John Henrichs
contact: 
http://henrichs.net/john

Professional Experience

San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio, Texas		 Assistant News Editor  (May 2003 to Present)
  • Directly supervise production of Page One and take the lead in setting and communicating standards for the premier display space of a product read by 500,000 people every day.
  • Serve as primary night-time decision maker, altering and executing plans with deadlines measured in minutes and hours. Take a lead role in presenting coverage of major news events that range from the 9/11 attacks to the 2006 midterm elections.
  • Coordinate with all departments - including news reporters and editors, graphics, photo and design - to create a high quality product with interest to a broad range of readers.
  • Lead a team of 18 copy editors covering a 7-day-a-week, 365-days-a-year schedule.
  • Use one-on-one meetings, peer counseling and discussion groups to develop and communicate standards for copy editors whose experience ranges from 2 to 30 years.
  • Implement metrics for copy editor performance. Evaluate staff performance using on-going feedback and yearly written evaluations.
  • Serve as the guiding force behind the copy desk's first written manual covering job guidelines and expectations.
    •  Interim Day Metro Editor  (August 2002 to May 2003)
  • Serve as the nerve center for daytime Metro desk operations, coordinating the daily assignments of five assistant city editors and their respective reporting teams (a total of 40 people). Directly supervise a team of eight general assignments reporters and assisted in first-read editing of their copy.
  • Present Metro desk offerings at budget meetings and decided story play for the section cover in consultation with other Metro editors.
  • Initiate discussions with other newsroom departments to enhance the presentation and packaging of local stories.
  • Helped direct coverage of local Sept. 11 anniversary events, a City Council bribery scandal, a building collapse and an early-morning police shootout -- stories that helped win the award for best spot news clips among Hearst Newspapers in 2002.
  • Implemented a schedule to ease a shortage of Metro cover centerpieces.
    •  Day Wire Editor  (August 2001 to August 2002)
    Present wire news at budget meetings and suggest stories for consideration for Page One. Work with artists to create graphics for world and nation stories. Book inside A-section pages, choosing appropriate photos and graphics to accompany stories.
     Late Wire Editor  (July 2000 to August 2002)
    Comb wires for updates and breaking news, proof all A-section pages, choose and weave together Page 1A wire stories and coordinate second-edition remakes. Supervise design and production of Page 2A summary and index feature.
     Metro/Business Section Slot  (April 2000 to August 2001)
    Serve as chief copy editor for daily Business or Metro section. Assign stories to copy editors, perform final read of all business stories, coordinate story changes with page designers and section editors. Assist other slots as needed.
     Copy Editor  (August 1999 to August 2001)
    Write headlines, edit local and wire copy and proof pages for Page One, Metro, National and Business sections. Attended two-week journalism workshop sponsored by Dow Jones Newsfund.

    Austin American-Statesman
    Austin, Texas
    September 1998 to May 1999    		 Reporter
    Work as weekend reporter covering police, emergency and general assignment stories with minimal supervision. Cover homicides, disasters and other breaking news in Austin and surrounding 12-county region.

    Growzone
    Austin, Texas
    December 1998 to April 1999    		 Copy Editor/Web Developer
    Entered HTML code, proofed pages and wrote copy for online gardening catalog. Served as troubleshooter for hundreds of web pages.

    Cool Pages
    Austin, Texas
    Summer 1998    		 Copy Editor/Web Developer
    Design, code and trouble shoot sites for the World Wide Web. Create prototypes, make graphics and work with HTML, style sheets and JavaScript to create pages for Dell Computer Corporation, Caterpillar and others.

    Houston Chronicle
    Houston, Texas
    Summer 1997    		 City Desk Intern
    Work as full-time news reporter on police, city hall and county court beats (portfolio available). Cover breaking news (oil refinery fire, police pay protest, concert controversy) as well as features and profiles (Selma re-visited, foster grandparents, festival crowds, etc.).

    The Charlotte Observer
    Charlotte, N.C.
    Summer 1996    		 Features Intern
    Work as full-time features reporter. Report on local interest, spot news, and feature stories, such as NAACP convention issues, a neighborhood landfill controversy and high textbook costs.
    The Daily Texan
    Fall 1996 to Summer 1998    		 News Assignments Editor
    Assign and develop six to eight stories a day for news and features sections. Train and assist reporters writing university, city and state stories.
     Deputy Managing Editor
    Supervise the design and lay out of a 30,000-copy daily newspaper. In charge of copy desk recruitment, scheduling and organization. Design and manage production of civic journalism special section on student health issues.
     Associate Managing Editor
    Design and lay out Page One, decide content and perform final edit on news stories.
     Features Editor
    Organize and manage The Daily Texan's first daily features page. Assign daily stories for 15-person department. Edit stories for content and style; design and lay out pages on QuarkXPress.
     Copy Editor
    Write headlines, review stories and page proofs for readability, grammar and style.
    Education

    University of Texas
    Austin, Texas
    1994 to 1999
  • Bachelor of Journalism, with Honors — News and Public Affairs, 1999
  • Bachelor of Arts, with Honors — Plan II Honors Program, 1999
  • One of five national winners of two-year Golf Writers Association of America scholarship.
  • Dean’s Honor List
  • Golden Key Honor Society Member (top 15 percent of UT student body)
  • National Merit Commended Student (top 5 percent of high school grads)
    • Other Experience
     
  • 2000 Volunteer of the Year for work as Webmaster for San Antonio's Mental Health Association
  • Legal Courier for Newsom, Graham, Hedrick & Kennon, P.A. (Durham, N.C., 1995)
  • Skilled in QuarkXPress, Photoshop, PageMaker, Illustrator, Excel, Word and PC and Macintosh applications
  • Edited or written copy in Atex, CCI, Delta, NewsEdit, SpeedWriter and Word programs
  • Author of an unpublished 200-page science fiction novel (1994)

    • References and Portfolio Available