Publisher and Executive Editor: James Dissette is the founder of monthly community newspapers in Oregon, Michigan and on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He is the 1971 winner of the Sophie Kerr Award for Creative Writing. He is a book designer at Chester River Press and Mad Parrot Press where he recently designed their current limited edition fine-press book, Wind in the Willows.
Arts & Culture Editor: Val Cavalheri is a recent transplant to the Eastern Shore, having lived in Northern Virginia for the past 20 years. She’s been a writer, editor and professional photographer for various publications, including the Washington Post.
Art Editor: Jean Dixon Sanders has been a painter and graphic designer for the past thirty years. A graduate of Washington College, where she majored in fine art, Jean started her work in design with the Literary House lecture program. The illustrations she contributes to the Spies are done with watercolor, colored pencil and ink.
Contributor Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.
Contributor Mary McCoy is an artist and writer who has the good fortune to live beside an old steamboat wharf on the Chester River. She is a former art critic for the Washington Post and several art publications. She enjoys the kayaking the river and walking her family farm where she collects ideas and materials for the environmental art she creates, often in collaboration with her husband Howard. They have exhibited their work in the U.S., Ireland, Wales and New Zealand.
Contributor Steve Parks is the former arts and entertainment reporter for Newsday.
Columnist J.E. (John) Dean worked for more than 30 years as an attorney and advocate for clients with interests in federal education and social services legislation. A lawyer, Dean also served as a Counsel to the Committee on Education and Labor of the U.S. House of Representatives. He also served as national chair of the National College Access Network and KnowledgeWorks Foundation. Today he is a writer focusing on politics and federal domestic policy. His interests include politics, photography, nature, travel and the Chesapeake Bay.
Columnist Craig Fuller served four years in the White House as assistant to President Reagan for Cabinet Affairs, followed by four years as chief of staff to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Having been engaged in five presidential campaigns and run public affairs firms and associations in Washington, D.C., he now resides on the Eastern Shore with his wife Diane.
Columnist Dennis Forney has been a publisher, journalist and columnist on the Delmarva Peninsula since 1972. He writes from his home on Grace Creek in Bozman.
Columnist Jamie Kirkpatrick is a writer and photographer with homes in Chestertown and Bethesda. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Washington College Alumni Magazine, and American Cowboy magazine. “A Place to Stand,” a book of photographs and essays about Landon School, was published by the Chester River Press in 2015. A collection of his essays titled “Musing Right Along” was released in May and is already in its second printing.
Columnist Laura J. Oliver is an award-winning developmental book editor and writing coach, who has taught writing at the University of Maryland and St. John’s College. She is the author of The Story Within (Penguin Random House). Co-creator of The Writing Intensive at St. John’s College, she is the recipient of a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in Fiction, an Anne Arundel County Arts Council Literary Arts Award winner, a two-time Glimmer Train Short Fiction finalist, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Columnist Angela Rieck is Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.
Columnist Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
Columnist Maria Grant: Maria Grant was formerly Principal-in-Charge of Deloitte Consulting’s Federal Human Capital practice and Chief Talent Officer of Deloitte’s Federal practice. She also served as Human Resources Director for Search for Common Ground, and as Associate Editor for Think Magazine with IBM. Maria has led projects for clients in the public and private sectors in the areas of leadership, workforce transformation, communications and culture building, performance management, and learning and development. Maria also served on the Boards of the Women’s Economic Club and the Music Hall in Detroit.
Commentator Tom Timberman is an Army vet, lawyer, former senior Foreign Service officer, adjunct professor at GWU, and economic development team leader or foreign government advisor in war zones. He is the author of four books, lectures locally and at US and European universities. He and his wife are 24 year residents of Kent County.
Technology Director: Derek Beck is a UI designer and front-end developer for user interface design and branding. He works primarily Photoshop, Espresso, jQuery, WordPress, and Google Chrome. He is the founder and owner of abovecreative.com.