Phil Ponce is the Host of Chicago Tonight. Ponce has an undergraduate degree in English from Indiana University and a law degree from the University of Michigan. He began at WTTW11 in 1992 as a correspondent for the show and substitute for longtime host John Callaway. In 1997, Ponce joined the Washington, D.C.-based NewsHour with Jim Lehrer as an anchor. Two years later, Ponce returned to Chicago to host Chicago Tonight. He also teaches at Loyola University Chicago.
Ponce grew up in neighboring East Chicago, Indiana. He began his career in broadcast journalism at WRTV in Indianapolis and spent 9 years as a reporter at WBBM-TV in Chicago. He and his artist wife, Ann, live in Chicago and have three grown children, a photographer daughter and two sons who also are Chicago broadcast journalists.
Carol Marin joined the Chicago Tonight team in January 2006 to host discussions on local issues and news. As a twice-a-week contributor, Marin also conducts timely interviews with Chicago newsmakers. Marin has worked as an anchor and network correspondent, has been awarded two George Foster Peabody awards, two National Emmy awards, and two Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University awards. She has worked for NBC-5, CBS-2, and CBS on 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes II, the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, and 48 Hours. In addition to her role on Chicago Tonight, she continues as an investigative reporter for NBC-5 and as a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Elizabeth Brackett is a Correspondent and Segment Host for Chicago Tonight. Brackett has gained critical acclaim for her work, winning a Peabody award in 1988 for election coverage, and an Emmy in 1999 for hosting Chicago Tonight. She also won an Emmy in 1984 for her work on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (now the PBS NewsHour). Brackett began her television career as a researcher and weekend reporter at WBBM-TV in Chicago and went on to general assignment reporting at WGN-TV and WLS-TV. From 1984 to 2011, she served as the Midwest correspondent for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
Eddie Arruza is a Correspondent and Segment Host for Chicago Tonight. Arruza began his television career in Chicago working in a number of behind-the-scenes capacities at two Spanish-language stations. He became a general assignment reporter for Chicago's former Univision affiliate, WCIU-TV, before making the jump to the English language market, working at WABC-TV in New York City and then WGN-TV in Chicago. In addition to reporting for the WGN News at Nine, Arruza was also a substitute anchor and host of a Latino-oriented public affairs program for which he won an Emmy Award.
A native of Chicago’s Peterson Park neighborhood, Quraishi is a Correspondent for Chicago Tonight. Before returning home to Chicago in 2010, Quraishi spent more than six years with CNN, including three years on assignment as CNN's Islamabad, Pakistan bureau chief. There he was responsible for the network’s coverage of Pakistan beginning just days after the 9/11 attacks.
Quraishi served as Chief Investigative Reporter for KCTV in Kansas City. He is the recipient of five Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, five Emmys and two National Headliner Awards. In 2012, his environmental reporting was honored with a Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago Headline Club.
He is also the producer of the award-winning film, Fordson: Faith, Fasting and Football, a feature-length documentary on the Arab-American experience in Dearborn, Michigan post 9/11.
Jay Shefsky is a Correspondent and Senior Producer for Chicago Tonight, and host of the weekly series, Jay's Chicago. During his more than 25 years at WTTW, Shefsky has told a lot of stories about people and life in Chicago. His 10 documentaries were honored with numerous awards, including Emmys, Peter Lisagor awards, and a Cine Golden Eagle. His work has been broadcast nationally on PBS and on the ABC News Nightline program. In 2003, he brought his unique brand of storytelling to Chicago Tonight, where his beat has ranged from history to arts to science to human interest stories.
Paris Schutz is Chicago Tonight’s political correspondent. For the past two years (2011 and 2012), he has received the Peter Lisagor Award as Chicago's “Best Television Reporter,” given by the nation’s largest chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Schutz began his career at WTTW as an intern after graduating Magna Cum Laude from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. He has covered everything from hard news to light-hearted features. In addition, Schutz is a pianist, singer and songwriter. Along with Chicago Symphony Orchestra trumpet player John Hagstrom, Schutz composed and performed Chicago Tonight’s theme music. Schutz also created, co-wrote, co-produced and wrote the theme music for “IL-Informed,” a political satire special that aired on WTTW. He is a three-time Emmy nominee and an alumnus of St. Ignatius College Prep on the near south side.
Geoffrey Baer answers viewers’ questions about Chicago architecture and history in his weekly “Ask Geoffrey” segment. He is the host and writer of WTTW’s popular television “tours” including the river, lakefront, boulevards (by bike), the “L”, and Chicago’s suburbs. In more than 20 years at WTTW, he has been executive producer of Artbeat Chicago and the documentary series, Chicago Stories. His first national PBS primetime special, Ten Buildings that Changed America, debuts in early 2013. He has won multiple Emmys and other awards. He is a docent for the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and a board member of the Art Institute’s Architecture and Design Society and Lookingglass Theatre (emeritus).
Joel Weisman is Host and Senior Editor of Chicago Tonight: The Week in Review. He has been with Channel 11 since 1973.
A Chicago native, he broke into journalism with the storied City News Bureau of Chicago, worked for the Gary Post-Tribune, was political editor and investigative reporter for the Chicago American (Chicago Today), reporter/columnist and Metropolitan Editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, and Midwest correspondent for The Washington Post. He's won multiple Emmy Awards, Peter Lisagor, Jacob Scher, and Associated Press awards, and was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his investigative reporting. For many years he delivered commentary and news analysis for WGN-TV.
