Andrew Dunn

Experience

• 

  The Cary News

  Apr 2004 - Jan 2007

  Correspondent

  Covered high school sports, local education issues and general assignments as a freelance reporter.

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  The Daily Tar Heel

  Jun 2006 - May 2010

  Editor-in-Chief

  Directed a team of about 200 reporters, editors and staff members producing a Monday-Friday newspaper. Our work was ultimately recognized as a finalist in the Associated College Press Pacemaker award contest, known as the highest honor of collegiate journalism.

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  The Herald-Sun

  May 2007 - Jul 2007

  Intern

  Wrote 85 stories in a 10 week internship.

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  St Petersburg Times

  Jan 2008 - Jan 2008

  Intern

  * Served on the editorial board and reported for the Neighbors section.*Completed projects for the business and metro desks.

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  The Charlotte Observer

  Jan 2009 - Jan 2009

  Intern

  Wrote two dozen stories on the business desk. Won a Society of American Business Editors and Writers “Best in Business” award for a story on home-buying scams.

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  StarNews

  May 2010 - Oct 2011

  Reporter

  ● Covered Brunswick County, including government, environment, business and transportation. Stories included uncovering an unwritten compensation policy that allowed county commissioners to collect more than $100,000 in pay in a single year.● Operated the Brunswick Today blog and its associated Facebook page.● Shot breaking news video and photos while covering crime and public safety.

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  The Charlotte Observer

  Oct 2011 - Aug 2015

  Reporter/Editor

  ● Covered education in Charlotte, including Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, the second-largest school system in North Carolina. Stories included uncovering why the district superintendent was suddenly forced to resign.Previous beats included covering two of Charlotte’s largest employers, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, along with regional banks and financial institutions. Stories included uncovering banks exploiting a loophole in a national mortgage settlement and detailing Wall Street’s incursion into the local home market.● Served regularly as night metro editor, coordinating coverage of breaking news and daily news stories, and overseeing the local pages in the daily newspaper.● Founded the Bank Watch blog, winning a Society of American Business Editors and Writers “Best in Business” award and ranking among the Observer’s top five most read.● Launched and edited a curated morning email newsletter targeted to the local banking community in July 2013. Membership grew to include several hundred local bankers.● Selected to be part of a McClatchy-wide task force examining and testing new online tools for reporting and led an initiative to train reporters how best to shoot video. Show less

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  Charlotte Agenda

  Aug 2015 - Oct 2018

  Head of News and Partner

  ● Responsible for all news content at one of the nation's fastest-growing local media companies.● Part of the ownership team making strategic and financial decisions.● Oversaw daily email newsletter growth from 4,000 subscribers to 35,000+.● Managed a team of full-time and freelance reporters to own local coverage of development, entrepreneurship, retail, and explanatory journalism.● Reported in-depth stories, including on how local churches were responding to legalized same-sex marriage and how Charlotte's school districts became gerrymandered based on race and income. Show less

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  Longleaf Politics

  Jan 2018 - now

  Publisher

  ● Reaching smart, influential North Carolinians with a digital media property dedicated to helping voters become more informed and to helping responsible, pragmatic leaders get elected to public office.● Producing a weekly email newsletter with an open rate above 40% and click rate above 20%.● Work cited on the floor of the General Assembly.● Developed and launched a digital media company from scratch using WordPress and light coding skills.● Launched a weekly podcast wholly produced by Longleaf Politics. Show less

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  LendingTree

  Nov 2018 - Jul 2019

  Managing Editor

  ● Guided mortgage-related content and workflow, publishing 50+ articles monthlyacross multiple domains. Responsibilities included developing story ideas,communicating assignments, managing special projects, editing raw copy.● Worked one-on-one with full-time and freelance writers to improve articles.● Cultivated expertise in mortgage industry trends to ensure useful content for readers.

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  Statewide Political Campaign

  Jul 2019 - Nov 2020

  Communications Director

  ● Responsible for all messaging and communications for Dan Forest for Governor's statewide political campaign.● Wrote and edited policy papers, speeches, talking points, advertisements, website copy, landing pages, social media posts and emails.● Managed media relations strategy, including proactive, reactive and crisis communications.

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  Freelance

  Nov 2020 - Dec 2022

  Freelance Content Writer and Editor

  ● Financial, business and spot news writer with bylines in local and national publications, including Fox Business, LendingTree, Credit Karma and Credible. ● Coverage expertise includes mortgages, personal loans, student loans, credit cards, auto loans, and other personal finance issues.● Generating story ideas and completing articles assigned on tight deadlines, with clean, publication-ready copy.● Optimizing content for lead generation and conversions using SEO best practices.

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  Home Solutions

  Dec 2022 - now

  ● Managing a team of writers, editors and SEO experts to produce content that ranks for competitive home improvement and automotive keywords. ● Previously responsible for SEO content marketing strategy and production for a major financial industry client. Built a team from scratch, moving from zero writers and $0 in revenue to a team of eight in-house editors and writers and meaningful weekly revenue.● Creating and implementing best-in-class content standards and processes to produce content that is top ranked on Google. Currently have many articles ranking in the top five Google results on highly competitive personal finance head terms. Show less

  • Content Manager

    Mar 2024 - now

  • Senior Editor

    Dec 2022 - Mar 2024
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  The Charlotte Observer

  Jan 2025 - now

  Contributing Opinion Writer