Resume

Jane Wooldridge 

www.janewooldridge.com
786-547-1147
@janewooldridge

Jane Wooldridge is an award-winning travel and business journalist, entrepreneurial manager and innovator in multi-media content delivered via newspapers, magazines, online, mobile formats and broadcast.

Since 2009, she has served as the Miami Herald’s Business Editor,  responsible for business editorial products including Business Monday, daily business coverage throughout print and web editions, and enterprise reporting for Page 1.  She also oversees coverage of museums, visual arts and Art Basel Miami Beach, and edits the annual 180-page glossy Art Basel issue of the Indulge luxury lifestyle magazine. She also acts as newsroom-wide niche product leader, collaborating with Advertising and Marketing divisions to create products across all media platforms.

Prior to her current position, Jane spent a decade as the Miami Herald’s Travel Editor. In that role, she edited a weekly section – often featuring her own stories and photographs – that was honored as the nation’s best. She forged strategic content partnerships for print and online, leveraged existing content into a profitable new print product, created an interactive content format for a consumer travel expo and started one of the company’s first blogs. She also hosted an on-demand travel advice show for Comcast.

Jane is a travel aficionado; between personal and business travel, she has visited more than 100 countries and is contributing editor for cruises for Travel + Leisure magazine. She co-authored The 100 Best Affordable Vacations published in 2011 by National Geographic Books. She blogs occasionally at FiveStarstoUndertheStars.com.

 

  PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

MOBILE APPLICATIONS

  • Miami architecture app, in partnership with Miami Center for Architecture and Design, under development
  • Art Basel Miami Beach / Art Week 2014 and 2015. (Created in responsive website formats.)

MAGAZINES

  • Art Basel Indulge: 180-page luxury lifestyle magazine, adapted from an existing format, targeting the affluent and aspirational audience attending Art Basel Miami Beach
  • WG: Weekend Getaways: Free quarterly magazine used repurposed content from The Miami Herald to serve South Florida travelers who don’t subscribe to the newspaper — and the advertisers seeking to reach them. Distribution is through salons, coffee shops and other places where South Floridians linger.  (Replaced in 2012 by Indulge.)
  • Miami Herald Travel Magazine: Glossy quarterly targeted the 100,000 upscale Miami Herald subscriber households that define Miami as one of the 20 wealthiest cities in the world, according to UBS.
  • Business Monday: The Miami Herald’s longstanding weekly business magazine, updated in 2013 and expanded in 2014.
  • RSVP: Glossy broadsheet lifestyle magazine for high net worth subscribers of The Miami Herald, published quarterly.
  • South Florida Album: In-newspaper section created to satisfy the demand for society coverage without stressing resources. Originally envisioned as a revenue-neutral solution combing freelance content with paid photo coverage, Album has proven so successful that it now spans multiple pages in both English and Spanish and reaps a profit.

EVENTS

  • The Travel Experience: This innovative consumer expo reached beyond standard formats, offering interactive experiences enabling show-goers to test out hotel beds and airline seats, race to pack a carry-on suitcase, sample recipes from faraway places, practice digital photography skills, partake in mini exercise classes and spa treatments, and converse with experts on travel experiences from safaris to hip hotels.
  • Miami Herald business seminars: Short one-time consumer events have included small business seminars, business-plan boot camps, real estate-buying events and an upcoming CEO Roundtable focusing on the local economy.
  • Great American Road Trip: Voting electronically, Miami Herald readers directed stops and activities each day of a 28-day road trip from Miami to Seattle. Wooldridge posted photos, videos and reports daily on an interactive map. 2006.
  • Miami Herald Travel website: Created and directed website comprising news, tips, blogs and travel tools, populated in part by content from strategic partners.
  • Jane Wooldridge blog: Created one of the Miami Herald’s first blogs, sharing tips and travel experiences through posts and images.
  • Destination Florida: Led creation of what was considered the first-ever editorial travel website, using content repurposed from joint-venture partners Knight Ridder and Tribune.
  • Knight Ridder Award of Excellence, 2005, Marketing / general excellence: For initiating and implementing projects across marketing, advertising and editorial departments at multiple Knight-Ridder newspapers to stretch resources, serve readers better and make money for both Knight Ridder and The Miami Herald.
  • Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year, 2006-07: Highest honor in travel journalism, judged by the journalism faculty of the University of Missouri, based on a portfolio of work.
  • Silver Award, Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year, 2008-2009
  • First place/travel writing, Sunshine State Journalism Awards, 2008 and 2006: Presented by the Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
  • Best Newspaper Travel Section in its size category, 2006 and 2009: In the Lowell Thomas Awards.
  • Silver Award for Special Projects, Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2007-08: For the Great American Road Trip, comprising print stories, digital voting and daily blog entries including photography and video, with support from intern Stephanie Rosenblatt.
  • Various: Over the years, Wooldridge has garnered various other awards for editing, photography, writing and newspaper design in competitions sponsored by the Lowell Thomas Foundation, American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Florida Society of Professional Journalists, the Atlantic-Caribbean Chapter of the Society of American Travel Writers and the Society of Newspaper Design. She has also spearheaded and edited award-winning projects by other writers.
  • Angier B. Duke Scholar: Scholarship based on leadership and academic achievement to undergraduates of Duke University.

