PUBLISHER
Steve Leone joined the Monitor as editor in April of 2014 and served through 2020, when he became publisher and vice president of news for the Newspapers of New England. He’s worked for the Newport Daily News in Newport, RI, the News & Advance in Lynchburg, Va., the Portland Press Herald in Portland, Maine, the Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, Calif., and most recently was the editor of the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in Peterborough. He lives in Concord with his wife and two children.
369-3301. sleone@cmonitor.com .
NEWSROOM
EDITORS
Jonathan Van Fleet is the editor-in-chief. Van Fleet has been coordinating the Monitor’s news coverage and special projects reporting since 2014. He previously worked at The Telegraph in Nashua, and the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine. Born and bred in the 603, he’s a graduate of UNH and never met a spreadsheet he didn’t like. He lives in Bow and is the father of three children.
369-3303. jvanfleet@cmonitor.com . On Twitter @CMonitor_JVF .
Jeanne Lester joined the Monitor as news editor in March of 2023.
Previously, she worked as a local news producer and radio host at Sugar
River Media, Concord News Radio, and Great Eastern Radio Group. Jeanne has
a degree in Written Communication and Media Promotion. She lives in
Franklin with her husband and is the mother of four children.
jlester@cmonitor.com.
Allie Ginwala has been the audience engagement editor for the Monitor since March 2021. She manages the Opinion section and community engagement initiatives. A New Hampshire native, she graduated from UNH and wrote for a number of NH publications, including The Hippo and The Keene Sentinel, before moving to New York City to earn her master's degree from Pratt Institute. Before joining the Monitor, she was the coordinator for The Open Newsroom, an initiative in NYC to make local news more collaborative.
aginwala@cmonitor.com
Twitter @allieginwala
Geoff Forester rejoined the Monitor as photo editor in 2014 after being in the position from 1987-1995. Previously, Geoff was a picture editor at the Boston Globe from 1995-2002 and was a freelance photographer based in Concord until re-joining the Monitor .
369-3332. gforester@cmonitor.com .
REPORTERS
David Brooks is a reporter and the writer of the sci/tech column
Granite Geek and blog granitegeek.org, as well as moderator of Science Cafe Concord events. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in mathematics he became a newspaperman, working in Virginia and Tennessee before spending 28 years at the Nashua Telegraph . He joined the Monitor in 2015.
369-3313. dbrooks@cmonitor.com . Twitter @GraniteGeek
Ray Duckler, our intrepid columnist, focuses on the Suncook Valley. He floats from topic to topic, searching for the humor or sadness or humanity in each subject. A native New Yorker, he loves the Yankees and Giants. The Red Sox and Patriots? Not so much.
369-3304. rduckler@cmonitor.com . Twitter @RayDuckler .
Michaela Towfighi is a Report for America corps member covering the Two New Hampshires for the Monitor. She graduated from Duke University with a degree in public policy and journalism and media studies in 2022. At Duke she covered education, COVID-19, the 2020 election and helped edit stories about the Durham County Courthouse for The 9th Street Journal and the triangle area's alt-weekly Indy Week. Her story about a family grappling with a delayed trial for a fatal car accident in Concord won first place in Duke’s Melcher Family Award for Excellence in Journalism. Towfighi is an American expat who calls London, England, home despite being born in Boston.
mtowfighi@cmonitor.com
Dan Attorri has been a part-time sports reporter with the Monitor since September 2012. Dan grew up in Bow and read the Monitor sports section as a kid. Dan has also helped with community sections over the years. He lives in Nashua with his wife.
dattorri@cmonitor.com
Sruthi Gopalakrishnan covers environmental and energy stories in Bow, Hopkinton, Dunbarton and Warner for the Concord Monitor. In 2022, she graduated from Northwestern University with a master's degree in journalism, specializing in investigative reporting. She also has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering and is always looking for new ways to incorporate data and visual elements into her stories. Her work has appeared in Energy News Network, Prism Reports and Crain's Chicago Business.
sgopalakrishnan@cmonitor.com
Jamie Costa joined the Monitor in September 2022 as the city reporter covering all things Concord, from crime and law enforcement to City Council and county budgeting. She graduated from Roger Williams University (RWU) in 2018 with a dual degree in journalism and Spanish. While at RWU, Costa covered the 2016 presidential election and studied abroad in both Chile and the Dominican Republic where she reported on social justice and reported on local campus news for the university newspaper, The Hawks' Herald. Her work has also appeared in The *Enterprise *papers and the *Cortland Standard *and surrounding Central New York publications. Costa was born and raised on Cape Cod and has a love for all things outdoors, especially with her dog.
jcosta@cmonitor.com . Twitter @JamieCostaCM .
