Steve Kornacki, LCAM

I have spent more than 30 years editing, writing and reporting for newspapers such as the Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel and Detroit Free Press. My three years as an assistant sports editor in Tampa allowed me the opportunity to hone management skills while organizing a team of five full-time and several part-time and freelance reporters in coverage of the Tampa Bay Bucs (including their Super Bowl championship season), Tampa Bay Lightning and NASCAR. We expanded and improved our coverage under my leadership, winning numerous newspaper sports section awards and becoming the official newspaper of the Daytona 500.

My years as a reporter took me down many interesting paths, and I was able to sit down and talk with Muhammad Ali, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Derek Jeter, Sparky Anderson, Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Steve Yzerman, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Dale Earnhardt, Joe Montana, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden, Steve Spurrier, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and many other very special sports personalities. I was able to meet or hear speeches in person by every President beginning with Gerald Ford, and had a story on the University of Michigan's 1989 NCAA basketball championship chosen for posting in the Library of Congress by Sen. Carl Levin.

Covering Major League Baseball required being my own travel agent (250 consecutive Detroit Tigers road games covered at one point) and editor. Long days and pin-point organization and multi-tasking were daily requirements. I won both national and state reporting, writing and column writing awards, and also was fortunate to serve as the Detroit correspondent for Sports Illustrated.

While writing features for the Tribune for five years, I covered a wide variety of topics in Tampa Bay and became good friends with many leaders in the business community such as Dade City banker Hjalma Johnson, Largo attorney Jonathan Damonte, Clearwater investor Steve McConihay, Tarpon Springs artist Christopher Still, Bay News 9 meteorologist Alan Winfield and the New Port Richey real estate team of Allen Crumbley and Dewey Mitchell. 

I look forward to bringing my contacts, strong communication skills, determination and organization to your communities. My goal is to make the place you live the best it can be, while also working with colleagues to assure that your associations become more cost effective.

Schembechler -- the late, great University of Michigan football coach -- impressed upon me something that I stressed to the high school baseball players I once coached and the writers I supervised as an editor. Bo liked to say, "It's the team, the team, THE TEAM!" It's all about sacrificing for the common good and being a great teammate or neighbor. That's what makes for the best and most successful endeavors.