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Your Community, Your News...Your News Team!
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Bob Heissler – Bob joined the HTTV family in 1985 as the host of a movie review show called "Entertainment Reviews." The show had a good five year run and was well received by the HomeTowne TV audience. Bob has also done numerous TV commercials and print ads. He enjoys working with the news team as well as covering some of the special events that come along during the year; such as the annual Summit Car Show and the ”Man on the Street" interviews. Bob is a longtime resident of Berkeley Heights. He enjoys spending time with his friends, family & hobbies.
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Brian Harkins – Brian joined the news team in 2010, when Fred Honold asked him to give it a try. As a “virtual” worker, no longer commuting to NYC, he decided it was the perfect time to do it. Helping out with HTTV not only gets Brian out of the house, it has been a wonderful opportunity to meet great people in the community and hone some public speaking skills.
Brian is Jersey born and raised. He graduated from Le Moyne College (Syracuse NY) and earned an MBA from New York University's Stern School. His career has been in technology sales with companies like IBM and Cisco. His life in Summit has revolved around keeping up with his wife and kids and an unending but enriching amount of activities and volunteer efforts with the schools, community, sports and parish life at St. Teresa’s. As Brian says, “It’s all good!”
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 | Cheryle McKenzie – Cheryle has been co-anchoring HomeTowne TV news since 2010 and has now begun to assist with editing. She loves her association with HomeTowne and considers it an honor. Personally, Cheryle’s family is all-important to her, from parents down to grandchildren. She enjoys cooking, especially in quantity, reading, and playing bubble games. Cheryle also has a love for ancient history, reggae music, hip hop and classic rock, and most of all, helping people. She doesn’t like spiders.
Deep down, Cheryle thinks she could be a comedian (A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen shaking frantically, almost in a dancing frenzy, with some kind of wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle. Intending to jolt him away from the deadly current, she whacked him with a handy plank of wood, breaking his arm in two places. Up to that moment, he had been happily listening to his Walkman.)
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 | David Ciampichini – David is a lifelong New Jersey resident, having been raised in Verona and Westfield. He is an English Professor who works as a corporate language consultant for the E.S.L. community. David is also a professional artist whose work is internationally known as well as an award-winning community theater actor. This focus on the arts and humanities make David well suited for his anchor duties at HomeTowne TV. In addition to co-anchoring HTTV News, David produces and hosts the popular HomeTowne History segments. |
 | Hill Rose – Hill joined the HomeTowne TV Board in 2008. In addition to his anchor duties, he also volunteers as an editor for shaping up the news program’s raw footage into a final show. Hill has a background in corporate treasury and finance. Currently he is the expert oversight author for a national treasury publication and is a consultant. Hill was a small business owner in Summit for several years, owning and developing the DeBary Inn.
Hill lived in Summit for 25 years and now lives in Cranford since recently remarrying. Hill has two grown children, a son who went through public high school in Summit and a daughter who graduated from Oak Knoll in Summit. Hill enjoys golf (the Summit Muni is a favorite), the gym, and traveling.
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 | Jennifer Forziati-DaCosta – Jennifer joined the HomeTowne News Team in 2012, but has been an active New Jersey resident throughout the Theatre and Arts community for most of her life. While at HomeTowne TV, Jennifer has covered exciting stories such as Girl’s Night Out in Downtown Millburn and Relay for Life in Springfield. She is always thrilled to meet new people in our community and enjoys bringing important stories to our viewers!
In addition to being a News Anchor and Reporter for HomeTowne TV, Jennifer is the Education Associate/Teaching Artist at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn. She teaches acting, dance, and musical theatre to students of all ages for the award winning Paper Mill Theatre School and Summer Conservatory. Jennifer is also a professional actress, choreographer and voice over artist. Jennifer’s voice is featured in numerous radio and television commercials as well as eLearning audiobooks and animations. You can check out her work at Jennifer-ForziatiDacosta.com.
