2024 Chicago Silver Circle Program Book

2024 CHICAGO

Friday, May 3, 2024

Hosted by Hosea Sanders & Roz Varon 2022 & 2023 Silver Circle Honorees

Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel

163 East Walton Place, Chicago - The Crystal Ballroom

5:30 pm Cocktails

6:30 pm

Dinner

Scholarship Presentation and High School Student TV Awards

Order of Presentation: Steven Novak

Presented by Dean Richards

Diana Maldonado

Presented by Ilia Calderón

Mark Suppelsa

Presented by Ava and Matt Suppelsa

Posthumous Honorees:

Bob Kennedy accepted by Bev Kennedy (widow)

Frank Reynolds accepted by Tom and Rob Reynolds (sons)

Dean Reynolds

Presented by Sean Reynolds

Cindy Patrasso

Presented by Val Warner and Ryan Chiaverini

John M. Quiñones

Presented by Robert Jordan

7:45 pm

Silver Circle Presentation

2024 CHICAGO

Friday, May 3, 2024

Hosted by Hosea Sanders & Roz Varon

Roz Varon and Hosea Sanders spent more than two decades working together as part of the ever-popular ABC7 Morning News team.

As Traffic/Transportation Anchor, Roz was the first in the country to bring rush hour traffic reporting to TV morning news when she joined ABC7 News in April 1989. She not only updated Chicagoland commuters on snarls and travel times, but also provided extensive coverage of the transportation beat. She retired from ABC7 earlier this year.

Roz has won multiple Chicago/Midwest Emmy® Awards in traffic reporting, specialty programming, spot news and features. She has been honored with several Peter Lisagor Awards, including one for her "Weekender" series, a weekly roundup of metro Chicago events. The Girl Scouts recognized her as a role model with their "Girls Scouts of the USA Thanks Badge." Additionally, Roz won the Illinois Broadcasters Association's Silver Dome Award for her breast cancer special, Faces of Inspiration.

As a breast cancer survivor, Roz works diligently to help heighten cancer prevention and awareness. An animal lover, she volunteers much of her time to the Anti-Cruelty Society and PAWS Chicago. She also is on the board of Equal Hope. Its mission is to save women’s lives by eliminating health disparities in Illinois.

Hosea Sanders is an 18-time Chicago/Midwest Emmy® Award-winning broadcast journalist who serves as entertainment reporter and anchor at ABC7 Chicago. He provides entertainment coverage for WLS-TV and other ABC owned-and-operated stations across the country. Additionally, Hosea presents the “Chicago Proud” series of stories which gives voice to everyday Chicago-area heroes. He spotlights the differently-abled community in a series called “Celebrating Abilities.”

On the programming side, Hosea hosts ABC7’s local Emmy® Award-winning series, Our Chicago: Black Voices of Change (formerly Heart & Soul), which showcases Chicago’s vibrant African American community. He helps host one of the highest-rated local shows in Chicago, the award-winning New Year’s Eve special, Countdown Chicago, as well as ABC7’s Bud Billiken Parade, the largest African-American parade in the nation. He is also a co-host of the nationally-syndicated Magnificent Mile Lights Festival, produced by ABC7 and the Walt Disney Company. In addition, he is one of the faces of ABC7’s hugely-successful annual televised blood drive with the American Red Cross.

Roz was inducted into the Silver Circle in 2022, and Hosea was inducted last year. We thank both for returning to host this year’s prestigious event.

The SILVER CIRCLE AWARD was established by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to recognize outstanding individuals who have devoted 25 years or more to the television industry and have made significant contributions to local television. Nominations are accepted year-round.

For nomination forms, go to: chicagoemmyonline.org/silver-circle

OUR THANKS TO ALL WHO CONTRIBUTED TO PRODUCING HONOREES’ CAREER VIDEOS

BOB KENNEDY

At age five, Bob Kennedy tried to figure out how he could be on the radio. “Could he crawl inside it?” he asked. Maybe! Long before television, he knew where he was going. Years later in an interview, he said, “That moment was a direct line to my career. I never wavered.”

