Patch was a 13-year running experiment to save local news. Dennis is proud to have played a transformative role in building, reviving and growing Patch through several incarnations, from its founding as a digital media outlet under Aol and national expansion to its spinout as an independent, bootstrapped company, its growth surge of 2017-2020 and five consecutive profitable years. By no means perfect, Patch nevertheless inspired loyalty in readers and staffers alike.
5 Things To Know About Dennis & Patch
1. Vision & Leadership
As Editor-in-Chief, Dennis was responsible for more than two-thirds of Patch's employees and a sprawling, complex local news operation built virtually from scratch. Over six years, he:
reshaped the leadership team through promotions and hiring, evolving an all-white-male team to one with 65% female leaders and 30% persons of color as local managers
grew the fully remote editorial department from 80 to 150 headcount across 12 local teams
brought aboard four Pulitzer Prize winners to report and advise teammates, winning news awards in nine states
partnered with almost 100 local and national news orgs, including NewsNation, Consumer Reports, US News, CBS Local, Chalkbeat, the Conversation, Cal Matters, Texas Tribune and InDepth NH, as well as several universities and the Institute for Nonprofit News
formed relationships with Feeding America to combat food insecurity and NoBully.org to shed much-needed light on bullying in schools
“An excellent manager and leader based on results, team feedback, and our standards, Dennis is always pushing the business forward both in editorial and non-editorial areas. Dennis has a strong team underneath him. His direct reports in particular make me so proud of Patch. His leadership has brought us the success we've been privileged to have. I'm so grateful to him.”
Charles Hale, chairman
2. Meaningful Local Coverage
Dennis created an environment in which the team could produce its highest quality, most-trusted original community journalism in a decade:
he inspired reporters through the demanding and stressful pandemic of 2020, delivering relevant local news coverage about local businesses, government shutdowns, community masking policies and vaccine availability that drew millions of new readers and subscribers
95% of our editorial team told us their work was “meaningful and important” to them in 2020-21, an all-time best in our annual company surveys
the news team was recognized with professional awards for news reporting in NY, NJ, IL, CA, CT, FL, NH, MD and OH
Patch's news reporting received high marks for credibility and fairness. Patch news alums in recent years have continued their careers at Washington Post, Wall St. Journal, New York Times, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Politico, CNN Digital, Vox Media and other quality news orgs.
Patch partnered with NewsNation starting in 2021
Newsletter sessions grew steadily pre-pandemic — then soared during and after.
3. Audience Growth
Over six years, Patch’s editorial team focused on “owning its audience” and growing loyal newsletter subscribers to supplant search and social traffic. In six years, thanks to content, product and tactical improvements:
grew daily newsletter subscriber base 300%, from 865K in 2016 to 3.5M in 2021
grew monthly return visitors 40% to 11.2M in the same time frame, and unique visitors 30% to more than 30M
increased overall page views by 42%
'It's contagious because it makes me want to be even better in every aspect of journalism'
"Is this real life? I've never met a group of people who come to work with such positive vibes. It's contagious because it makes me want to be even better in every aspect of journalism. I've never worked with a group of people who encourage and root for one another to keep achieving their goals, along with acknowledging the hard work everyone does to continue taking Patch to the next level."
Nikki Gaskins Campbell, roving local editor
4. Talent, Training & Support
Dennis values professional development, coaching and education. To foster this at Patch and professionalize the news operation, he built:
a journalism education portal called the News Academy
a training boot camp for new local editor hires, with a 30/60/90-day evaluation report card and a discerning candidate review method
an education-based internship program with focus on creating future job opportunities for persons of color and a university outreach program
the first Patch style guide and Patch's first copy desk
Watch this internship recruitment video
Irrepressible Patch spirit and service
5. Culture & Values
Dennis had a strong hand in developing the company's can-do culture, spirit and systems, drawing on his 13 years with Patch and six years as the longest serving Editor-in-Chief in the news org's history.
during the pandemic, Dennis brought in experts to counsel staff on journalism trauma, mental health and self care
he prized experimentation, risk taking, new ideas and looking for what the team could learn from every failure
with a fully remote workforce, he built methods to maintain standards and foster recognition, communication and connection
he observed a "no a-holes" rule, striving to maintain a collegial, can-do, how-can-I-help environment; Dennis was a lead voice in drafting the Patch values statement
in 2022, Dennis researched and wrote a DEI roadmap for the company
See what Patch staffers say about the positive culture and supportive attitude Dennis fostered at Patch
Startup Days With Aol
2010 to 2013
Dennis launched the South Chicago region in 2010 in Patch's early startup days under Aol, and by 2012 South Chicago had become one of the country's top business units with the strongest P&L in the Midwest and the second strongest in the nation.
strong public service journalism was a hallmark for the original Patch; one South Chicago staffer was honored with a National Press Freedom Award in 2014 for his 2013 work
the South Chicago region ranked in the top 3 regions (frequently No. 1) out of three dozen teams in every key metric: traffic, engagement, new subscribers, and local bookings
achieved annual run-rate revenue of $130k per local site in 2012
created the nation's largest and most engaged Facebook audience, outpacing much larger teams in California and New Jersey; in 2012, the Facebook fan base numbered more than 205,000 in suburban Chicago, greater than all suburban news publishers combined (105% YoY growth in 2013; 104% in 2012); the Illinois regional Facebook strategy was adopted as a national standard
launched the most highly trafficked and most profitable community site, Joliet IL, in company history, averaging 2.5 million PVs a month
partnered with Sales in 2012 to create Patch's longest-running regional sponsored content initiative, which became the model for others to emulate and by 2015 was averaging 10 times more traffic than similar content deals
waged Patch's most-successful effort to match community members with their business directory listings, securing 2,000 listings in six weeks
Illinois Patch averaged more than 1.5 million weekly unique visitors from 2012 to 2016
received Midwest Regional Editor MVP Award in 2010
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