 

LEADERSHIP POSITIONS

  • Knight-Ridder Travel Group Initiator / leader, 2004-2006: Initiated the Knight Ridder Travel Editors Group to leverage skills and knowledge across Knight-Ridder’s 31 newspapers and provide new revenue opportunities through group sales. To do so, she obtained financing from the Knight-Ridder corporate office, then networked with editors at all newspapers to create four projects annually that were chosen and managed by group members. The group was discontinued with the sale of Knight Ridder.
  • Vice-chair, SATW Foundation: Elected to the board of the foundation that oversees the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition in 2007.
  • Chair, Travel Editors Council of SATW, 2003-2005: Led creation of new formats and standards for the group’s annual professional development conferences. She also served as an officer and program chair for the conference for several years prior to becoming chair.
  • Professional development co-chair, 2010 national convention of Society of American Travel Writers.
  • Board member, Society of American Travel Writers, 2003-2005: Guided the effort to revamp the organization’s in-house publication.

 

PUBLIC SPEAKING, EXPERT APPEARANCES

  • Expert speaker, moderator and panelist: Hyatt Corporation, Ritz-Carlton, Disney Company, Travel Classics Conference, Southeast Tourism Society, Alaska Travel Industry Association, Society of American Travel Writers professional development conferences, University of Miami academic classes, Miami real estate conferences and civic groups.
  • On-air guest expert: The Today Show, CBS-4 in Miami, UPN-4 in Miami, Shopping Bags (Canadian TV), The Travel Channel, radio shows for Peter Greenberg and Arthur Frommer, and other radio shows.
  • Travel on Demand: On-air expert / personality for Travel on Demand, broadcast in South Florida on Comcast and webcast at www.MiamiHerald.com/travel.
  • The Travel Experience: Creator and host of interactive consumer travel expo, 2006
  •  Society of American Travel Writers: Since 1990
  • Society of American Business Editors and Writers: Since 2010
  • International Women’s Forum: Since 2013

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

  • Society of American Travel Writers: Since 1990
  • Society of American Business Editors and Writers: Since 2010
  • International Women’s Forum: Since 2013

WORK HISTORY 

Miami Herald Media Company and affiliates, 1983-Present

  • 2009-present: Executive Business Editor, with responsibilities for Business Monday magazine, daily business coverage in the Business pages and on the newspaper’s front page, the Miami Herald’s business website; development of new business publications in print, online and in video and web-cast. Duties include concept and design oversight, staff and budget management and content editing.
  • 2011-present: Visual Arts Editor, with oversight of annual Art Basel coverage (including mobile app development); Art Basel Indulge magazine; Sunday visual arts coverage and coverage of museums  and cultural institutions
  • 1999-2009: Travel Editor, with responsibilities for Sunday Travel section, the Miami Herald’s travel website,) Travels with Jane blog, development of new travel publications in print, online and in video and web-cast. Duties included concept and design oversight, staff and budget management, content editing, reporting, writing, editing, product development, photography, video and TV appeared frequently in publications ranging from the Hong Kong Morning News to the Oregonian, via the McClatchy-Tribune wire.
  • 1996-1999:  Business columnist and writer. Duties included a twice-weekly column and Business Monday cover stories on consumer and business issues.
  • 1994-1996: Executive editor / executive producer, Destination Florida, a Knight-Ridder-Tribune joint venture.  Led creation of the first editorial destination site on the World Wide Web, using content repurposed from five Florida newspapers then owned by Knight-Ridder or Tribune. Created formats for editorial, oversaw design, created ad placements that are still used on the Internet today. Hired, organized and managed staff in three cities to publish new content, upgrade content on both the World Wide Web and AOL platforms; coordinated volunteer staff on AOL. Worked as a strategic leader with programming, advertising and administration.
  • 1983-1994: Various writing, reporting and editing positions, including local columnist, social columnist, features writer, fashion writer/stylist and assistant travel editor.

Other publications

  • 2011-present: Contributing editor for cruises, Travel + Leisure magazine
  • Co-author, 100 Best Affordable Vacations, National Geographic Books
  • New York Times Magazine: Staff fashion writer
  • Freelance articles: Los Angeles Times, Coastal Living, Seattle Times

 

EDUCATION

  • Duke University: Graduated magna cum laude with a BA in history.
  • New College, Oxford University: Summer study program in history, available to Angier B. Duke Scholars.

REFERENCES

Available on request

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