My career path has not been linear, and I believe that's an asset. I started out as a journalist, reporting for daily newspapers in Vermont right as digital publishing was remaking how information moves through the world. I've spent the years since figuring out how to work with that change rather than against it — growing audiences, building revenue, and helping organizations find their footing when the ground keeps shifting.

Most of my career has been in places where the resources were never quite enough. That turns out to be good training. You learn to be creative with what you have and to keep moving when the path forward isn't obvious.

After working as a writer and editor, I bought Vermont Sports Magazine with no business experience, and learned I had a knack for news and magazine publishing. My editorial focus was making outdoor sports more inclusive and widening the audience to include more readers new to the outdoors or fitness. I grew circulation 60% and sold it in 2013 with a sustainable operating model. In 2018, I bought a group exercise studio, rebuilt it and rebranded it as Alpenglow Fitness, and carried it through a pandemic and a flood before selling it to an instructor who's still running it for the amazing Alpenglow community. I ran marketing, payroll, facilities, pricing, retention, and all our digital assets — website, newsletter, and marketing automation. It was a more complicated business than people assume, and I'm immensely proud of it.

At Chalkbeat, one of the country's largest nonprofit news organizations, I led the sponsorship and advertising program from roughly $400,000 to $1 million, with partners including the Bezos Family Foundation, Duolingo, and Penguin Random House.

At VTDigger, I was recruited to lead the organization after the founder stepped down and a period of interim leadership. Over three years the organization strengthened its financial footing, grew revenue every year, expanded readership across the state, and modernized systems — HR, finance, analytics, fundraising infrastructure. We won numerous journalism awards along the way, from the New England Newspaper & Press Association, LION Publishers, and Online News Association. I also negotiated the organization's second union contract, which I'm proud to say raised reporter minimums by more than 30%.

I'd rather solve a problem than sit in a long planning meeting. I think the best work happens when strategy and execution stay close together. When I work with an organization, I'm bringing the perspective of someone who has owned the P&L, made payroll, grown revenue, led teams, and made hard calls.

I use AI tools, including Claude and ChatGPT, in my work, for research, drafting, and editing, including some of the writing on this site. I don't use them to generate facts or to stand in for reporting.

I serve on the boards of Aspire Living & Learning and Journalism New England.

I'm a people person with a good sense of humor and a firm belief that most problems — including civic polarization — have a solution worth finding. I also like dogs and New Haven pizza.

Get in touch: mail@skybarsch.com | (802) 279-0077