Wisconsin
Honorees
2008
Mike Anderson
News veteran Mike Anderson has been a reporter and news anchor since 1981. Currently, WISN-TV’s weekday anchor, Mike has interviewed countless officials and newsmakers along the way, including four U.S. Presidents: Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. During his tenure at WISN, he has been the recipient of many honors. His award-winning documentaries “Children in the Line of Fire” and “Solutions to Violence” were recognized by the Milwaukee Press Club and the National Association of Black Journalists. Mike has been honored with the MPS Volunteer Award for Community and Cooperative Involvement in Milwaukee Public Schools, the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Award for Excellence, Career Youth Development Image Award in Community Service, Outstanding Role Model Award, and Friend of the Hispanic Community Award. He most recently served as co-host of the 12 News special “On Assignment: Turning Back the Tipping Point.” Prior to joining WISN 12 News, Mike worked as a news anchor and reporter at KIROTV in Seattle. He began his professional career as a radio journalist, crossing into television news while working in Birmingham, Alabama. Raised in New Orleans, Mike attended Louisiana State University and the Career Academy School of Broadcast Journalism. He is currently a member of the Wisconsin Black Media Association. Mike lives in Brown Deer and has three children: Nicole, Mellenese and Michael. When not reporting the news, Mike is also a professional recording artist.
Vince Condella
Vince Condella Vince Condella, a fixture on Milwaukee television news for more than three decades, retired from Fox network affiliate WITI-TV (Channel 6) in 2016. Condella was with WITI since 1982 and was chief meteorologist since 1983. Fox 6 president and general manager Chuck Steinmetz called Condella “one of — if not the — best and most trusted television meteorologists in the country.” The station celebrated Condella’s career at WITI with special events in May 2016. Those included appearances on the station by undisclosed celebrities. On May 5, 2016, WITI and the House of Harley hosted a farewell party for Vince at the dealership in Greenfield. “I am fortunate to be working for this TV station for over three decades,” Condella said in a press release. “They have always given me the freedom to share with our viewers my interests in astronomy, nature and other scientific topics and encouraged me to take my on-air presentations beyond daily weather.” Condella’s charitable and community efforts included “Condella’s Coats for Kids” and the Make-A-Wish fundraiser “Walk for Wishes.” Condella also worked on behalf of local humane societies, holiday toy drives and food collections.
Jill Geisler
Jill Geisler loved leading a newsroom; now she helps other journalists master that responsibility. She heads the Leadership and Management Group of the Poynter Institute, the country’s pre-eminent, non-profit school dedicated to the improvement of journalism. She is responsible for the Institute’s seminars for print, broadcast and online managers. At the Institute and in newsrooms and workshops from New York to New Zealand, she’s helped thousands of managers with teaching and coaching distinguished by humanity, humor and a passion for quality journalism. Jill lives in Milwaukee and commutes to Poynter in St. Petersburg, Florida. She joined Poynter’s small and special faculty in 1998, after a 26-year career in broadcast news and several walls full of journalism honors. She was the country’s first female news director of a major market network affiliate, and built an award-winning newsroom culture at WITI in Milwaukee. Hers was a teaching newsroom, where coaching and collaboration were as important as ethics and enterprise; where fun and families mattered, too. Jill holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s degree in Leadership and Liberal Studies from Duquesne University. She had written countless articles on leadership and management, produces “SuperVision” - a popular video blog on leadership for Poynter.org and is the author of the book, News Leadership – at the Head of the Class published by the Radio-TV News Directors Association. She is married to her best friend Neil Jaehnert and is always only an instant message away from her college student sons Noah and MacNeil.
Mike Jacobs
WTMJ’s Mike Jacobs is the longest serving TV news anchor in Milwaukee. In 1977, he began as a weekend anchor and reporter and currently coanchors weekday 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. The Milwaukee Press Club named Mike “Television Journalist of the Year” in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and his investigative series “Who’s Behind the Wheel” earned the prestigious Peabody Award. He has also won two Chicago/Midwest Emmy® Awards and numerous state and regional journalism awards. Mike jokes that he has been delivering the news since he was 12 years old, when as a 6th grader, he began delivering newspapers (The Des Moines Register). He credits reading the paper in his dad’s chair after his route every morning with sparking his early interest in news. Mike started college on a football scholarship at the University of Dubuque, but transferred to Drake University in Des Moines where, as a senior, he worked as a cameraman with WHO-TV. That led to his first full-time reporting job following graduation. He left WHO-TV to take a news anchor job in Rockford, Illinois, before joining TODAY’s TMJ4. Mike and his wife, Linda, have two grown children: daughter Kelly and a son Matt. Despite his success on the high school and college gridiron, Mike has taken on another sport, serving as a U.S. Soccer Federation State Referee spending many weekends officiating high level soccer games in the Milwaukee area and throughout the Midwest.
Dan Jones
Dan Jones is a Milwaukee native who has spent the last 25 years reporting the news and producing programs about the community he loves dearly. A graduate of St. Sebastian Grade School, Marquette University High School, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Dan grew up in a close family of thirteen. Dan helped pay his way through school by working as everything from newspaper carrier to stadium concession vendor, from factory worker to bar tender. Following college graduation, Dan worked as a videographer and reporter for WXOW in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Next, moving to WBAY in Green Bay, where he worked as a reporter. In 1984, Dan came back to Milwaukee to work as a reporter and anchor at WITI. His coverage of the Jeffrey Dahmer case prompted one critic to call him “the local media’s most valuable player.” In 1995 Dan moved to Milwaukee Public Television, where he remains today. His first project for Milwaukee Public Television was a documentary called Milwaukee’s Lisbon Avenue Neighborhood. The program earned a Chicago/Midwest Emmy® Award for Documentary of Current Significance. He went on to produce a number of other documentaries including Brady Street, Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward, Riverwest, Forest Home Cemetery, Inside The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and A Day in the Life of Milwaukee. Dan also produces and moderates a weekly current affairs roundtable program called Interchange. In addition, Dan has written hundreds of scripts for Tracks Ahead, a program produced by Milwaukee Public TV and broadcast internationally. Dan and his wife, Shelly, have a daughter, Jessica.