Rachel Shepard is a design editor for the Monitor. She started her professional news career in July 2021 when she began her college internship in the Monitor’s newsroom. After completing a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in graphic design from Lasell University, she was hired full-time.
rshepard@cmonitor.com
Eric Rynston-Lobel is a sports reporter for the Monitor. He graduated from Northwestern University in June 2022 with a degree in journalism and spent his last two years as sports director for the campus radio station, WNUR, leading coverage for nine different sports. A New York native, he's a diehard Yankees and Giants fan much to the displeasure of most of the newsroom.
erynstonlobel@cmonitor.com . Twitter @EricR_L .
COPY DESK
Hannah Sampadian is a paginator and copy editor for the Monitor as well as a contributing editor for several of Newspaper of New England's publications. Born and raised in New Hampshire's capital city, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, and doing anything outdoors. Hannah is a 2016 graduate of the University of New Hampshire, where she earned her bachelor's degree in journalism.
hsampadian@cmonitor.com
Nick Stoico works part-time as a copy editor and page designer while attending graduate school at Northeastern. Nick joined the Monitor in May 2015, shortly after graduating from the University of New Hampshire. During college, he covered sports and news for Foster’s Daily Democrat in Dover and was editor of the student newspaper, The New Hampshire.
nstoico@cmonitor.com . On Twitter @NickStoico.
OPINION WRITER
Ralph Jimenez, a graduate of Case Western Reserve University, joined 
the Monitor as a stringer after a stint as a teacher and circus promoter and while working as a logger and sawmill worker. He joined the Monitor staff in 1981 covered many beats and wrote a science column before becoming editorial page editor in 1987. He left for the Boston Globe in 1990 and returned to the Monitor in 2001. He retired as editorial page editor in 2012 to become, among other things, an oyster farmer but continues to work part time writing editorials and serving on the editorial board.
369-3311. rjimenez@cmonitor.com .
CONCORD INSIDER
news@theconcordinsider.com
603-369-3670
ADVERTISING
Sean McKenna has rejoined the Concord Monitor as Revenue Director for his second stint with the paper. In his first tour from 2011-2014 he served as Advertising Director. Newspaper ink is in his blood, with over 25 years (not including paper boy) in the newspaper industry, he has held roles in almost every department from distribution to advertising. In advertising he came in at a perfect time to realize the value of local news in traditional form while also adapting with technology to help advertisers deliver their message in both print and digital. He also serves as Director of Sales and Marketing for NNE Digital, our parent company’s digital arm.
Phone: 603-369-3347
smckenna@nnedigital.com
Steve Pare, Advertising Director
Steve joined the Concord Monitor in March 2021. Prior to that, he was Advertising Director at the North of Boston Media Group selling print,digital, and magazine solutions for local businesses. Steve has built a career around his passion for helping advertisers grow their businesses in New Hampshire, utilizing print and digital solutions. He lives in Manchester with his wife and daughter.
spare@cmonitor.com
Deborah Spaulding, Classified Sales, Help Wanted Specialist, Legal Notices
Deborah is originally from Massachusetts. She has two sons and five grandchildren. She started working at Essex County Newspapers in Beverly, MA, in the early 1990s, and has been in the newspaper business for almost 30 years. When she is not working, she loves going to the beach and being with her grandchildren.
Phone: 603-369-3233
dspaulding@cmonitor.com
Joelle Ciras, Advertising Operations Manager
Joelle supports the ad staff in everyday functions, while serving as a liaison between different departments. Prior to coming on board at The Concord Monitor, she worked in several different production and sales roles over 11 years in the media industry. When she’s not working, she enjoys spending her time with her partner and their dog, Olive.
jciras@cmonitor.com
Justin Graybill, Advertising Account Executive
Justin lives in Concord, New Hampshire with his wife and two children. He is originally from Pennsylvania, where he spent 7 years as a Photojournalist for Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. He brings his newspaper and digital experience to his role as an advertising account executive at the Concord Monitor. Justin is an Air Force veteran, and has a Private Pilot License. He enjoys spending time at the beach and traveling with his family
Phone: (603) 369-3274
jgraybill@cmonitor.com
Tim Brennan, Advertising Account Executive
A longtime resident of Goffstown, Tim has been involved in local marketing with businesses of every scope and size for many years. Previously working with a national marketing services firm around co-op advertising, he’s worked with media companies around the United States and stepped foot in most of them. But the more he traveled, the more he liked it right here, and with his wife and dog, exploring all that’s unique about New Hampshire.
Phone: (603) 369-3214
tbrennan@cmonitor.com