Deborah L. Cohen, Independent Writer & Editor 

I have worked as a business journalist since receiving a Masters from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in 1996. 

Before choosing to become an independent writer in 2007, I most recently worked as an editor on the national business desk at Reuters in Chicago, where I focused on stories about the automotive, health-care and manufacturing industries. As a fast rewrite editor with a sharp eye for detail, I helped to shape breaking news and features that were read by media and financial clients around the world. When former Canadian publishing mogul Conrad Black was on trial for fraud, seniors editors depended on me to coordinate the coverage from the federal court.

In my prior posts as a correspondent for Reuters, Crain's Chicago Business and Bloomberg News, I covered a wide range of financial news, delivering everything from breaking stories on corporate earnings and product recalls to trend stories, features and profiles of corporations and their top management.

My stories about McDonald's, Cisco Systems and other large public companies appeared regularly in major U.S. and international newspapers.  

My coverage of restaurant and food companies frequently overlapped into the areas of general interest and science, with extensive coverage about consumer health trends, the U.S. obesity crisis and mad cow disease.

A 2008 story I wrote for Indianapolis Monthly about Indy's penchant for chain dining recently won an SPJ award for best lifestyle feature in a magazine. The story was also a 2009 finalist for the National City & Regional Magazine Association awards. In 2003, I was also a finalist for the Chicago Headline Club's Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism.

From 2005 through 2009, I served as an officer and board member of the Chicago Headline Club, the nation's largest chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.