Weisman is also an attorney, specializing in media and entertainment law. He represents journalists at stations and publications around the country, and has lectured extensively on legal and journalism issues.
Mary Field is the Executive Producer of Chicago Tonight. She is responsible for all news and public affairs production at the station, including Chicago Tonight, Chicago Tonight: The Week in Review, and segments produced for PBS NewsHour.
In more than 35 years in the news business, Field has been a William Benton Fellow in broadcast journalism at the University of Chicago, an investigative/special projects producer for WGN-TV, an assistant news director for WIND Radio and a reporter for the legendary City News Bureau.
She has been honored with numerous journalism awards for investigative reporting, as well as a Peter Lisagor Award for public service and a National Silver Gavel Award for legal affairs reporting. She received a 2009 lifetime achievement award from the Chicago Headline Club, the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Jay T. Smith is the Supervising Producer for Chicago Tonight. In more than 20 years at Channel 11, Smith has served as the producer of Chicago Week in Review and The Cheap Show, and produced a number of Chicago Stories documentaries. He also was the producer of WTTW's national (PBS) series HandyMa'am with Beverly DeJulio. Smith has received numerous awards for his work, including six Chicago/Midwest Emmys and two Peter Lisagor Awards from the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Smith is a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington.
Beni Enas is the Line Producer for Chicago Tonight. Prior to joining the team, she taught Broadcast Journalism at Columbia College in Chicago. She also worked as a Producer for Channel One News in Los Angeles, a newscast airing in schools nationwide. Locally, she worked at ABC-7, and before that spent three years producing at CNN in Atlanta. She has her BA in Broadcasting from Buffalo State College in New York, and a Master’s in Education from North Central College in Naperville.
Mark Anderson is the Director of Chicago Tonight. Mark joined WTTW in 1995 as a Technician and Editor, and worked on such shows as Wild Chicago, Check, Please!, Chicago Tonight, Chicago Stories and various other programs. Before Chicago, Mark worked as a Producer/Director with PBS stations in South Bend, Ind., Dayton, Ohio and was an intern for Great Performances at WNET in New York. Mark lives in Winnetka with his wife and two daughters, and performs on local stages in musicals and plays as time permits.
Paul Caine is the Assignment Editor for Chicago Tonight. He began his journalism career at The Chicago Reporter where he won several awards, including the National Association of Black Journalists Award for outstanding coverage of the black condition; the Peter Lisagor Award for public service journalism; the Ohio State Award for excellence in educational and public affairs broadcasting; and the Lincoln University of Missouri Unity Award for outstanding coverage of minority issues. He also worked as a Senior Correspondent and Editor for Reuters in Hong Kong, and as a Sports Editor and Writer for the Associated Press in London.
Yasmin Tara Rammohan is the Interactive Content Producer for Chicago Tonight. She joined the team in January 2011. Prior to that, she worked as a Web Producer for CBS Chicago. She received her Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in 2007 and her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from UCLA in 2001. In 2012, she also was a columnist/blogger for Shape magazine. She enjoys karaoke and spending time with her adopted dog, Bella Pepper.
Michelle McKenzie-Voigt is Facilities Manager for WTTW and the editor of the Viewer Mail segment on Chicago Tonight. She has been at WTTW since her graduation from Northwestern University, where she was a double major in Theater and Art History.
Since 1997, Alex Silets has been a producer on a number of WTTW programs, including Chicago Tonight, Chicago Week in Review, and Chicago Stories. In 2012, she co-produced the documentary, Remembering Chicago: The ‘70s & ‘80s. In 2007, she co-produced a groundbreaking documentary on the history of Chicago's LGBT community, Out & Proud in Chicago hosted by Jane Lynch. Airing nationally, it won a Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism, among other honors. She also produced the documentary, Schoolboy to Showgirl: The Alexandra Billings Story. She co-produced the national PBS series, Health Secrets: What Every Woman Should Know, hosted by Paula Zahn. Silets went to Connecticut College and Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.
Marc Vitali is a Segment Producer for Chicago Tonight, with Arts & Culture as his main focus. A native of Philadelphia, he's lived in Cook County for 25 years and is a 23-year veteran of WTTW. His stories and profiles have appeared on Wild Chicago, The Golden Apple Awards, and Artbeat Chicago. He's won 5 Midwest Emmy Awards and shared a Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago Headline Club. He is an Arts Journalism Fellow with the USC Annenberg School of Journalism in Los Angeles.
Christine Hurley is an Associate Producer for Chicago Tonight. She is a native of Chicago’s southwest suburbs. She received her BA in English Literature from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2009. Hurley returned to Chicago after graduation and began work on her Master’s degree in Journalism at DePaul University which she completed in 2011. She has the most adorable dog named Ryder, who is probably part fox…but who knows. Christine is also mildly obsessed with HBO series’ and the Bravo channel.
Michael Lipkin is an Associate Content Producer for Chicago Tonight. He is a former intern at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, covering business news statewide, and at the Chicago News Cooperative, where he wrote about particle physics research at Fermilab. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Michael graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Law, Letters and Society. He was honored by the Illinois College Press Association for in-depth reporting.
Shanika Gunaratna is the Production Assistant for Chicago Tonight, where she produces interviews and oversees the daily “updates” segment on the breaking news of the day. Prior to WTTW, she worked on the international news show Worldview on WBEZ (Chicago Public Radio). Originally from New Rochelle, New York, Gunaratna graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and international relations. She is the recipient of the Roy W. Howard Award for National Collegiate Reporting and an undergraduate award from the South Asian Journalists Association.
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