Keli Sipperley was born at Macdill Air Force Base in 1977, and grew up in the Northdale area, attending middle school at Seminole Presbyterian and high school at Gaither. Never content to just do things the normal way (just ask her mother), Keli applied for early admission to Florida State University and completed both her senior year of high school and freshman year of college simultaneously, returning to to graduate with her Gaither classmates in 1995. She finished her bachelor's degree in English in 1997, and moved back to Tampa to start a family. Four fabulous children later, she returned to academia in 2008 to pursue a master's degree in mass communication/ multimedia journalism at the University of South Florida. During that time, she worked with the multi-platform Tampa Tribune news center as an editor and page designer, as well as a features writer.

Keli can be reached at keli.sipperley@patch.com or 813-244-9490.

ohn Majeski is the editor for New Tampa Patch. He spent 8 years in journalism before moving to Florida last summer. As a reporter in New Jersey, he handled everything from murder-suicides and investigative pieces to light features. He also shot and produced online news videos.

World Trade Center site redevelopment and the hottest penthouses hitting the market were both regular topics John covered when he later went on to work as a section editor and writer for a real estate trade publication in New York City.

Currently, John heads the Patch site for New Tampa, the community that has served as his home since Summer 2010.

Beliefs
At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.

Politics 
How would you describe your political beliefs?

Just left of center.

Are you registered with a certain party?

Nope.

Religion
How religious would you consider yourself?

I have recently started attending Sunday services again after a decade-long absence. 

Local Hot-Button Issues
What do you think are the most important issues facing the community? Where do you stand on each of these issues?

The biggest issues facing the region are the availability of well-paying jobs, real estate values, rising costs of living and the lack of mass-transit options. Specifically, New Tampa has been experiencing its share of growing pains as infrastructure fails to keep pace with the number of people who move here. 

While I know it takes a long time to break old habits, it is very disappointing to me that mass transit improvements are not better supported by the public. I don't think Tampa will reach anywhere near its potential as a city without a modern transit system. Relying solely on roads is simply an old way of thinking.

With improved mass transit, Tampa will be positioned to better attract world-class employers who can provide the well-paying jobs that we all need.

When it comes to real estate values, I am grateful to live in an area of town that has seen less distressed sales than others.

Chris is a Regional Editor for Patch in South Florida. His coverge area includes Sarasota, Bradenton and Hillsborough County. He works with Local Editors at Patch to ensure that visitors are getting news, events and information that matter to them and their daily lives. He is a proud graduate of UCF in Orlando, Florida.  He is also an award winning news photographer who has also worked as a journalist and newsroom manager for the last 10 years. Chris has worked in television, print and online news throughout his career and is passionate about telling stories that are useful to the audience.  Before joining Patch, Chris was the Audience Editor for TBO.com in Tampa, Florida, where he was in charge of the online production staff and managed planning stories and coverage for the website.

Chris, his wife and two young daughters live in Riverview, Florida. 

Jeff Cannon, freelance contributor for New Port Richey and Land O' Lakes Patch, is a native of Hudson, Florida. His keen interest in local history comes with true sincerity as his family first settled in present day Pasco County, FL in the late 1870s -- not too far from what was to become the Town of Hudson, the subject of his recent book Images of America: Hudson, released in 2009. In the early 1880s his great-great-grandfather helped to establish a small community school and church near today’s Hudson Avenue and Hays Road. His family also shares genealogical connections to many of Pasco and Hernando County pioneer families.

At age 16 Jeff interned with local TV News station WTVT Fox 13 learning many investigative and research techniques as an on-air reporter for a teen talk show. In this capacity he also worked behind the scenes coordinating, researching, and planning for the weekly talk show.

Jeff also served as president of his high school S.A.D.D. club and helped school administration in establishing the county’s first high school Crime Stoppers program.

Today, he is actively involved in his community through historic and cemetery preservation and currently serves as director of the Pasco County Historical Preservation Society, an organization he helped form. He is also the president of the West Elfers Cemetery Preservation Assoc. Inc; vice-president of the Hudson Cemetery Preservation Assoc. Inc.; and vice-chairman of the East Elfers Cemetery Board. He is also a life-time member of the West Pasco Historical Society Inc. and Pioneer Florida Museum Assoc.

Jeff is also a current board member and design committee chairman for the New Port Richey Greater Main Street Program, in addition to being the President Elect of the Rotary Club of Hudson.

Other service includes past member of the Pasco County Historical Preservation Committee, Pasco County Post Disaster Redevelopment Committee, Pasco County Land Development Code Re-Write Committee, and the Pasco County West Market Redevelopment Committee.

In November 2011, through Arcadia Publishing, Jeff released his second local history book titled Then & Now New Port Richey.

Jeff has also submitted research materials to nationally recognized organizations such as Discover Black Florida, University of South Florida Africana Heritage Project, Civil War Florida, and the African-American Historical and Genealogical Society.

When not writing or conducting historical research, Jeff  is busy with speaking engagements and working to bring awareness to historic preservation and the problems plaguing our local cemeteries-- He hopes that his community work will aid and inspire others to explore and preserve Pasco County's rich history.

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.