As owner and editor of NewCanaanite.com, I’m thrilled to announce that we’ve created the news site’s first editorial advisory.
Four longtime residents have agreed to serve on it: Laura Budd, Julia Stewart, Rob Mallozzi and Doug Zumbach.
In this capacity, they’ll review and provide feedback on all opinion pieces that appear on NewCanaanite.com under my byline or the generic site byline, prior to publication, as well as recommend topics that we should be covering for editorials and news stories, and responding to a wide range of questions from me regarding New Canaanite’s tone, voice, coverage plan and guidelines.
The need for an editorial advisory arose out of a decision to publish endorsement letters prior to the 2017 local elections, and my own feeling that New Canaanite ought to have a standing group of trusted readers/advisors to review such opinion pieces before they’re made public. While serving on the editorial advisory does not necessarily mean that each member will agree with every opinion piece, it does mean that each such post will get full vetting before them.
What follows are short bios on each of our editorial advisors (they also will appear on the Our Team page of this website). All my gratitude to Laura, Julia and Rob for helping in this way.
Laura Budd
Laura Budd
After spending 17 years in Media Planning, Laura took a break from full time employment and moved with her husband and three children to New Canaan in 2002. Laura had had the pleasure of serving on the boards of both the New Canaan Youth Football and ABC of New Canaan. Laura also volunteered extensively with New Canaan Lacrosse Association and the schools, including a term as East School PTC co-president. After spending time working in Business to Business Marketing, Laura landed at The New Canaan Chamber of Commerce as Marketing Associate in 2012. Working alongside Executive Director Tucker Murphy, Laura enjoys working daily to fulfill the Chamber’s goal of “Connecting the Community with Commerce.. While technically “empty nesters” Laura and her husband Scott do share the house with their rescue dog, Candace.
Julia Stewart
Julia Stewart
After attending New York’s School of Visual Arts, New Canaan native Julia Stewart worked in television production for many years. Upon her return here she worked for a local architecture firm, before becoming a full-time mom. Married to Doug Stewart, one of the owners of Walter Stewart’s Market and Stewart’s Spirits, she is the mother of Scarlett, Audrey and Griffin and a golden retriever named Daphne. She is thrilled to join the editorial board of the New Canaanite.
Rob Mallozzi
Rob Mallozzi
A resident of New Canaan since 1994, Rob has been married for 27 years to his wife, Elizabeth Howland, and they have two children, Robby IV and Kit, both of whom attended New Canaan Public Schools. The Mallozzis live with their two rescue dogs, Albee and Elsie. The owner of Bob’s Sports Inc. in New Canaan and a partner at Caroline Realty LLC, Rob served for four years as a selectman and six more years as first selectman of New Canaan, from 2011 to 2017. Rob’s past club and organization affiliations include with Rotary Club, New Canaan YMCA. New Canaan Winter Club and Poinsettia Club. He has served for many years with the New Canaan Fire Company, is currently an active member, and past awards include “New Canaan Business of the Year” from the Volunteer Center of New Canaan, the Boy Scouts of America “Good Scout” Award, and “Firefighter of the Year and “Distinguished Service Award” from the New Canaan Fire Company.
Doug Zumbach
Doug Zumbach
Owner of Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee, Doug is a past board member of the Chamber of Commerce who had served on the editorial board of Moffly Media publications, Zumbach is a current member of the New Canaan Men’s Club and New England Auto Museum who founded Caffeine & Carburetors. As owner of the iconic Pine Street coffee shop, Zumbach earned the 2016 Merchant of the Year Award from the Chamber.
[Note: This post has been updated to more accurately reflect the role and responsibility of the advisory.]
Mike: You have an impressive team and they have an impressive leader.
Continued success in 2018.
The Editorial Board is a good idea, and you’ve got good people on it — they’re knowledgeable and caring. New Canaanite is an important voice in our town, and you Michael deserve some help and backup to plan and vet ideas, and to share the blame, brickbats or credit for what’s published. Good going!
This is a fantastic idea and you have chosen well in your selection.
Happy New Year to all.
Bernard Simpkin
Mike, congratulations on choosing an impressive editorial board!! You are a true journalist who understands that one man (or woman) should not control the narrative in this town. Thank you for being an outlet for ALL our citizens. Congratulations again and Happy New Year!
New Canaanite is a real ssset to our town. Thank you for the continued hard work and integrity. An editorial board is the best way to have authenticity and you’ve chosen a great team.
Mike, this is great, and I hope that no one will take my response as a criticism of any individual’s credentials or integrity, but your Board is comprised entirely of people involved in town commerce. Of course, the vitality of our downtown is critical. And, I know that these fine people are involved and active in a variety of interests and organizations around town. Nonetheless, I wonder why you didn’t include residents who are not related to local business. Seems to me that a broader diversity might be beneficial to you. Again, i am not taking exception to who you’ve named, nor trying to suggest that they would be putting business interests first. Just that people from other paths can bring different viewpoints and perspectives that might be helpful to you as well.
Thanks Jane, I appreciate your perspective on this. My own thought is that the board members have been and remain involved in New Canaan in multiple and varied ways—youth sports, nonprofits, special events, schools and government, for example, in addition to business—see their bios. (I suppose if commerce was my main interest in prospective editorial board members, I would have tapped someone involved in New Canaan’s No. 1 business—real estate—but that isn’t how I approached the formation of this group.) Understand that for me, as I thought about trusted people that would be helpful in this role, I put a premium on community news judgment and understanding New Canaan in a specific way. It’s sort of an intuitive thing, to understand the tone of editorial content, the pace at which people here consume it and the specific range of topics appropriate for our readership. In some cases with these particular editorial board members, I have relationships going back years where they’ve already demonstrated to me that they’re extremely helpful in those specific areas.