ian’s work

EXPERIENCE

MANAGING EDITOR, NRDC.org
Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY
2001-present

Direct the day-to-day editorial and production operations of this large nonprofit advocacy group’s web team; develop and execute special projects and initiatives that further NRDC’s fundraising, strategic-communications, and policy goals.

Manage three direct reports – two production associates and a staff writer; – and hire and direct consultants and vendors including writers, editors, designers, photo researchers, illustrators, cartographers, programmers, technologists, and html producers.
Maintain and execute a very busy editorial calendar that must be responsive to changing priorities and breaking news while also steadily advancing NRDC’s strategic goals. Responsibilities:
- Oversee the publication of 10-30 new or revised documents on the nrdc.org site each week;
- Work with policy, membership, media relations, and other NRDC staff to develop strategic web content; guide editorial, design, and production staff and freelancers through execution;
- Daily updates to the NRDC homepage and other top-level pages;
- Write features, headlines, other content as necessary;
- Line editing, guidance for rewrites, and copyeditng as necessary;
- Establish and enforce editorial style, production protocol and standards, other quality-control mechanisms.
Numerous special projects have included:
- Redesign of NRDC website in 2004 (before and after);
- The Bush Record, a database-driven catalog of the Bush administration’s actions on environmental issues;
- Wildlife on the Brink, about endangered species (and laws);
- The online presence of NRDC’s quarterly magazine, OnEarth;
- The Green Gate, an environmental guide to the San Francisco Bay Area;
- Evangelising a “social media” communications model that empowers NRDC’s constituents as messengers and fundraisers (current focus).

SENIOR PRODUCER, GORP.com
Great Outdoor Recreation Pages, New York, NY
1999-2000

Editorial project manager for market-leading outdoor-recreation website.

Project leader and primary architect of numerous major editorial additions, including:
- GORP City Weekender, guides to day and overnight outings near 40 American cities;
- Complete editorial and packaging revamp of GORP’s guides to national parks and other public lands (GORP’s most valuable content asset);
- 20 Best series, map-based trip-planning guides to outdoor adventures in popular international destinations;
- GORP Community. Oversaw redesign of GORP Community page; develop and produce weekly Community updates and features.
- Skiing/winter recreation content — complete overhaul.
- Writer, GORP newsletter — weekly email regarding new content and site improvements (circulation: 75K)
Acquired new and previously published feature stories from established nature/outdoor-recreation writers.
Senior team member in 1999 launch of major redesign of the GORP website (before and after).
Instrumental in establishing many basic editorial-management procedures in a department that grew from 6 to 20 members in less than a year.
Wrote numerous features for the site, including a feature on efforts to conserve Arizona’s San Pedro River, a guide to the best U.S. spots for birdwatching in springtime, and a feature on the confluence of horseshoe crabs and shorebirds each May along the shores of Delaware Bay.

FREELANCE WRITER / EDITOR
1989-1999

Editor, National Geographic’s National Parks Atlas & Travel Planner. Packaged by Melcher Media for GeoSystems Global Corporation and National Geographic Maps; canceled by publisher just prior to delivery of mechanicals.
Clients for editorial consulting, project editing, travel writing, text editing, copyediting, proofreading, and indexing have included Random House, Oxford University Press, Stonesong Press, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, St. Martins Press, Disney, Grolier, Chelsea House, and Columbia University Press.

CO-OWNER / EDITOR
Gowanus Books, Inc., Brooklyn, NY
1996-1997

Partner in start-up book-packaging and editorial-services company.

Supervised editorial and production of three new titles in a 4-color illustrated YA sports-history series for Grolier Publishing Company (Watts History of Sports: Football, Basketball, Hockey, and Auto Racing. Published Fall 1998).
Provided rewrite, line editing, and copyediting services for National Geographic’s The American Road, packaged by Melcher Media, published July 1998.
Packaged Outside Magazine’s Guide to Family Vacations for the magazine (published June 1997, Macmillan USA).

EDITOR
Macmillan General Reference, New York, NY
1993-1996

Series editor, Outside Magazine’s Adventure Guides. Created this series of regional, multi-sport outdoor-recreation guidebooks. Initiated effort to partner with Outside Magazine, and negotiated many aspects of licensing deal. Developed concept through to final series outline, format guides, style guides, and detailed book outlines for each title. Assigned and supervised work-for-hire writers for first four titles. Supervised a junior editor. Wrote sections of the Adventure Guide to New England.
Part of a major effort to overhaul editorial and design of Macmillan’s mainstream travel-guide line, the Frommer’s Guides. Developed numerous titles from scratch, including all six Frommer’s Guides to Mexico, Frommer’s Alaska, and Family Vacations in America’s Best-Loved National Parks.
Line-edited dozens of Macmillan travel titles, working with writers, writing cover copy and features, editing manuscripts, and supervising production.

ASSISTANT EDITOR
Macmillan General Reference, New York, NY
1991-1993