THE COMPANY
MedCity News is a content company delivering original reporting and custom content for organizations and individuals with a vested interest in health care. It is a solution for media companies and organizations that need content, stakeholders who need actionable information about the medical industry, and advertisers who want to speak to this valuable niche audience.
Founded by veteran journalists with both health care reporting and online editorial experience, MedCity News is poised to build an innovative new-media enterprise capable of taking advantage of the converging forces of media change and the emerging power of health care while building a profitable national business and brand.
The company offers three products:
Founded by veteran journalists with both health care reporting and online editorial experience, MedCity News is poised to build an innovative new-media enterprise capable of taking advantage of these converging forces while building a profitable national business and brand.
THE TEAM
Chris Seper (chris @ medcitynews.com) is the president and a co-founder of MedCity News. While serving as The Plain Dealer’s awarding-winning technology reporter, he became the first member of the staff to blog. Later he became the paper’s first online medical editor, responsible for creating destination sections for consumer health and health-care business and advising the paper’s online editor on topics including social media. Chris’ byline has appeared in The Plain Dealer and Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as The Washington Post and Christian Science Monitor while working as a journalist in Cambodia.
He holds a master’s degree in political science and a bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from Eastern Illinois University.
Mary Vanac (mary @ medcitynews.com), is a co-founder of MedCity News who also serves as vice president and the Ohio Bureau Chief. Her 20-year award-winning career has been spent covering Ohio’s business communities — first for The Akron Beacon Journal and later The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. Mary had focused reporting full-time on the Cleveland-area medical industry for The Plain Dealer and established herself as the most trusted name in medical business news in Ohio.
Mary has a master’s of business administration in entrepreneurship from Baldwin-Wallace College, a master’s in journalism from Kent State University and a bachelor’s in English from John Carroll University.
Amanda Todorovich (amanda @ medcitynews.com) is MedCity News’ vice president of business development and marketing. She was most recently vice president of corporate communications at National City, now a part of PNC, serving as an integral member of the communications team during the worst financial crisis in history. She previously spent three years as a senior media relations strategist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center (UH), and also spent time in American Greetings and Innis Maggiore in Canton, Ohio.
She holds a master’s in communications from the University of Akron and a bachelor’s in public relations from Ohio Northern University.
Thomas Lee (tlee @ medcitynews.com) is the Minnesota Bureau Chief for MedCity News. He previously covered food, banks, and emerging/growth companies for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He has also written for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Seattle Times, and China Daily USA.
In his spare time, Lee serves as Minnesota chapter president for the Asian American Journalists Association and board member of Theater Mu, one of the oldest Asian American theater companies in the country.
Jane Levesque (jlevesque @ medcitynews.com) is production manager for the custom content business at MedCity News. She brings 10 years of experience in editing and managing the production of economic development magazines at American Images Publishing in Erie, Pa. Prior to her editing and production work, she was a staff writer for two daily newspapers in Ohio: The Star-Beacon in Ashtabula and then The Daily Record in Wooster.
She has a bachelor’s degree in English from John Carroll University.
Brandon Glenn (bglenn @ medcitynews.com) is a general assignment reporter at MedCity News. He joins MedCity News from Medical Economics, a twice-monthly, 170,000-circulation magazine focused on issues that affect primary-care physicians. He previously worked as a staff reporter for Crain’s Chicago Business and Crain’s Cleveland Business, where he covered biotechnology, venture capital and information technology.
He holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Purdue University.
CORRESPONDENTS
Sarah Latson covers topics including medical education and research for MedCity News. She is a lecturer in journalism at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s College at Florham in Madison, N.J. Previously, she worked as a medical reporter at The Plain Dealer.
Sarah has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in history from Colgate University.