In 1955, he earned a degree in radio and television from Fordham University. That same year, NBC Radio premiered its news magazine series: Monitor. It was Bob’s kind of show, but he needed to find a way to get in the door. With a fake NBC envelope tucked under his arm, he simply walked by the guards at 30 Rock to get an interview. It payed off. During his service in the U.S. Air Force, Bob filed many stories for Monitor from wherever he was stationed. In Houston, he also worked as a television news anchor at KTRK. His commanding officer once asked Lt. Kennedy why his face was so familiar. Bob merely shrugged.

As a civilian, Bob joined the Capital Cities station in Albany, New York, WROW, where he did it all: anchoring news and fronting commercials. That was where he met and married Bev Bianco, head of the production department.

Next stop: WBZ Boston where he hosted two highly-rated TV and radio talk shows a day—and the annual National Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. Bob’s younger brother had succumbed to the disease. For the rest of his life, Bob labored tirelessly for MDA.

At Chicago’s ABC 7 in the early 1970s, Bob had another challenging schedule. He hosted Kennedy & Co. in the morning and Kennedy at Night at midnight, along with dozens of television/radio commercials and a college quiz show.

Bob died in 1974 as he was about to move to New York to anchor AM America, ABC Television Network’s new morning show. The Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences posthumously recognized him with its highest honor – The Governors’ Award.

Bob is survived by his widow, Bev (a former member of the Chicago and National NATAS boards and two-time Emmy® Award winner), his daughters Liz, a clinical psychologist, and Suzanne (three-time Emmy®-Award-winner in D.C.), and five grandchildren.

DIANA MALDONADO

Diana Maldonado is a broadcast and content executive who specializes in multi-platform strategic planning, coaching, content development and driving innovation in media. She has devoted more than 25 years to the television industry, most recently as vice president of news for WSNS Telemundo Chicago. For 10 years, Diana served as News Director for the Spanish-language station and during her time there she helped increase hours of local news coverage, expand the size of the staff, and diligently coach the station’s award-winning journalism team.

Diana implemented competitive strategies for breaking news and special coverage. Her dedication and vision over the years was key in successfully transitioning to a multi-platform content-producing model. In 2015, for the first time in the station’s history, Telemundo Chicago reached the #1 spot in Spanish language news. Since then, she and the news team continued to perform at the highest levels in the Chicago market regardless of language.

Prior to returning to local news, Diana was an Executive Producer at the national level with the Telemundo Network in Florida. During that 8-year run, she produced live news, breaking news, election coverage and specials. She was instrumental in producing coverage for impactful events including the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Iraq war, Pope John Paul II’s 25th anniversary and the 100th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Greece.

Diana is a 14-time Chicago/Midwest Emmy®-Award-winning producer and her most treasured work is telling stories of people’s lives. She will never forget these impactful stories and the lasting emotions they have evoked.

Beginning her career in her hometown, Diana’s first break in broadcast news was an internship at WGBO Univision Chicago. Her demonstrated passion for the craft, her potential and hard work landed her a full-time job before her internship ended. She was later promoted to show producer.

Born and raised in Chicago, Diana is fluent in English and Spanish and has served others through various projects in underprivileged areas. She is currently a board member for The Puerto Rican Arts Alliance as well as treasurer and board member of Mission of the Valley Church. Diana is a former board member of Girls in the Game and also served on the NBCU Local Diversity and Inclusion Council, where she was the Chair of the News Content & Context Committee.

STEVEN NOVAK

Steven Novak’s career began in 1976 at WGN Radio as a radio logger -- one who listened to on-air broadcasts and logged whether or not commercials ran correctly. The following year, he moved to the TV Film Department where he managed a library of 2,500 films for air and scheduled episodic shows. Steve was promoted to Assistant Director in the Production Department in 1979 where he worked on various news programs and floor directed shows including Donahue, Bozo and At the Movies.

From 1984-1993, Steve worked at Telemation Productions, a video production company where he wrote, produced and directed corporate videos, live programming and commercials including more than 200 Empire Carpet spots with the iconic Lynn Hauldren, the Empire Carpet Man and recent posthumous Silver Circle honoree. After working on a 27-part series on a math textbook, he calculated that it was time to go back to broadcast television.

Since 1993, he has been a Producer/Director at WGN, working on virtually every show the station has aired including newscasts, Bozo, Cubs, Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks and Arena Football games. Steve has produced and/or directed more than 30 years of MDA Telethons including producing national segments. He spent 14 years working on the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival telecasts, produced and/or directed the Columbus Day and St. Patrick’s Day parades, Evening of Stars specials, as well as Easter Seals Telethons. Steve also worked on Family Classics, Man of the People and wrote/ directed/produced WGN’s 60th and 70th anniversary specials.

