Adam comes to Patch as a newly-minted Massachusetts resident after spending time in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Including his college newspaper and a hometown weekly, Adam has been working as a journalist since 2005. He has covered nearly every facet of the community for two award-winning publications and has earned a pair of Pennsylvania Press Association awards.

Bret Silverberg graduated from Northeastern University's School of Journalism's graduate program in August 2010. Prior to that, Bret was the editor for the Needham Hometown Weekly Newspaper from 2006 to 2008. He took some time off from journalism to try his hand at a career in music for the next two years. After making one record and setting out for multple U.S. tours, he decided it was time to jump back into journalism. Bret freelanced heavily for the Jewish Advocate, Needham Patch (along with several other area Patches), and numerous other publications throughout 2009 and early 2010 while earning his Master's degree. Though he is fully invested in the world of journalism, he still likes to pick up a guitar from time to time. 

Becca Manning came to Patch from a small family-run publishing company on the South Shore where she was the editor of a weekly newspaper in Pembroke, MA. Before that, she worked for several years as the education and government reporter for the Piqua Daily Call in Piqua, OH, not far from her hometown. She has a bachelor's of science in journalism from Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism with an environmental studies certificate. When not covering the town of Charlestown, Becca writes fiction, enjoys reading, spends time at the beach and tries not to burn down the kitchen when she cooks.

Since graduating from Boston University, Danielle has had two successful careers in news writing and teaching at the elementary school level. She loves to listen to music, crochet and read. She lives in the Greater Boston area with her husband and their two dogs, Jake and Chloe. 

Originally from Antigua, Lorraine graduated from the University of the Virgin Islands where she studied Humanities with a concentration in journalism. Since then worked for the Antigua Sun Newspaper, the Virgin Islands Daily News and Gatehouse Media New England as a Prepress Pagination Technician. She enjoys poetry, photography and writing and has a Master of Education in arts and learning from Endicott College. She lives in Brockton with her husband and son.



Michelle is the Regional Publisher for Massachusetts' South Shore, Cape Cod, and the Islands, where she delivers an awesome vehicle for local businesses to reach-out to their communities.  Michelle is a Milton resident, grew up in West Roxbury and graduated from Boston Latin School and Boston College.  After a brief (and interesting!) stint selling cars on Rte. 1 The Automile, Michelle spent most of her career working in magazine advertising sales in New York City at Vogue, The Conde Nast Bridal Group, The Robb Report, and More magazines. After returning home to Boston, she managed a sales team at Phoenix Media/Communications Group . Michelle enjoys skiing, hobbling through marathons, going to concerts, and  foodies-in-training dinners with friends and family.

Patrick is the Regional Publisher for Patch in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  He is a Weston High School alum and a Boston College graduate.  Patrick spent most of his career in the newspaper industry prior to joining Patch.  He has managed sales teams for The New York Post, Boston Herald and Community Newspaper Company.  

Joe came to the Braintree Patch by way of editing technology websites and freelancing for Patch. He also completed stints at several newspapers through graduate and undergraduate programs at Boston University and the University of Rhode Island. He grew up in Middletown, RI and moved to Quincy in 2008. Click on his name for more about Joe.

Bill is 45 years old, married with two teen sons. Bill has been in journalism 23 years at various daily and weekly publications in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He got his start in sports journalism, but his heart is in hometown community coverage.

A 2007 graduate of Springfield College, Matt Schooley took over as the local editor for Wilmington Patch at the beginning of 2011. Prior to starting with Patch, Matt was an award-winning staff writer at Neighborhood News, Inc., based in Manchester, New Hampshire. At Neighborhood News, Matt covered board meetings, high school sports and anything that was interesting in the community. With Patch, Matt looks forward to providing in-depth coverage of breaking news, features and sports. He is also excited to meet the people of Wilmington and show them why Patch is their home for everything local.

Email lisa.gentes@patch.com
Phone 781-606-1148
Hometown East Providence, R.I.