BOARD OF ADVISORS
Claire Broido Johnson is an efficiency advisor in the Immediate Office of the Secretary in the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for developing and implementing policies associated with energy efficiency related stimulus money. She was a senior advisor at Hannon Armstrong responsible for environmental attributes and originating new deals for Hannon a co-founder of SunEdison, North America’s largest solar energy services provider.
Claire has also worked at Constellation Power Source, Enron North America, GE Capital and Deloitte & Touche. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science & Public Policy from Harvard College, where she helped to create that major, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Christopher A. Celeste is an entrepreneur, business coach and leader with extensive experience in brand development, advertising, technology marketing, leadership development and Internet startup businesses. He is the co-founder of Hatch, a business consulting firm that has an equity stake in RemedyCity LLC.
Christopher founded and was president of Findaway World that focused on simplifying portable digital audio for the masses. Its first product, Playaway, debuted in 2005. He was also president of Ten/United, a large regional advertising firm based in Columbus, Ohio, and Resource, a national technology marketing agency.
Lauren Rich Fine, CFA, is a Practitioner in Residence at Kent State University’s College of Communication and Information. Until recently she was a managing director at Merrill Lynch in Equity Research covering publishing, information, advertising and online industries.
Lauren has an MBA from the Stern School of Management (NYU) and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and economics from Tufts University. She is on the boards of the Brand Muscle, Cleveland Film Society, the Cleveland Jewish News, the Chautauqua Foundation, In Counsel with Women, Laurel School, and Urban Community School, a not-for-profit school for low income families in Cleveland. She is on the Advisory Boards of Dix & Eaton, a public relations firm in Cleveland, and the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in St. Petersburg.
Jeffrey K. Rohrs serves as vice president of marketing for ExactTarget, the market leader in on-demand email software solutions for permission-based email marketing.
Prior to joining ExactTarget, Jeff served as president of Optiem, a full-service, Internet marketing agency whose clients include Sherwin-Williams, Things Remembered, and Insurance.com. He received his JD and master’s in mass communication from Boston University. He received his undergraduate degree from Miami University where he currently serves on the advisory board for the school’s Interactive Media Studies Program.
PARTNERS
Hatch is a new kind of early stage venture company. It is a management consultancy and investment network whose singular mission is to help entrepreneurs who are either starting or stuck. It is made up of like-minded entrepreneurs that want to help other budding entrepreneurs get started and to the next level.
Hatch provides cheerleading, coaching, planning and wisdom that is hard to find just because there are not enough entrepreneurs. It is an investor in MedCity News.
The Civic Innovation Lab fuels creative innovation by providing mentoring and funding for ideas that can improve the Greater Cleveland economy. It awarded a grant and two mentors to MedCity News.
Since 2003, the Lab has granted over $1.2 million to more than 40 projects. Included in its portfolio are initiatives to foster downtown vibrancy, attract and retain talent, support entrepreneurship and build emerging industries.
Thomas Mulready is the founder of CoolCleveland and one of the mentors provided by the Civic Innovation Lab for MedCity News.
CoolCleveland.com is a network of multi-media vehicles that work in partnership with individuals & institutions to promote the area in and around Cleveland, Ohio, with online video, blogs, podcasting, and cool parties.
Earl Pike is the executive director of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland and one of the mentors provided by the Civic Innovation Lab for MedCity News.
The Taskforce serves as a primary provider in Cleveland of both community based HIV prevention education, and non-medical direct services to people living with HIV and AIDS. It provides a compassionate and collaborative response to the needs of people infected, affected and at risk of HIV/AIDS.
thunder::tech serves as the technology and marketing partner for MedCity News. Located in MidTown Cleveland, thunder::tech combines its advertising, interactive media, web, graphic design and public relations services to create integrated marketing campaigns for a variety of regional and national clients.
Chris' byline has appeared in The Plain Dealer and Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as The Washington Post and Christian Science Monitor while working as a journalist in Cambodia. He holds a master's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in political science from Eastern Illinois University.
Innovation, influence and business in America's medical cities.