In 2020, Steve spent time as part of the team that launched NewsNation, Nexstar’s 24 hour cable news channel. He directed the very first hour of that endeavor. Most recently, Steve has been working on the lifestyle show Daytime Chicago, helping get it off the ground.

In addition to this Silver Circle induction, he recently earned the Governors’ Award from the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for his professional excellence in television and his devoted service to the chapter. His contributions include several years as president and vice president of the Chicago/Midwest Chapter’s Board of Governors, four terms as a national trustee, and membership on the NATAS Chicago Foundation board, which oversees scholarship giving. Steve and Ione have been married 33 years and have two sons, Jeremy (29) and Alex (27).

CINDY PATRASSO

Cindy Patrasso is a 5-time Chicago/Midwest Emmy®-Award-winning broadcast television veteran and former Supervising Producer for ABC 7 Chicago’s popular morning television program, Windy City LIVE. Cindy was part of the team responsible for its successful launch and growth as Chicago’s #1 morning television show. Her extensive background in producing daytime television talk began in her early career, as Creative Marketing Director for the ground-breaking, nationally syndicated DONAHUE program.

Her storied career included 10 years in sports television, as VP/Executive Producer for INTERSPORT Television, where she supervised the development and production of live events for ESPN, ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX Sports. Cindy is responsible for the exclusive footage capturing the attack of famed Olympic figure skater, Nancy Kerrigan, which spawned the 1994 NBC Network Primetime Special, Shattered Glory: The Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Story. She served as Executive Producer for the special, the story-behind-the-story, of the days surrounding her INTERSPORT team being the only camera crew on the scene when the attack occurred. The international flurry of interest in the bizarre and historic figure skating rivalry gave rise to the skate-off between Nancy and Tonya becoming the highest rated Olympic moment in history.

Cindy got her start at WGN-TV, where she served as the station’s Promotion Manager. She counts herself lucky that the shows and projects with which she was associated, over the years, gave her the opportunity to work at every station in Chicago, growing great friendships along the way. Her time as a broadcasting executive included her role as President of the Orbis Broadcast Group and Vice President of Programming and Production for Dillon Smith Communications.

Cindy’s work with journalist Ken Wooden, founder of “Child Lures Prevention,” when she served as Midwest Representative for the effort to protect children from predator abduction and the implementation of its Illinois schools program and the NBC 5’s regional Emmy®-Award-winning town hall event, was one of her proudest associations. So was her leadership role in fundraising events for the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation and the DEA’s “Lives Lost to Drugs” travel museum.

A native Chicagoan, Cindy is currently President of CP and CO, a production and consulting firm, providing media, messaging, marketing and event strategy; operations and liaison services, where her extensive experience is valued.

JOHN M. QUIÑONES

ABC News correspondent John Quiñones reports for 20/20, Nightline and Good Morning America. In the 1980s, he spent nearly a decade in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, reporting for World News Tonight. And during John’s 40-year tenure at ABC News, he has reported for all programs and platforms and served as anchor of Primetime and What Would You Do? Recently, John has been on the frontlines of ABC News’ Uvalde: 365 series, reporting from Texas on the aftermath of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary.

For 20/20, he reported extensively on Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen, who was brutally murdered and sparked a #MeToo movement in the military. Following his reporting, the U.S. military made major changes in how they handle sexual harassment cases and Congress passed the “I Am Vanessa Guillen” bill.

Covering the 2010 Chilean miners’ disaster, John was the first journalist out of thousands to get an exclusive interview with the first survivor, Mario Sepulveda. His other work included undercover hidden camera reports revealing how clinics performed unnecessary surgical procedures as part of a nationwide insurance scam; following a group of would-be Mexican immigrants as they attempted to cross into the U.S. via the treacherous route known as “The Devil’s Highway;” and traveling to Israel for a CINE-Award-winning report about suicide bombers.

