DAN VALENTI Bio

DAN VALENTI is a writer, broadcaster, and educator.

Writer
Dan runs Media Services Group, a company he founded in 1980. Media Services Group of Pittsfield, Mass., supplies writing and consulting services to commercial clients ranging from Fortune 5 companies to communications agencies to small business start-ups.
Dan is also senior writer/editor/columnist for the Association of Marian Helpers, the service arm of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, a congregation located in Stockbridge, Mass, and headquartered in Rome, Italy. He writes for numerous MIC publications, both in print and on the web. His blog, "Dan Valenti's Journal," can be read at www.thedivinemercy.org.
A contributing columnist to several daily and weekly newspapers, Valenti has been a columnist for two Pittsfield newspapers (1992-2006), The Berkshire Eagle, the city's daily paper and The Pittsfield Gazette, the city's alternative weekly. He was voted the region's "Best Columnist" in the 2000 Berkshires Week Readers' Poll.
He is also the author of a dozen published books. His latest is Under a Grapefruit Sun: Red Sox Spring Training a Quarter Century Ago, published by Rounder Books (2007). Moreover, his work has been widely published in newspapers and magazines, and his poetry and fiction has appeared in the nation’s literary press.

Broadcaster
From 1992 to 2006, Dan hosted, wrote, and produced "The Dan Valenti Show," a daily talk show on WBRK AM 1340. The show won numerous awards, including "Best Talk Show" in its category from the Associated Press and finalist honors for "Best Talk Show Host" in the Boston Achievement in Radio (AIR) Awards.
He also hosted for two years in the mid-80s a Boston Red Sox pre-game show called "Red Sox Report." In addition, Dan continues to guest on numerous radio and TV shows. For many years, Dan was business partner with long-time Voice of the Red Sox, Ken Coleman.

Educator
Dan has taught writing and communications at the college level since the late 1970s. He was adjunct professor of English at LeMoyne College, Syracuse NY and adviser to the student newspaper. He is currently adjunct professor of English at Berkshire Community College. He has been a member of the BCC English Department since 1992.

Other
Dan began his writing career in newspapers, working for five years as an editor and contributing writer at The Syracuse Post-Standard and editor and columnist at The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. He also managed the ABC/Capital Cities Minority Training Program, designed to recruit and encourage minority journalists.
Dan also makes appearances as a public speaker.

Education
* A.A. in pre-education from BCC
* B.A. in English from Union College in Schenectady, NY
* M.A. in journalism from the Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University.

Background and personal
Dan grew up in Pittsfield, Mass., and attended local schools there. He left to pursue his college education and after five years as a newspaper journalist, he returned to the Berkshires in 1980 to begin his writing career. Dan and his wife Paula live in Stockbridge, Mass. Paula is senior circulation analyst for Country Curtains.

Affiliations
* The Society of Professional Journalists
* The National Education Association
* The Massachusetts Teachers Association
* The Massachusetts Community College Council
* The Association of Marian Helpers