digital format and non profit status, the Roundtable has made a clear statement that local journalism matters and can be produced in a manner that attracts eyeballs and talent. It has also avoided the ills plaguing mainstream journalism: clutter, “opinionization” of content, bias in journalists, and indirect narrative. I do hope that when you bring your wealth of journalistic experience to the table, it is devoid of these ineffective heuristics. Thanks