ron podell

* Wrote and reported for specialty industry newsletters, Rail Business and Intermodal Business. Coverage included rail mergers, shipper concerns, shortline news, Surface Transportation Board filings and decisions, and equipment and technology developments. * Many stories written with an analytical or insider perspective. * Communicated daily with railroad executives, shippers, industry consultants and Wall Street analysts. * Developed leads and story ideas for both publications. * Updated the newsletter database and weekly review of pertinent industry Web sites. * Coverage of industry-related conferences and Congressional transportation hearings. * Daily Internet use.

* Investigative/Municipal Reporter – December 1997 to July 1998. * One of a group of daily newspapers with 130,000 circulation in the greater Metropolitan Washington area. Covered city governments of Rockville and Gaithersburg. * Investigative stories included uncovering numerous management problems in Montgomery County’s telecommunications department, phone call abuse and a New York Stock Exchange barring of the husband of Rockville’s mayor for his involvement in a Puerto Rican luxury resort investment scam. * Internet use. County Reporter – February 1997 to December 1997. * Reported on all aspects of government in Montgomery County, a suburb of 820,000 outside D.C., prior to promotion. * Daily coverage interspersed with short- and long-term investigative projects, including analyses of cable television rates, county take-home vehicles and various employee salary studies. * Broke many stories, including the creation of a Metro Medical Strike Team, a man who threatened the county’s top official and widespread telephone abuse by county employees. * Internet use.

* Covered all aspects of Indian River County government from May 1994 until February 1997, including county commission, budgets, community development, and beach, environmental and land-use issues. * Served as a one-person bureau for north St. Lucie County from September 1992 until May 1994 prior to promotion to county reporter. * Provided all stories and photographs for daily page devoted to community news. * Topics included county government, crime, education, tourism, homeowners’ association news and features. * Occasional photography. * Some Internet use beginning in 1995.

* Covered Auburndale and Lake Alfred city government/general assignment. * Previously covered 21 schools in Winter Haven/Auburndale area, as well as Polk Community College. Wrote hard news, features, and profiles on various educational issues. * Covered some crime and local and state politics. * Occasional photography.

* Covered farming, local politics and county government. * Wrote sports and features. * Extensive photography and film processing. * Editing and layout.

* Screenwriter. I am seeking literary and/or management representation for my feature-length screenplays. Looking for producers/directors with financing to collaborate to turn my short scripts into films. * I have had two of my short scripts ("A Rain Remembered" and "The Wave") and another I've co-written ("Hack to the Future") produced. * My short script "All Tapped Out" recently won the American Gem Literary Festival. The script is expected to be produced during 2016. * Four feature scripts and 14 short scripts have won multiple awards. * Listed in the book "50 Greatest Independent Writers in the World" that will be released on Apple iTunes during 2016. * Served as a panelist at the 2009 Screenwriting Expo.

* Editor of FOCUS EMU, the faculty/staff newspaper for a university of more than 23,000 students. Plan, write, edit and lay out the weekly faculty/staff newspaper. * Create publication using Dreamweaver (previously used PageMaker 7.0) and Photoshop 7.0. * Supervise up to four writers, assigning and editing stories. * Work with university photographer. Assign and occasionally take photos. * Previously coordinated, edited and designed up to 10 special sections a year for campus clients. * Interview, hire and work closely with student writers. Assign and edit their stories. * Update and electronically distribute EMU Today, the University’s daily electronic calendar of events and activities. * Edit numerous press releases, write press releases for Board of Regents meetings, and give occasional seminars to faculty and staff on how to publicize their research and events. * Previously managed $17,000 printing budget (before move to Web publication). * Generated as much as $16,000 annually in revenues for office from special sections. * Daily Internet use.

* I handle internal communications and external media relations with a focus on disseminating press releases about various UW faculty research, energy, the Wyoming Technology Business Center and the National Center for Atmospheric Research-University of Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) in Cheyenne, Wyoming. * Updated office AP and University style guide. * Compiled a UW Experts list of faculty for media use. * Take annual media trip to visit with newspapers and TV and radio stations throughout Wyoming. * Wyoming Press Association (WPA) member since 2012.

Activities and Societies: Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, National Society of Collegiate Journalists, The Franklin newspaper (sports editor and sports writer), intramural sports (football, basketball, softball), radio station (color man on football and basketball broadcasts)