Editorial artist Ted Crow illustrated this biographical section. A member of the PG Benchmarks team since the project began in 1996, Crow is responsible, among other things, for the project’s signature pyramid logo. He joined the Post-Gazette in 1993 after working previously for The Pittsburgh Press, Birmingham Post-Herald and New Philadelphia (Ohio) Times-Reporter. Crow also draws the Crowquill cartoons appearing on the Saturday Sports Viewpoints page. Crow’s work has received many honors including a 1994 national award from the Society of Newspaper Design for a feature illustration.

Dan Fitzpatrick joined the Post-Gazette in March of last year after working previously for the Pittsburgh Business Times as well as publications in Missouri and Kansas. At the Post-Gazette, Fitzpatrick covers commercial real estate, development, and print media, as well as being the primary writer for PG Benchmarks. He has won awards from the Associated Press, the Kansas Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation.

Lake Fong took the photographic portraits for today’s Round Table Discussion. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Fong came to the United States in 1994 and attended the graduate program of Visual Communication at Ohio University. After graduating in 1996, Fong became a full-time staff photographer at the Post-Gazette, following an internship in 1996. He has won numerous photography awards including, last year, runner-up Photographer of the Year, from the Pennsylvania Photographers Association and third place in the Photographer of the Year competition from the Greater Pittsburgh Photographers Association.

Douglas Heuck conceived and edits PG Benchmarks. For most of his 14-years as a Pittsburgh journalist, Heuck has been an investigative reporter, joining the Post-Gazette in 1993 after eight years at The Pittsburgh Press. Heuck has penned 12 series, including one in which he lived on the streets with Pittsburgh’s homeless population. Other series focused on such issues as AIDS, conditions in Pittsburgh’s housing projects, children in city schools, the life of Jonas Salk, and PG Benchmarks. He has placed first in three national journalism competitions and has twice won the G. Richard Dew Award for public service, the highest honor given by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association. He has also won three Keystone Distinguished Writing Awards, given annually for the best newspaper writing in Pennsylvania. Heuck is a graduate of Kenyon College.

James Hilston has been responsible for redesigning the graphics of PG Benchmarks in the past year and produced the graphics for this section. He joined the Post-Gazette last year after working at The Vindicator in Youngstown, Ohio. He has BFA and Associate in Arts degrees from Youngstown State University. He also studied mechanical engineering for three years at the General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan. As an adjunct faculty member at Youngstown State, he has taught informational graphics and web publishing & design.

Daniel Marsula has been a staff artist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette since1990, after working 14 years at The Pittsburgh Press. During his time at the Post-Gazette, Marsula has received numerous illustration awards. Among those he has received for his illustrations are: National Headliners (first place) Keystone Press Awards (first place) and Awards of Excellence from the Society for News Design.

Steve Massey was on the team that helped launch PG Benchmarks in 1996. A member of the Business staff, Massey wrote the recent series "Anatomy of a Bankruptcy" about Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation. He also authored the widely acclaimed "Who Killed Westinghouse?" series in 1998 that chronicled the disappearance of the giant corporation from Pittsburgh. He writes about airlines, economics and development for the Post-Gazette, as well as the Sunday Biz Bytes column. Massey joined the Post-Gazette in 1990 after working for The San Francisco Chronicle, the Louisville Courier-Journal and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. A Louisville native, Massey graduated from the University of Kentucky.

A frequent contributor to PG Benchmarks, Michael Newman came to the Post-Gazette in 1990 from Washington, D.C., where he worked for The New Republic magazine. At the Post-Gazette, he has been an editor and writer for the editorial page and has worked as a general assignment reporter. He now covers technology and writes a weekly column for the Interact page in the Sunday Business section.

Gary Rotstein writes about various topics for the Post-Gazette Issues team, including recent in-depth reports on Western Pennsylvania’s aging population and the experiences of infertile couples. He first joined the newspaper in 1983 as a Harrisburg correspondent, and has worked since then as an assistant city editor and as a staff writer covering higher education and city neighborhoods. He was previously managing editor of the Bedford (Pa.) Gazette and a reporter for United Press International.

Christopher Snowbeck has been a medical writer at the Post-Gazette since he joined the newspaper in 1997. He covers men’s health, consumer issues and health care policy. Snowbeck has been part of the team that has covered the bankruptcy of the Allegheny Health and Education Research Foundation and was a contributing reporter to the recent series "Anatomy of a Bankruptcy." He has also written about boxing.