Pete Copeland, Publisher

Pete M. Copeland has been in Northern Nevada for 23 years living in Sparks for 20 of those years. Moving to Nevada to attend College he found out what many people moving here have, he loved this place. After college, Pete met his wife Christi, whom he has been with for over 16 years. Pete and Christi have two children, Alec 11 and Kayley 7. Kayley was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 15 months. Kayley is the inspiration for NNBW's support of JDRF as well as many other non-profit organizations in Northern Nevada.

As Publisher of Northern Nevada Business Weekly since its inception, Pete is most proud of the involvement in community. He says it has been the most rewarding aspect of the position. When not working, Pete most enjoys spending time with his family.

John Seelmeyer, Managing Editor

John Seelmeyer is the editor of Northern Nevada Business Weekly, a position he has held since the publication was founded in August 2002.

He has worked fulltime as a newspaper and magazine writer and editor since 1973. He has won numerous national awards for business reporting. He previously worked for newspapers in Colorado and California and spent five years as a freelance writer for national business publications. He also has taught university-level courses in writing and editing.

Inga Smith, Office Manager

Inga Smith, the office manager of Northern Nevada Business Weekly, joined the newspaper in 2007. Previously, she worked more than 20 years as a business manager in the health-care industry, where she worked both in assisted-living and skilled-nursing facilities.

Inga moved from Bavaria in Germany to Santa Monica, Calif., as a youngster and enjoyed the beaches, sunshine and outdoor activities of Southern California while she attended school. She worked for Mercedes Benz in Santa Monica for 11 years before she moved to Reno in 1983 to be closer to the mountains and to enjoy the region's four seasons.

With her teen-aged daughter, Inga enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, roller-skating and running with their Black Lab. Inga also enjoys gardening ‹ and spends time helping her daughter with her homework.

Pat Patera, Reporter

Pat Patera is all about paper. She’s worked in print since college — at newspapers, magazines, ad agencies and corporate HQ — turning plain paper into newsy product.

As a reporter at the Northern Nevada Business Weekly, she covers marketing, technology, law, the rural counties and whatever other newsy tidbits she picks up on her travels. Pat has a restless soul and, evidently, a liking for extremes, having moved from Chicago to the North Woods to Los Angeles to the High Desert. In between, she’s hiked, biked and paddled a good part of this land. But the High Sierra cradles the best country of all and she never tires of its spectacular granite sculpture.

Duane Johnson, Reporter

Duane Johnson grew up in Casper, Wyo., and Grand Junction, Colo.

After graduating from Central High School in Grand Junction, Duane attended Western Wyoming Community College where he received an Associates degree in English. While at WWCC, Duane wrote for the students newspaper, serving as sport editor. From there, Duane attended Northern Arizona University before transferring to the University of Nevada, Reno. While at NAU, Duane worked in the student newspaper sports department and also at the Arizona Cardinals and Phoenix Suns training camps in Flagstaff.

Duane is a charter member of the NNBW staff and is pursuing his bachelor’s degree from UNR.

Rob Sabo, Special Projects Editor

Rob’s family moved to Reno in 1977. He graduated from Sparks High School in 1988, and in 1997 he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism/English from California State University-Sacramento.

Sunny Roberts, Creative Director

Sunny Roberts was born and raised in Moorcroft, Wyoming, about 30 miles from Devil’s Tower, which was featured prominently in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Sunny attended college at Al Collins Graphic Design School in Tempe, AZ and received an Associates Degree in Graphic Design.

Sunny has lived in Reno for seven years. Before joining NNBW she was with the Yellow Pages as a graphic designer for two years. This November will mark her 4th year with the NNBW. Currently she is the Creative Director of the Graphics Department, and helps out with NNBW's sister publication Nevada Home as needed. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors, painting, and spending time with her dog Daisy.

Candice Lindsey, Circulation & Internet Operations Director

Born and raised in Northern Ohio, Candice Lindsey started her publishing career at the Sandusky Register on beautiful Lake Erie. Seven years later she gave six months notice (no one believed she was really leaving) and left with what she could carry on top of her car and with her 5-year-old daughter in tow headed west for California. She landed south of Los Angeles and spent 15 years working at Copley Los Angeles Newspapers. In 1998 she made the move from daily newspapers to magazines and has handled circulation and marketing for both consumer and B-to-B publications.

She has been Circulation Director at NNBW since October 2005 and enjoys the job, the company, people and finally being a resident of Reno and Nevada. When time allows she enjoys spending time at her home in the mountains in north eastern Nevada, dabbles in basket weaving and loves to camp, hike, read, and roller skate.

Rich Hoskins, Marketing Sales Manager

Born and raised in a small town in central Kansas, Rich Hoskins attended Kansas State University, graduating in 1978 with a degree in mass communications. Upon graduation, he moved to Las Vegas to work for the local newspaper.

Chris Dondero, Advertising Sales Supervisor

Chris Dondero moved to Carson City in 1988, where he graduated from Carson High School in 1995. He was a Wildland firefighter for 6 years for the Bureau of Land Management where he got to travel all over the United States; this also helped him pay for his education at the University of Nevada. He graduated from UNR in 2001 with a B/A in Journalism – Advertising and a Minor in photography. He has lived in Reno for 11 years and enjoys the outdoors, music, photography,his dog, his truck, playing basketball, traveling and hanging out.

He has worked at the Northern Nevada Business Weekly for the last 3 1/2 years as an advertising executive and as Special Projects Supervisor. He has also been involved with Nevada Home magazine, which was launched in January 2006.

Jennifer Evers, Account Executive

Jenny was born in Los Angeles but soon moved north and grew up in the very different northern California environment of the San Francisco Bay Area. She missed the SoCal sunny weather and beaches so much that she returned to the congestion and attended Point Loma University in San Diego where she managed to tear herself from the beaches long enough to achieve a B.A. in Health Ecology/Biology. After college she spent several years using her education by working in the health and education fields before coming to NNBW.

When she isn't working she spends time with her four children and her sexy dog Diego. In her "spare time", she enjoys the many outdoor activities that the area has to offer, including, jet skiing and snow skiing. Of course with four kids she has developed a love or at least a like of cooking. She is also very active in the Reno/Sparks community by volunteering her time to various organizations. Additionally she is currently in the processing of finishing her Masters degree when she is up between the hours of midnight and 4am.

Patrick Flanagan, Internet Projects Coordinator

Patrick Flanagan has been a life long resident of Northern Nevada, and is also a recent graduate from the University of Nevada with a degree in Marketing. Prior to NNBW, Patrick worked for companies such as Harrah's Entertainment, Weidinger Public Relations and Rachel Ray. He is now splitting his time between the Internet Operations of NNBW and Swift Communications.

Tim McGrath, Marketing Specialist - Orange Book

Tim was born and raised in Reno and spent most of his summers in Oregon, Washington, and Southern California. He graduated from Galena High School in 1995. He then moved to Palm Springs, CA to attend the College of the Desert. After about a year in Palm Springs he felt the mountains and snow of the high desert drawing him back to Reno. He repeated this pattern over and over while working as a Store Manager for Sam Goody music stores. Tim lived in Fresno, Bakersfield, and Stockton, CA. He even lived in Connecticut for a year. Each time arriving back in Reno with more appreciation for what Northern Nevada has to offer. He has been living in Sparks for the past five years and enjoys the outdoors, music, movies, golf, basketball and making people laugh.

Tim is a Marketing Specialist for The Orange Book. He chose to work for NNBW because of the positive work environment and their strong ties to the community.