Nick Manes

Phone: 616.366.5723 | Email: [email protected] | Twitter: @nickrmanes

Overview

A veteran business journalist with five years experience covering all manner of commercial real estate, economic development policy and national politics. This work is reliant upon developing myriad, trusted sources in multiple industries, a deep knowledge of public records and a solid understanding of how deals get done. With a dedication to core journalism practices and an all-around reporter’s curiosity, frequent opportunities to freelance with with national outlets have arisen. This includes The Atlantic’s Route Fifty covering the unseen challenges of needle exchange programs, as well as with The Daily Beast reporting on contentious legislative town halls.

Experience

MiBiz Newspaper | 10/2012 – Current                                                                                      Grand Rapids, MI Staff Reporter

• Work in 2016 included 19 of the top 30 most read stories on MiBiz’s website – a mixture of deeply reported enterprise and relevant breaking news such as a proposal to build Grand Rapids’ tallest skyscraper and the tactics utilized by investors to scoop up property in one of the nation’s hottest housing markets
• Highly proficient in handling breaking news on a regular basis while also multi-tasking on longer-form enterprise work for West Michigan’s most acclaimed business news publication
• Routinely report on news of the day, while also meeting with myriad sources in an effort to break news well ahead of the competition, in some cases months ahead of any official announcement
• Consistently committed to spotting commercial real estate trends that provide readers a deeper understanding of the overall business and economic climate
• Reporting around retailers such as Meijer’s use of ‘dark store’ tax avoidance has been cited as the impetus for legislation aimed at curbing the practice
• Investigative work frequently gets picked up and cited by larger news organizations, which involves appearances on other media platforms to discuss the work
• In addition to traditional commercial real estate reporting, significant work has focused on general business coverage, particularly related to complex, corporate bankruptcies
• Typically write three-to-five enterprise, print stories for a bi-weekly newspaper while also reporting and writing multiple web stories each week
• Write and edit regular e-newsletters
• Significant experience with interviewing politicians, government officials as well as C-level executives and industry analysts
• Works closely with a well-established network of sources and highly proficient with data and public documents as a means of breaking news
• Would enter position with a working knowledge of Chicago real estate and a network of sources that could quickly be built upon
• An active user of social media with a Twitter account that includes a national following of economic and political journalists and policymakers

Revue Magazine | 2010 – Current                                                                                            Grand Rapids, MI Contributing Reporter

• Write and report a combination of short and long-form stories ranging from concerts to the changing perception of marijuana in the West Michigan region
• Reports remotely from music festivals and other live events
• Handle all contact with public relations professionals and interview subjects, many of which have turned into long-lasting, productive business relationships

RapidGrowthMedia.com | 2010 – 2012                                                                                Grand Rapids, MI Contributing Writer

• Reported on economic, cultural and business development in a booming urban environment on a freelance basis
• Stories ranged from the economic impact of a new music and art festival in the Grand Rapids area to a profile of a “hip-hop pastor” working with troubled youth

TheRapidian.com | 2009 – 2013                                                                                             Grand Rapids, MI Citizen Reporter/Editorial Mentor/Editorial Intern

• Volunteer reporter, intern and editor at a startup citizen journalism outlet focused on “hyper-local” reporting
• Created the “politics beat,” recruiting and assisting a team of more than 10 volunteer citizen journalists
• Team covered city commission meetings, a town hall meeting held by Congressman Justin Amash and a visit by Vice President Joe Biden to a local manufacturing company
• As editorial mentor, edited stories submitted by volunteer reporters to ensure that all basic journalistic guidelines were met, as well as providing mentorship to less-experienced citizen journalist