Meet the Monitor

PUBLISHER
Steve Leone has been publisher of the Concord Monitor and Vice President of News for the Monitor’s parent company, Newspapers of New England, since 2020. He was named editor of the Monitor in 2014 and prior to that was editor of our sister publication in Peterborough. He has also been a reporter or editor at daily newspapers in Newport, RI; Portland, Maine; Lynchburg, Virginia; and Santa Rosa, California. Fun fact: I’m an avid sports fan but I’ve received just one autograph in my life – it was from Bill Buckner in July of 1986.

Contact: sleone@cmonitor.com | 603-369-3301

EDITOR IN CHIEF
Jonathan Van Fleet joined the Concord Monitor in 2014 and became editor in 2020. Van Fleet got bitten by the journalism bug when he was the sports editor at the Little Green Newspaper at Manchester’s Central High in the early 90s. He graduated from UNH in 1996 and went on to work at the Lewiston Sun Journal as its city reporter. In 2000, he joined the Nashua Telegraph covering education and became an editor in 2005. A native Granite Stater, Van Fleet has a small backyard flock of chickens and ducks and is the father of three adult children.

Contact: jvanfleet@cmonitor.com | 603-369-3303

NEWS EDITOR / REPORTER
Rebeca Pereira covers food and farming, works with local reporters and is one part of a team that manages our social media. Prior to obtaining a master’s in Media Innovation and Data Communications from Northeastern University, she studied journalism and Portuguese at UMass Amherst. Previously, she was a digital producer for Boston Globe Opinion. She enjoys baking, yoga, long reads, long walks and music released before she was born. Fun fact: The week she turned three, toddler Rebeca stuck her left middle finger in a working blender. Ouch.

Contact: rpereira@cmonitor.com | (603) 369-3370

COMMUNITY EDITOR / REPORTER
Rachel Wachman oversees the Concord Insider and plans for special sections, including Around Concord magazine. She also helps run the Monitor’s social media platforms and reports on the local creative economy, the Suncook Valley, accessibility and more. She holds a degree in English and French from Wesleyan University. A lifelong New Englander, Rachel revels in every season and hikes any chance she gets. When not chasing a scoop or hitting the trails, Rachel can be found reading novels, trying fun recipes or exploring new places. Fun fact: Rachel has wanted to be a writer since she was five years old.

Contact: rwachman@cmonitor.com | (603) 369-3304

ENGAGEMENT EDITOR / REPORTER
Emilia Wisniewski covers Franklin and Warner and edits the paper’s opinions and op-eds submitted by New Hampshire residents. Before joining the Monitor, Emilia graduated from Boston University in 2025 with a bachelor’s in journalism and a minor in business administration. Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe, Boston.com, ProPublica, and Nieman Storyboard. When she’s not chasing down a story, her favorite things to do are reading, exploring nature, and embroidering. Fun fact: Emilia was named after Anne Hathaway’s character in “The Princess Diaries.”

Contact: ewisniewski@cmonitor.com | (603) 369-3307

PHOTOGRAPHER
Geoff Forester, recently named New Hampshire’s Photographer of the Year, started his career in Greeley, Colorado, before coming to New England in 1984. He started at the Concord Monitor in 1987. He spent time at the Boston Globe before returning to the Monitor in 2014. These days, Geoff is a freelance photographer for the Concord Monitor, so you’ll still see plenty of his photos in our print edition and on our website.

REPORTER / COLUMNIST
David Brooks has been a daily newspaper reporter since 1978, covering almost everything at one time or another, and joined the Concord Monitor in 2015. Since 1991, he has written the weekly Granite Geek column that appears in the Monitor most Tuesdays as well as the blog/newsletter at GraniteGeek.org. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.He was elected to the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2024. Fun fact: Brooks recently realized, to his horror, that he has forgotten how to do long division by hand. Where exactly do you put the decimal place?

Contact: dbrooks@cmonitor.com | 603-369-3313

REPORTER
Sruthi Gopalakrishnan covers mental health, casinos, and solid waste, as well as the towns of Bow, Hopkinton, and Dunbarton. She has been reporting for the Concord Monitor since 2022 and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. She also has an undergraduate degree in computer science. When she’s not chasing stories, she’s either in the kitchen experimenting (without ever following a recipe),  binge-watching TV shows, or scoping out local coffee shops. And she loves dogs. Fun fact: Sruthi’s final engineering project was also on trash.

Contact: sgopalakrishnan@cmonitor.com | (603) 369-3309

REPORTER
Charlotte Matherly, a statehouse reporter and Report For America corps member, focuses on how decisions at the New Hampshire State House impact people’s lives. She holds a bachelor’s degree in media arts and design from James Madison University and previously covered education, business and government as a freelance writer in Virginia. Matherly is a New England transplant from the South, and when not poring over public records or holed up at a government meeting (which is rare), she loves to experiment with recipes, steal away to the mountains for a hike and explore new cities every chance she gets. Fun fact: As a 4-year-old, Charlotte broke her leg in perhaps the weirdest way possible: by falling out of a refrigerator.