A native Rhode Islander, Lisa M. Gentes-Hunt has spent over a decade living and working in Boston, MA. She recently gave up her New England roots and moved to White Plains, New York. For the past 1.5 years, she has been the Local Editor of the Canton Patch in Canton, MA. Since March 2012, she has been the editor of the Scarsdale Patch. For the past 11 years, she has worked in the media industry, including writing and reporting for the Associated Press, the Boston Herald, MetroWest Daily News, The Patriot Ledger, The Dorchester Reporter, and several magazines. She started her journalism career interning for WBZ-TV's I-Team and writing for WBZ 1030 AM news radio. She graduated from Simmons College in Boston with a bachelor's degree in communications and a minor in English.

Phil Meyer is Professor Emeritus in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was inducted into the North Carolina Hall of Fame in Journalism in the spring of 2008.  He joined the Journalism School in 1981 and served as Knight Chair in Journalism Professor from 1993-2008.  Prior to joining the school, he held a number of reporter and research positions at various media outlets. 

He has won numerous awards including the 2005 Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award for Research About Journalism (with Scott Maier). He was named a Fellow of Society of Professional Journalists in 2005. In 2004, the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication gave him its Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award. And in 2000 he received the American Association for Public Opinion Research Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement.

Meyer is the author of several books including The Vanishing Newspaper:  Saving Journalism in the Information Age and Precision Journalism:  A Reporter’s Introduction to Social Science Methods.  Journalism Quarterly in 2000 listed this book as one of the 35 significant books of the 20th century in journalism and mass communication; and the American Association for Public Opinion Research, observing its 50th anniversary in 1996, listed it as one of 50 significant books on public opinion research.

He received his B.S. in technical journalism from Kansas State University and his M.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina.

Steven Berlin Johnson is a pioneer in the web world, as a co-founder of FEED, Plastic.com, and Outside.in, which was acquired by Patch in March of 2011. He also co-created Findings.com, which launched in late 2011. Steven was the 2009 Hearst New Media Professional-in-Residence at The Journalism School at Columbia University, and served for several years as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU’s Journalism School. He is a bestselling author of seven books, and won acclaim and a Newhouse School Mirror Award for his 2010 Time Magazine cover story, "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live." 

Speaking of Steven's editorial prowess, check out this video based on Steven's book, Where Good Ideas Come From, which was named one of the best books of 2010 by The Economist.

Brian was Editor-in-Chief of Time Out New York magazine before coming to Patch. Before that he worked for a variety of publications both online and off, including Details magazine, New York Magazine, and the old, dearly departed Sidewalk.com. He has written for numerous publications, from the New York Times magazine to Harper's Bazaar. He graduated from Bowdoin College and got an MFA in creative writing at Columbia University so he could put his novel in a drawer with distinction. He lives in Manhattan with his beautiful wife, adorable son, angelic daughter and the world's most dog-like cat. He’s proud as hell of what the Patch team has built.

Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and in Washington, D.C.

Previously, Paulson served as the editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today.  He is now a columnist on USA Today’s board of contributors, writing about First Amendment issues and the news media.

Throughout his career, Paulson has drawn on his background as both a journalist and lawyer, serving as the editor or managing editor of newspapers in five different states.

He also is past-president of the American Society of News Editors, the nation’s largest organization of news media leaders.

Paulson also was the host of the Emmy-honored television program “Speaking Freely,” seen in more than 60 PBS markets nationwide over five seasons, and the author of "Freedom Sings," a multimedia stage show celebrating the First Amendment that continues to tour the nation's campuses.  

He was an early advocate of making newspaper content available online, launching online newspapers in both Florida and New York in 1993.

For 12 years, Paulson was a regular guest lecturer at the American Press Institute, speaking to more than 5,000 journalists about First Amendment issues. He was honored with the API Lifetime Service Award. In 2010 and 2011, he served as chair of the PBS Editorial Standards Review Committee.

In 2007, Paulson was named fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists, “the highest honor SPJ bestows upon a journalist for extraordinary contributions to the profession.” In 2008, he  received the Robert S. Abbott Memorial Award for Meritorious Service in Mass Communications from the Southern Regional Press Institute. He has also been elected to the Illini Publishing Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois.

He is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law and the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He also has served as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University Law School. In 2008, he received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from American University.