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AOL Autos Editors & Correspondents
Phil Berg, Editor-at-Large
Phil Berg is a freelance journalist who has spent more than 28 years covering the auto world for many publications. His automotive articles have appeared in the U.S. in Popular… Science, Maxim, Parade, Automotive News, Motor Trend, Sports Car International, The New York Times, Road & Track, and Corvette Quarterly as well as many newspapers and top websites. He served as a senior editor at Car and Driver for 10 years and eight years at AutoWeek. Despite having to list his profession as "automotive industry analyst" to get a Libyan visa while covering the Paris-Dakar rally, he considers himself a full-time journalist covering the world of autos.
Reilly Brennan, Editor-in-Chief
Reilly Brennan is the Editor in Chief and Programming Director for AOL Autos. An award-winning journalist, Brennan has written for Motor Trend, Automobile… Magazine, Winding Road, Monocle. A Detroit native, his boyhood bedroom window was within earshot of the sonic blur of Woodward Avenue, the automotive artery of the city. Prior to joining AOL, Brennan was the general manager for NextScreen, a media startup in Austin, Texas, where he managed the company's automotive business. Prior to NextScreen he managed corporate communications projects at General Motors, including the group's NASCAR and Le Mans racing efforts. Despite its sales failure, he holds steadfast to his belief that the MKII Volkswagen Golf GTI was a high point in automotive achievement.
Bengt Halvorson, Correspondent
Bengt Halvorson has covered auto-related topics for nearly 15 years. He has worked at Car and Driver, written on staff at the British weekly enthusiast magazine Autocar…, and was an editor at Automobile Magazine. In addition, his work has appeared in a wide range of general-interest, industry, and enthusiast publications and sites. Halvorson is a Michigan native and U of M alum but he's lived on the West Coast for most of this past decade. Areas of expertise include fuel efficiency, auto safety, and the costs of car ownership.
Gary Hoffman, Correspondent
Gary Hoffman has written about the auto industry for most of the last 30 years, primarily specializing in the purchasing and sales processes within dealerships. He has been… editor of a magazine, Chevy PRO, for Chevrolet dealerships and the Ford employee newspaper, Ford World, and has written on automotive subjects for the French news agency, Agence France-Presse, the Detroit News and numerous other publications. Fluent in French and German, he has worked as a translator for major international news organizations, primarily on automotive subjects. He is also an adjunct journalism instructor at Wayne State University in Detroit, teaching investigative reporting, news management and publishing on the Internet.
Craig Howie, Correspondent
Craig Howie's auto writing is published at AOL.com, CNN.com and LATimes.com, and has been featured at ChicagoTribune.com, MiamiHerald.com…, and Newsday.com. Previously, he was vehicles editor at LAsplash.com and production editor of the autos section of the national newspaper of his home country, The Scotsman. A long-time lover of American marques -- and value-packed motoring -- he drives a Jeep Patriot around Long Beach, Calif., but loves kicking up dust in his wife's Chevy Cobalt SS when she's not looking.
William Jeanes, Correspondent
William Jeanes has been a recognized figure in the automotive world for nearly four decades. He was editor-in-chief at Car and Driver and later publisher of that… magazine as well as Road & Track. His writings have appeared in a score of global automotive magazines and in Playboy, American Heritage, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Parade, AARP The Magazine, and Air & Space Smithsonian. His military history writings and book reviews have appeared in a number of scholarly journals. As a participant in the infamous Cannonball, he drove a 37-foot motor home from New York to Redondo Beach, California, in 45 hours and 36 minutes. Today he lives quietly in Ridgeland, Mississippi.
Josh Max, Correspondent
Josh Max is a Manhattan-based journalist who has tested and photographed every manner of 2-and-4-wheeled internal combustion vehicles since 2000. His plain…-speaking New York-flavored "I love it/I hate it" reviews have appeared in the NY Daily News (over 1,000 articles) and his feature stories, hard news and first-person yarns have appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, Salon.com, Forbes.com and other major media. Max is also a performing musician, producer, arranger, singer and songwriter recently signed to a contract for licensing of his original songs with MPL Communications, the music publishing company owned by Sir Paul McCartney. Max is currently writing a book about his Indian ashram adventures titled "Confessions of an ex-seeker." www.JoshMax.com www.JoshMax.com / www.TheMaxes.com
Tara Mello, Correspondent
Tara Baukus Mello is a full-time freelance automotive writer, who has been published regularly since 1987. With over 3,500 published articles, her work has appeared… in such publications as Autoweek, Woman's Day, Parade, Automotive News, Bankrate.com, The New York Times, and cNet.com, among others. She is also the author of ten non-fiction chapter books for children. Originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Tara graduated cum laude from Harvard University. She and her family reside in the Los Angeles area, where she enjoys cruising year-round in the '32 Ford street rod pickup that she built with her father. You can read more about Tara at SheDrives.com.