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 | Joe Corea – Joe is a graduate of Seton Hall University where he majored in Market Communications. He has done promotional work for nonprofit organizations such as Breast Cancer Awareness, Safety through Quality of Work Life & Christian Organizations. In addition to being a HTTV News Anchor, Joe can be heard weekly on Radio E. I. E. S. of NJ bringing the printed word to the visually impaired and disabled. During the past several years he has communicated The Wall Street Journal, U.S.A. Today, New York Times Magazine, W o r l d Magazine, Sports News, and The Bible.
Joe is a member of the Education Council of his church. As a youth Joe was immersed in cutting edge communications technology and always says with a smile, "I was born with a tri-corder in my hand." A forward thinker...he has predicted technology trends. He was an early adopter of the smartphone years before they became commonplace. Joe welcomes opportunities to merge his love of communications with technology.
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 | JP Waddell – J.P. Waddell has been a HomeTowne TV news desk and field reporter since 2010. Born and raised in Maplewood, J.P. studied Television & Radio at Ithaca College, and earned his Bachelors in Literature from Rutgers University. Before volunteering with HomeTowne TV, J.P. was an Advertising Account Executive for Prudential Financial in Newark, where he produced dozens of commercials for network television in the US and overseas, and credits producing a spot for Superbowl XLI, seen by 93 million viewers, as one his most exciting career highlights.
J.P. also directed Prudential Real Estate’s national advertising and recently partnered with his brother Tom to launch “The NJ Property Brothers” with Coldwell Banker in Short Hills. Having been behind the camera as a producer, J.P. is having a great time as a reporter connecting with the area’s movers, shakers and the champions of our communities.
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 | Kellee Williams – In her role as anchor and correspondent, Kellee strives to inform, educate and contribute to the community through professionalism and camaraderie, recognizing that knowledge and information inspire our entrepreneurial spirit and lead to our collective success. Kellee continuously seeks out opportunities to engage community members, exploring opportunities to enhance our collective experience.
Kellee has been a dedicated community resident since 1980 and is a devoted wife and the nurturing mother of four young men. One of six children, Kellee and her siblings embrace the example of her parents, actively seeking ways to support the community. Most recently, she served as the CEO and Board President of a local non-profit exclusively serving Summit, New Providence and Berkeley Heights students, residents and merchants.
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 | Lambi Newsham – Lambi began volunteering at HomeTowne TV in 2009; with a degree from Marymount University in Communications, she thought it would be a perfect fit. Prior to HTTV, Lambi had a short stint with ABC News in Washington, D.C., and reported on the Philadelphia stock exchange for WKYW News Radio. But it was HomeTowne TV News that brought her out in front of the camera where she serves not only as anchor of the weekly news program, but as a reporter of local events, including all things thespian.
Her volunteer work with HTTV is only the most recent in a long line of community contributions, including establishing the Christ Child Society of Summit and serving as its president for four years. Lambi lives in Summit with her husband of over 20 years, Neil, and their three children, all attending Summit High School. By the way, Lambi's real name is "Marilyn," but, since she was born on Easter, her family, friends and colleagues have always known her as "Lambi."
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 | Leigh Pafford – Leigh joined HTTV in 2009 as a news anchor and correspondent. Looking at home videos from when she was little, you can see that Leigh was always a ham in front of the camera. While attending Governor Livingston High School she enjoyed being a part of their dramatic plays and musicals. When in college Leigh was honored to be cast as the lead in Antigone for College of St. Elizabeth's Greek play production during their 100 year celebration along with other shows during her tenure there.
After college Leigh worked in radio and lent her voice to state and regional commercial spots. Recently she has acted in national training videos for national nonprofit agency and is always looking for other opportunities to showcase her skills. HomeTowne TV has become a second home for Leigh and she looks forward to working with the HTTV news team for years to come.
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 | Liz Newell – Liz is a lifelong resident of Summit. She was introduced to HomeTowne TV by her brother, Carlyle. At a HomeTowne TV holiday party, she met Fred Honold who creatively convinced her to try anchoring. Her first show was in 2011 and she hasn’t looked back. She’s enjoyed covering Girls Night Out in Summit, Taste of Summit and Hot Summer Nights- Music on the Green.