In 1999, John anchored Latin Beat, a critically acclaimed ABC News special which earned him an ALMA Award from the National Council of La Raza. He also contributed reports to ABC’ News unprecedented 24-hour, live, global The New Millennium broadcast, which won the George Foster Peabody Award. John won a Gabriel Award and several national Emmy® Awards, including one for his work on the ABC documentary Burning Questions—The Poisoning of America

His many recognitions include: Lifetime Achievement Award from MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund), Society of Professional Journalists’ “Fellow of the Society,” National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ President’s Award for Journalism, RTDNA’s John F. Hogan Award for national and international reporting; and First Prize in International Reporting and Robert F. Kennedy Prize for his piece, Modern Slavery — Children Sugar Cane Cutters in the Dominican Republic

John received a Bachelor of Arts in speech communications from St. Mary’s University (Texas) and a Master’s Degree from the Columbia School of Journalism (New York). Right out of college, he landed a job as a reporter at WBBM-TV in Chicago where he won two local Emmy® Awards during a three-year stint before joining ABC News in 1982.

John is the proud father of two sons and one daughter, all of whom work in media: Julian is a producer of climate stories at CNN, Nicco is a filmmaker and director with “Quiñones Productions” in Miami, and Andrea is an associate producer at MTV in New York.

DEAN REYNOLDS

Dean Reynolds was born Aug. 17, 1948 in East Chicago, Indiana. He grew up in Munster, Indiana, the oldest of five boys. Dean graduated from Walter Johnson H.S. in Bethesda, Maryland, after his family moved to the Washington D.C. area when his father, Frank Reynolds, became White House correspondent for ABC News.

Dean graduated from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indian before moving back to the D.C. area to join United Press International as a copy boy in 1971. He worked for UPI for 11 years, reporting on the assassination attempts on Gov. George Wallace in 1972 and President Ronald Reagan in 1981 (while his dad, Frank, was anchoring ABC’s coverage). By then, Dean had become the UPI White House correspondent.

In 1982, Dean was hired as CNN’s White House correspondent. Two years later, he joined the ABC News Washington bureau and, in 1985, accepted a position as foreign correspondent based in London. Dean was sent to Moscow as a vacation relief correspondent when the nuclear accident at Chernobyl occurred. His reporting on that disaster led to his posting in Israel, where Dean covered the Palestinian uprising, the first Gulf War, the mass immigration of Russian Jews to Israel, the trial of accused war criminal John Demjanjuk and much more. He spent nearly nine years in the Middle East, but also covered stories in Asia and Africa.

Dean married Israeli native Yael Cohen in 1992 and their first child, Danny, was born the next year. In 1995, Dean returned to the United States, settling in Dallas as a National Correspondent for ABC News. Two more children were born in Dallas, Sean and Erin. It was from Dallas that Dean covered the Oklahoma City bombing as well as the trial and execution of bomber Timothy McVeigh.

In 1998, Dean and his family moved to Highland Park, Illinois, where his last child, Maya, was born. During his time with the ABC News Chicago Bureau, he covered the Bush and Kerry presidential campaigns.

In 2007, Dean left ABC for CBS News and, working out of its Chicago Bureau, covered the presidential campaign of a long shot named Barack Obama. Countless stories about big snowfalls, hot summers, the price of gas and a bevy of features followed. In 2020, Dean joined Chicago-based NewsNation as chief political correspondent for the 2020 race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Dean retired in 2021, 50 years after his first job as a copy boy at UPI.

FRANK REYNOLDS

Frank Reynolds was born Nov. 29, 1923 to Helen and Frank Reynolds in East Chicago, Indiana. He had three sisters. A star quarterback for what was then Catholic Central in Hammond, Frank graduated with honors and enrolled at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

His college career was short-lived when, at the age of 19, he was drafted to serve in World War II. Within a year, he was in England, preparing to follow the first wave of American soldiers who landed at Normandy. By then he was in General George Patton's Third Army Group which fought in France, Belgium and Germany. Frank fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was wounded in the leg by Nazi gunfire in the town of Kassel, Germany for which he received the Purple Heart Medal.

After the war, Frank married a high school classmate, Henrietta Harpster. The couple had five children, all boys: Dean, James, John, Robert and Thomas. James passed away in 2008.

Frank began his broadcast career at WJOB in Hammond, broadcasting sports, news and anything else he was asked to cover. He worked briefly for WIND in Chicago before making the transition to television at what was then WBKB, later WLS. After a few years at WBKB, Frank left to join WBBM and to anchor various broadcasts, as well as report for the CBS Evening News with Douglas Edwards.

