The Plain Dealer Editorial Team

by From staff reports

Wednesday October 01, 2008, 11:29 AM

Brent Larkin

A lifelong resident of Greater Cleveland, Brent Larkin is a 1965 graduate of Brush High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ohio University in 1970 and a doctorate of law from Cleveland Marshall College of Law in 1986. He was admitted to the
practice of law in 1987.

Larkin worked at the Cleveland Press from 1970 to 1981. From 1971 to 1976, he covered Cleveland City hall, and in 1976 was named the newspaper's politics editor. He joined The Plain Dealer in 1981, first as politics writer and later as a columnist. In 1991, he was named to direct the newspaper's opinion pages. In October 2002, Larkin was
inducted into the Cleveland Press Club's Hall of Fame.
To contact Brent Larkin: blarkin@plaind.com, (216) 999-4252

Kevin O'Brien

Kevin O'Brien came to The Plain Dealer staff in 1984 as a
copy editor. Before joining the editorial board in 1993, he worked in
numerous editing capacities in the news division, including assignments
as day city editor and suburban editor. As the paper's deputy
editorial director and chief editorial writer, he is responsible for
editing each day's editorials and staff-produced columns. He also
tracks issues in science, technology and medicine for the editorial
board. His column appears on Thursdays.
To contact Kevin O'Brien: kobrien@plaind.com , (216) 999-4146

Sharon Broussard

Sharon Broussard came to The Plain Dealer in 1991 to work as an
education reporter in the Lake and Geauga bureau. She joined the
editorial board in 1993 and covers a number of issues from suburban
politics in Greater Cleveland's eastern and western suburbs to Africa.
To contact Sharon Broussard: sbroussa@plaind.com , (216) 999-4149

Joe Frolik

Before joining the editorial board in 2001, Joe Frolik was The
Plain Dealer's national correspondent for 12 years o that's four
presidential election cycles in political junkie terms. He wrote about
personalities, strategies and issues, and also coordinated The Plain
Dealer's opinion polling from 1996 through the 2000 election. Away
from politics, he covered earthquakes, hurricanes, space shots and
Kenyon's swim dynasty. On the editorial page, he initially wrote about
city and county government and politics and, as primary writer in the
"Quiet Crisis" series, about Northeast Ohio's struggle to
reinvent its economy. His portfolio now focuses on national issues and
politics.
To contact Joe Frolik: jfrolik@plaind.com , (216) 999-4548

Gloria Millner

Gloria Millner was a reporter covering courts and politics at the
Cincinnati Post before coming to The Plain Dealer as a copy editor in
1987. She joined the editorial department as editor of the Sunday Forum
section in 1988. She became editor of the daily oped page in 1997.
To contact Gloria Millner: gmillner@plaind.com , (216) 999-4147

Mark Naymik

Mark Naymik joined The Plain Dealer in 2000, writing for the
Metro section from the paper's Lorain bureau. In 2001, he began
covering politics exclusively. He follows local and state campaign and
election issues, including the presidential race, and contributes to The
Plain Dealer's political blog, OPENERS, at www.cleveland.com/open. He
previously wrote for weekly papers in Philadelphia and Cleveland. To
contact Mark Naymik: mnaymik@plaind.com , (216) 999-4849.

Racquel Robinson

Racquel Robinson joined The Plain Dealer in 1992, working part time in
the News Research Center archiving photographs and news stories, and
then in the Sports Department as part of the team that compiles the high
school and college sports round-up. In 1995, she became the full-time
editorial assistant for the Editorial Writers department and has served
as Letters Editor since 1999.
To contact Racquel Robinson: (216) 999-4150

Mary Lou Sneyd

Mary Lou Sneyd is designer of the daily and Sunday Forum pages, and she
coordinates coverage in the Sunday Forum section. She joined The Plain
Dealer copy desk in 1988 and has worked on the news and features copy
desks, news and features layout desks, as a features writer and as
design director of the now-retired Sunday Magazine. A Kent State grad,
she came to The Plain Dealer via the Lake County News-Herald, Ashtabula
Star Beacon and Akron Beacon Journal. She received three Awards of
Excellence in 2007 from the Society for News Design.
To contact Mary Lou Sneyd: msneyd@plaind.com, 216-999-4078

Elizabeth Sullivan

Elizabeth Sullivan started at The Plain Dealer in 1979 as a business reporter. She served in a variety of local and overseas reporting capacities, with one earlier stint as an editorial writer, before rejoining the editorial board in 2003 as an associate editor and foreign affairs columnist. Her twice-weekly column appears on Sundays and Thursdays.
Additionally, Sullivan writes most of the newspaper's unsigned editorials on international and national security topics.

To contact Elizabeth Sullivan: bsulliva@plaind.com, (216) 999-6153

Elizabeth Auster

Washington Bureau senior writer Elizabeth Auster covers public
policy and politics, including national elections, and has written
extensively about presidents, social welfare issues, taxes and Social
Security. She writes a column for The Plain Dealer's Forum section.
To contact Elizabeth Auster: eauster@plaind.com, (216) 999-4212

Dick Feagler
Dick Feagler joined the staff of the Cleveland Press in 1963 and seven years later became the newspaper's featured columnist. He has been a commentator for two of Cleveland's commercial television stations. He still hosts a weekly program on Cleveland's PBS channel.

When the Press folded in 1982, Feagler's column moved to the Akron-Beacon Journal. In 1993, he joined The Plain Dealer.
In 1990, Feagler won broadcast journalism's most coveted national prizes: the George Foster Peabody award and the Alfred I. DuPont award. Three years later, he was inducted into the Cleveland Press Club Hall of Fame.

His column appears on Wednesday and Sunday.
To contact Dick Feagler: dfeagler@plaind.com, 216-999-5757

Thomas Suddes
A native of Youngstown, Suddes joined The Plain Dealer in 1982; the next year, he transferred to the newspaper's Columbus bureau, where for 17 years he covered the Ohio General Assembly and the state budget. While at the Statehouse, Suddes was also elected president of the century-old Ohio Legislative Correspondents Association. His Plain Dealer column on Ohio government and politics, which appears on Sundays, began in 1985. Late in
2000, Suddes left the newspaper's staff to seek a doctorate in mass communication at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University in Athens. He returned to The Plain Dealer in 2007 as a part-time editorial writer.
To contact Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@gmail.com