Liz has worked at Atlantic Health Systems for over 18 years and excited that Overlook Medical Center expanded its partnership with HomeTowne TV with its new show “Overlook View”. She’s thrilled to be part of HomeTowne TV volunteer staff.
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 | Marybeth Robb – Marybeth has journalism in her blood, and not just because she was the Roving Reporter for her 5th grade newspaper. MB's grandfather was editor of Editor and Publisher magazine, her aunt has long written for community papers on Long Island, her cousin is staff writer for Stars and Stripes, her nephew is a writer for NPR and another cousin is author of three historical novels of India.
A lawyer by training, Marybeth spent over two decades as a management consultant with Hewitt Associates. While at Hewitt, Marybeth opened offices in Philadelphia, Singapore and Beijing. She settled in Summit in 2001, where she lives with her two daughters, and has been an active participant in community life. Marybeth began her career with HomeTowne TV News as an anchor in 2009 and loves the opportunity to bring local events and local personalities into our homes.
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 | Myung Bondy – Myung is a Dancer, Choreographer and Dance Educator. Formerly the Dance Director at the Connection for Women and Families, Myung had the opportunity as a teacher and director, to meet and interact with many residents in the area. Myung’s natural affinity to engage with the public led to her involvement with HomeTowne TV, where she enjoys producing, reporting and editing stories that cover and explore events which highlight the richness of our communities. Myung’s special interest in the arts, oftentimes brings focus to the efforts of creative individuals and organizations, which provide inspiration to our HTTV audience. |
 | Patti Richards – Patti is actively involved both in front of the camera at HomeTowne TV and behind the scenes. She initiated and developed two series called Meet the Author featuring her interviews of several local authors and Hometowne Happenings where she is host of HTTV’s magazine style show. Patti is also a regular contributor to specials and the weekly news program by script editing, on-air anchoring, video editing, and man-on-the-street reporting. She also handles operating the camera and teleprompter as needed.
Patti has written several news stories for the Summit Patch, one of HTTV’s news sources. Her prior work experience includes management positions at HBO and Lifetime Television. Patti has three children and has been a Summit resident since 1995.
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 | Peter Twill – Peter began volunteering with Hometown TV back in 1983 (the station was then called PA-2.) The TV show "This Week in Summit" was recorded live with Cathy Clingan as lead anchor and Peter as Sports anchor. Peter briefly left HomeTowne to start a business, marry and raise children. He re-joined the anchor team in 2009. Peter is a graduate of American University with a communications degree. He grew up in Summit and is the owner of Twill Printing Services in Berkeley Heights. Peter finds it a pleasure to be part of the HTTV News Team. |
 | Rachel Victer – While serving as the Public Relations Chair of Summit Business and Professional Women (BPW), Rachel was introduced to station manager Jesse Patterson and subsequently invited to anchor Hometowne TV News. Rachel joined HTTV in July 2012 and feels this role will provide an opportunity to facilitate local community and corporate partnerships by providing newsworthy stories relevant to the greater Summit community and beyond.
Rachel enjoys volunteering in community events because it provides an opportunity to give back, meet the diverse residents of Summit and hear their stories of inspiration. In addition to free-lance writing and working with various local news organizations, Rachel is passionate about politics, running, international traveling, and playing piano. Rachel attended Northeastern University and is currently pursuing her Master's in Corporate Communications and Public Relations at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She moved to Summit with her husband and family from the Boston area in 2009.
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 | Saul Simon – Saul is a sought-after on-camera financial professional for CNBC “The Money Club”, Channel Thirteen/WNET (PBS) Caucus: New Jersey (an Emmy Award-winning public affairs television series), One-on-One with Steve Adubato (an in-depth interview program broadcast from Maine to Maryland on CN8-the Comcast Network and Cablevision), and the host of his own cable television program, SIMON SAYS® Manage Your Money.
Saul resides in Millburn, New Jersey with his two children; Danielle and Jack. He is a nationally known speaker providing user-friendly financial planning workshops for corporations, adult education programs, and community organizations. In addition to his extensive financial background he has performed at various stand-up comedy clubs in New York City.
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