Meet our newest team members
Investigate Midwest has grown a lot in the past couple years. We've added reporters, established boots on the ground in Iowa and augmented our business operations. We're excited because this growth is enabling us to bring you more data visualizations, explanatory pieces and hard-hitting investigations.
Here are our newest team members who will help us continue to deliver quality journalism on Big Ag.
Erin Orr joined June 1 and is the deputy director. She will help oversee editorial, personnel and business operations. She was an editor and senior personnel administrator for Lee Enterprises Design Center, The Times of Northwest Indiana, and The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Illinois, among others. She is based in northwest Indiana.
Suzanne Behnke is the digital editor, focusing on social media and newsletters, as well as working with our interns. Previously, she was the executive director of IowaWatch, the editor of the Des Moines Business Record and an editor of various sections of the Des Moines Register. She is based in the Des Moines, Iowa, area.
Mary Ungs-Sogaard is the donor relations manager, focused on supporting the mission of Investigate Midwest through marketing and fundraising. She is the former regional publisher for eight Iowa community newspapers with Woodward Communications, a former president of the Iowa Newspaper Association and a former member of the Iowa Public Information Board. Ungs-Sogaard is based in Dyersville, Iowa.
I've enjoyed getting to know them all as they've settled into our newsroom, and I hope, with the help of the Q&As below, you'll get to know them a little as well.
— Pamela Dempsey, executive director
Erin Orr Q&A ...
Best piece of advice you've ever received:
"Don't lose yourself in the expectations of others. Be authentic."
Biggest pet peeve:
"I have two: bullying and treating others badly just because they are different from you."
Favorite crop and why:
"Wheat. It reminds me of wild, tall grass in the wetlands as it moves in the wind. It's also beautiful as it changes color as it grows."
Mary Ungs-Sogaard Q&A ...
Best piece of advice you've ever received:
"Act towards others how you would want others to act towards you (the "Golden Rule")."
Biggest pet peeve:
"No ranch dressing at the restaurant."
Favorite crop and why:
"Eggplant and tomatoes from my garden -- because I cook with them a lot!"
Suzanne Behnke Q&A ...
Best piece of advice you'e ever received:
"Take care of your people and the work will follow."
Biggest pet peeve:
"When people mispronounce my first name as Susan."
Favorite crop and why:
"My least favorite crop is corn. I spent five years on a detasseling crew and found out how sharp those leaves are. My favorite crop would be a 'crop' of college journalism majors graduating."
GRAPHIC: Sales of cows' milk continues decades-long decline | Marley Schultz, Investigate Midwest
U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows milk's significance in the American diet is at its lowest point in five decades.
COLUMN: Bayer is 0-2 at US Supreme Court on glyphosate certiorari … and a storm is brewing | Dave Dickey
Bayer had no less than three separate cases it hoped the high court would one day grant certiorari: Monsanto Company v. Hardeman, John D. Carson v. Monsanto, and Monsanto Company v. Alberta Pilliod, et al.
