My Resume

Patricia Sullivan

The Washington Post
November 2001 to December 2020 

  • Local reporter, covered Arlington County and Alexandria (RSS feed of my last year’s worth of stories and blog posts). Previously local news blogger and social media reporter on local breaking news team.
  • National “go team” for breaking news, primarily during hurricane season. Covered seven hurricanes in three years. 
  • Super-user on newsroom information technology team, helped de-bug, test and teach new content management system for newsroom.
  • Reporter, Metro section, assigned to obituaries, wrote life stories of Rosa Parks, Betty Friedan,Steve Jobs, the brightest boy of 1929 the inventor of Valium, scientific superstar Francis Crick, and a crowd of Watergate figures. In addition, a tech flashback and Marvin Gaye’s legacy.
  • Local Technology Editor, assignment editor for a team of reporters who cover technology companies based around Washington D.C. and who write for a page in the daily newspaper business section and on the Washingtonpost.com’s Washtech section.

The Industry Standard
November 1999 to June 2001

  • Executive Editor, Online. Top editor for The Industry Standard web site, from the newsmagazine of the Internet Economy. Hired and managed 32 web reporters, editors, copyeditors and content managers, assigned stories, coordinated with print editors and off-site editors, worked with non-editorial departments and senior vice president for online operations. Guided redesign of site. Doubled site’s page views, quadrupled number of original online stories per day.
  • West Coast News Editor. Managed three web reporters and copyeditor, assigned print and online reporters stories, coordinated with print editors and off-site news editors, published news throughout the day on web site.

San Jose Mercury News
March 1996 to October 1999

  • Editor of SiliconValley.com, the technology site of Mercury Center, the online version of the San Jose Mercury News. Created the highly successful Good Morning Silicon Valley, a daily, hyper-linked technology column with 50,000-plus subscribers. Designed and produced many special projects, including leading the online coverage of the Microsoft antitrust trial, and a series on the cost of living in Silicon Valley.

Freelance Writer
November 1995 to March 1996

John S. Knight Journalism Fellow
Stanford University
September 1992 to June 1993

  • Competitive fellowship program for mid-career journalists at Stanford University. Studied law, literature, feminism and creative writing.

Missoulian
April 1985 to November 1995

  • Co-author of the Missoulian’s first Web site, which won “Top 5%” award in October 1995.
  • Team Leader and Reporter. Wrote a month-long series in March 1995 on women in Montana history. Reported on the militia movement before, during and after it became a national phenomenon. Previous assignments included the local government and statewide university system beats. Designed and produced a locally-oriented gardens page. See some clips. Business Editor and columnist. Supervised one employee.
  • Night City Editor. Supervised three regional staffers, two state capital reporters, and stringers. Edited local and wire copy. Supervised local copy and reporters at night. Worked closely with other editors.

Fort Lauderdale News/Sun-Sentinel
January 1979 to September 1984

  • Multiple beats. As transportation writer, covered airport expansion, freeway construction, seaport operation. As consumer writer, concentrated on white-collar crime, scams and frauds. A series on a bogus travel agency resulted in felony indictment and conviction. Stories also put an auto-transport firm accused of car theft out of business. As education writer, covered nation’s 10th largest school district in a highly competitive area. As staff writer, covered Haitian refugees, two Miami riots, Hurricane David and was the regular backup reporter in three legislative sessions.

Awards, Conferences and Appearances

  • Digital Edge Award, Newspaper Association of America, 2000 for SiliconValley.com
  • Digital Edge Award, Newspaper Association of America, 1999 for Microsoft antitrust trial site.
  • Journalism and Women Symposium
    President, September 1999-2000. Elected by 350-member international organization.
    Program chair for annual fall convention, September 1999. Organized, budgeted and managed convention.
  • Guest appearances on National Public Radio, TechTV and other broadcasts.

Education

Graduate work toward a master’s degree in environmental studies at the University of Montana.
Bachelor of arts, Marquette University, College of Journalism, May 1977.