In the early 1960s, he returned to Channel 7 as an anchor. He caught the attention of ABC News in New York which, in 1965, offered him the job of White House correspondent during Lyndon Johnson's presidency. Within a couple of years, Frank was in New York anchoring the ABC Evening News, having inherited that job from Peter Jennings.

He left the anchor chair in 1971 to cover national politics, including the 1972 George McGovern campaign and Ronald Reagan’s 1976 primary challenge to President Gerald Ford. Two years later, Frank was back in the anchor chair as the primary anchor, along with Peter Jennings and Max Robinson, for a revamped World News Tonight

Frank often referred to his career as "Lazarus-like" because of how many times he rose from career death. Tragically he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1978. He lived and worked five more years at the anchor desk, most memorably covering the assassination attempt on President Reagan in March of 1981. Frank Reynolds passed away July 20, 1983 at the age of 59.

MARK SUPPELSA

Recruited by NBC 5 back to the metro where he was raised, Mark Suppelsa began his career in Chicago television and radio in 1993. He moved from weekend anchor/reporter to weekday early evening anchor/reporter in his 10 years there. In 2003, he jumped at the chance to become lead co-anchor at Fox 32 where he continued reporting as well. Mark created dozens of investigative and hard news pieces that became his calling card: an anchor who reported.

By 2008, WGN-TV enticed Mark to join its team as main co-anchor and the promise of reviving the WGN Investigates unit. He spent his final 10 years doing both, capping off his career which garnered nearly a dozen Chicago/Midwest Emmy® Awards for investigative reporting. WGN Investigates continues this legacy today.

Over his 25 years in Chicago, several of Mark’s investigative reports had serious impact. Mark’s stories on banks, law firms and accounting companies tossing clients’ private documents into open dumpsters led to changes in company policy on discarding sensitive information. His interviews exposed cracks in the vaunted ‘Chicago Way of Politics at City Hall’. This included one with a Daley administration lawyer named Lori Lightfoot. Another explosive one featured a City-Hall-connected landlord and Daley donor who had a fatal fire in one of his lucrative rental buildings.

At WGN, Mark broke the story of a north suburban cop who committed suicide over embezzlement, but tried setting it up as an unexplained murder. Perhaps his most prized investigation was “The Pension Games” series. He and investigative producer, Marsha Bartel, exposed union leaders tight with City Hall, illegally drawing multiple lucrative pensions off the backs of taxpayers. The Chicago/Midwest Emmy® it was awarded remains the one statuette Mark has kept in retirement.

His anchor duties were vast, including the coverage of national political conventions including the 1996 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Mark also hosted coverage of landmark sports events including the Bears Super Bowl, the Olympics, the 1990s’ Bulls dynasty and the championship runs of the Cubs, White Sox and Blackhawks. In addition to his television duties, Mark could also be heard as a regular on the #1 rated Eric & Kathy Show on 101.9-FM and on 720WGN.

His first full-time TV news position out of Marquette University was at Green Bay’s WFRV. He also spent 7 years in St. Paul. Since retiring in 2017, Mark and his wife Candus live in Montana. They have two adult children, Matt, a lawyer and Ava, a singer/songwriter.

CHICAGO HONOREES

1992 — 2022

CHICAGO HONOREES

1992 — 2022

Thank you to the MMEA (Midwest Media Educators Association) for our long-standing partnership. We value your support. — NATAS Chicago/Midwest Chapter

The Silver Circle ceremony replay will air on WCIU, the U, on Sunday, May 19 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m Don’t Forget!

Congratulations MARK SUPPELSA!

Your smarts, keen insights, and ethical and compassionate approach to your reporting should be the standard for all journalists.

A well-deserved honor for a great guy!

To a flawless anchor, incredible investigator and mentor who had such a huge impact on my life and career.

HUGE Congratulations, MARK SUPPELSA!!!

With love, Julia Fello

MARK SUPPELSA: friend, neighbor, husband, father, newsman. You are without a doubt a positive force in this crazy world. Congratulations on receiving the highest of professional recognition: that of your peers!

MARK SUPPELSA

Congrats on a great run! Enjoy your retirement!

Kim & Coach

MARK SUPPELSA

A big congrats to Mark Suppelsa...on your very special Silver Circle induction!

Love, Rhonda and Blythe Chesney