Diego Rodriguez, Correspondent
Diego Rodriguez is a gearhead to the core. Trained as an engineer, he works at the design and innovation firm IDEO. He is also a professor at Stanford's d.school, where he… teaches classes about technology, business, and entrepreneurship. His blog metacool has a passionate following among people who spend their lives trying to make a dent in the universe. If he's not tooling around Silicon Valley on a bike, you might spy him at the wheel of his first-generation BMW M Coupe, which represents everything he admires in a great car: distinctive aesthetics executed with gusto.
Rex Roy, Editor-at-Large
Rex Roy's career in automotive journalism literally began in the bushes, where as a teen he used to hide with his trusty Konica FS-1 35mm camera in hopes of catching spy… photos of passing prototype cars. His images appeared on the pages of Car and Driver and other publications from the late 1970s through early 1980s. After a significant career in advertising, Roy returned to his journalistic roots in 2004, working with Edmunds Inside Line and other top automotive outlets. Roy currently supplies words and photographs to as many as ten outlets per month, including AOL, The New York Times, The Detroit News, The Chicago Sun Times, and WindingRoad.com.
Michael Royce, Correspondent
Michael Royce is an outspoken consumer advocate and writer. Michael's expertise results from his many years of experience and education as a car salesman in Southern… California where he sold several million dollars worth of cars and trucks and earned numerous dealership honors. Today, Michael is dedicated to helping car buyers become better and smarter consumers. He is the creator and editor of the popular BeatTheCarSalesman.com (LINK) website - and has been interviewed on over 100 radio programs as well as in dozens of national and regional magazines and newspapers.
Terry Shea, Correspondent
Terry Shea has spent most of the last 20 years in the media business, splitting his time between sports media and automotive journalism. He covers all areas of the… automotive world, from new car reviews to racing to vintage automobiles to car shows and industry analysis. Despite his love for classic cars, he is convinced that we are living in a new golden age of the automobile where performance, safety and technology are available to the common man like never before. A life long car "nut," his stories and photographs have been published in dozens of magazines and web sites.
Tom Torbjornsen
Tom Torbjornsen is an automotive expert of 37 years. An automotive journalist in good standing with the IMPA (International Motor Press Association), Torbjornsen… is a major contributor to AOL Autos, Edmunds, CNN, At Home Portals and many other websites, he also writes for several newspapers across the country. Torbjornsen is the auto expert of record for Channel 4 WIVB TV, Western New York's CBS affiliate. Hear his radio show, AMERICA'S CAR SHOW with Tom Torbjornsen, on the Sirius XM Satellite Radio Channel - Stars Too -- Sirius 108 and XM 139; Sunday nights - 10PM -- Mid EST. Send your car questions to his website at: www.americascarshow.com.
Kevin Ransom
Kevin Ransom is a Detroit-area journalist who's been writing about cars and the auto industry for almost 20 years.During that time, Ransom's industry stories and car …reviews have appeared in such publications as Automotive News, Adweek, The Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press special sections, Crain's Detroit Business, Metropolitan Detroit magazine and Heritage Newspapers.Presently, in addition to his work for AOL Autos, he is the Dateline Detroit columnist / auto reviewer for Middle East Car, and his reviews also appear in Total Sport magazine.
Additonally, Ransom has written for many of the carmaker's magazines, including Ford World, Ford Times, Ford Dealer World, Chrysler Quarterly, Chrysler Agenda, GM Encore, GM Today, MBUSA Connect (the Mercedes-Benz dealer magazine) and various magazines / websites produced by GMAC and AC-Delco.
In addition to his auto-industry coverage, Ransom has a "second career" as a music journalist: For nearly 20 years, he's been writing about rock, folk, blues, R&B, country, bluegrass, jazz and other styles for such publications as The Detroit News, Guitar Player, Rolling Stone, AnnArbor.com, the Ann Arbor News, the Dallas Morning News, Musician and Creem.