Contact: cmatherly@cmonitor.com | 603-369-3378

REPORTER
Jeremy Margolis is a ProPublica Local Reporting Network Fellow. He joined the Monitor staff in 2024 and spent two years covering education. Before that, he freelanced for his hometown Brookline News, and worked at a law firm in New York and at a research lab at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is a December 2019 graduate of Amherst College, where he studied sociology. Jeremy loves to hike and run on New Hampshire’s trails, eat copious amounts of ice cream, and play lots of board games. Fun fact: Jeremy is a twin. His sister is 26 minutes older.

Contact: jmargolis@cmonitor.com | (603) 369-3321 | Signal: jmargolis.64

REPORTER
Catherine McLaughlin has been covering the city for the Monitor since January 2024, and was previously a general assignment reporter at the Laconia Daily Sun. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Middlebury College. With her roots in the Lakes Region, McLaughlin enjoys watersports of all varieties when the weather is warm and snowsports of most varieties (not snowboarding, sorry) when the weather is cold. When not attending a school board or city council meeting, she is probably racing through a podcast, curating a playlist for every occasion or struggling to stay caught up for book club.  Fun fact: Her paternal grandmother, Mary Polzer, was an organist at South Congregational Church for 45 years. 

Contact: cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com | 603-369-3322

REPORTER
Alex Rapp covers all things sports – ranging from the 15 area high schools’ NHIAA varsity athletic programs, sports research, sports-related issues in the State House and local people making waves in the world of athletics. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English/Journalism and International Affairs from the University of New Hampshire and was previously a digital editor and freelance writer for various publications around the state. Rapp hails from Lima, Peru but is a dual national as his father is from Nashua and he has grown to love the Granite State since moving here. You can find Alex playing soccer, cheffing up in the kitchen, watching the Celtics, or reading a good fantasy or sci-fi book in bed. Fun Fact: Alex is an avid punk rock, pop punk, hardcore and emo music listener and he has seen over 25 live concerts, like American Football, The Story So Far, Koyo and more.

Contact: arapp@cmonitor.com

DIRECTOR OF REVENUE
Sean McKenna, a digital marketing leader with more than 20 years of experience in the newspaper and digital media industry, as serves as Vice President of Digital at NNE Digital. Sean is responsible for overseeing digital sales, marketing strategies, and the implementation of innovative solutions that increase audience engagement and deliver strong ROI. He enjoys meeting with clients and teams to hear their goals and to find the approach that’s right for them. He has a proven ability to stay ahead of industry trends and leverage new technologies to businesses succeed in a rapidly evolving media landscape.

Contact: smckenna@nnedigital.com | 603-369-3347

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Steve Pare has been advertising director of the Concord Monitor since 2021. He has also been the advertising manager for the North of Boston Media Group in Lawrence, MA, advertising manager at the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester and VP of sales at McLean Communications in Manchester.

Contact: spare@cmonitor.com | 603-369-3242

OPERATIONS MANAGER
Joelle Ciras supports the ad staff in everyday functions, while serving as a liaison between different departments. She has worked in several different production, admin, and sales roles throughout 13 years in the media industry. When she’s not working, she enjoys spending her time with her partner and their dogs.

Contact: jciras@cmonitor.com

SALES
Tim Brennan, a longtime Goffstown resident, has been involved in local marketing with businesses of every scope and size for many, many years. Previously working with a national marketing services firm around local brand advertising, he’s worked with most of the media companies around these United States, including whatever you call Google and Facebook. The more he traveled, the more he liked it right here, and with his wife and dogs, loves to explore all that’s unique about New Hampshire…when not planning the next trip to Ireland. Weirdly, he’s always had a special relationship with newspapers and is particularly geeky about their history and wherever they belong now.

Contact: tbrennan@cmonitor.com | 603.369.3201

SALES
Justin Graybill has been with the Concord Monitor since February 2019. Previous to that, he worked in auto and furniture sales.

Contact: jgraybill@cmonitor.com | 603.369.3274

SALES
Erin Greenlaw joined the Concord Monitor in September of 2024. Prior to her work history, she graduated from Plymouth State University with a BFA in graphic design & a business administration minor.  A Maine native, Erin has called New Hampshire home since 2015 and in her free time she’s painting, backpacking in the White Mountains and running. 

Contact: egreenlaw@cmonitor.com | 603-369-3214

SALES
Deb Spaulding has worked in the newspaper business for over 30 years. Starting in Beverly MA, at the Salem News, then Seacoast Newspapers before coming to the Monitor. She handles legal advertising and help wanted and assists families with obituaries. 

Contact: dspaulding@cmonitor.com | 603-369-3233