The Hinsdale Talks Team
Jerry conceived of the idea for Hinsdale Talks in early 2006 while serving as a member of a citizen's committee supporting a library bond referendum. His experience struggling with the committee to know whether other citizens backed the referendum and what their concerns might be made him think about better ways to share information about village issues.
When not working on Hinsdale Talks, Jerry leads the media and marketing practice of a Chicago-based management consulting firm. His internet experience began in earnest in 1999 when he started, with his wife, Molly, SalonSavvy.com, a web-based information and marketing site for salons and spas. In 2000 Jerry was part of the management team that launched iDine.com, a rewards-based marketing program for restaurants.
Jerry’s media “career” began in Los Angeles where he founded his high school’s first newspaper, a monthly called The Crespi Standard. He continued with newspaper reporting and editing at Dartmouth College, where he held a number of editorial positions with The Dartmouth Review. He was graduated with a degree in Government and left for Chicago to begin a career in banking.
Hinsdale has been Jerry’s home for the past six years. He was living in New York when he was engaged to a Hinsdale girl; guess who won. They now have four children, aged six and under, and seem unlikely to go anywhere soon.
When Molly's husband, Jerry, came home with the hair-brained idea for a community website, she began the mourning process and moved through all the stages: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, and Depression. Having eventually reached Acceptance, she is now one of the most enthusiastic and valuable members of the team. She even came up with the name, Hinsdale Talks.
Molly’s family moved to Hinsdale when she was two years old. She attended the Lane School, Hinsdale Middle School, and Hinsdale Central. While in high school, Molly was a student columnist for The Doings. She left Hinsdale for Boston College, where she studied English and Spanish and was the publisher of The Boston College Observer, a campus monthly newspaper.
After college, Molly worked for Free Congress Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, she produced and hosted Young Bloods, a weekly satellite television program modeled after the McLaughlin Group and targeted at twenty-somethings.
Molly left Washington to earn her M.B.A. from the University of Virginia, which launched her into the world of marketing and brand management for General Mills and Unilever. After starting, and eventually winding down, SalonSavvy.com, a web-based information and marketing site for salons and spas, Molly left a full-time career to move back to Hinsdale and raise her children, now numbered at four, 6 and under.
Apart from her family and Hinsdale Talks, Molly’s passions are cooking and playing on Hinsdale’s women’s traveling paddle tennis team.
Ed McCarthy was one of the early beta testers of Hinsdale Talks, and he liked the product so much, he bought the company.
Well, not exactly.
He did, however, have a great deal of enthusiasm for the concept and got involved right away. After some early months working to get merchants and community organizations listed, Ed has settled into his role as resident blogger extraordinaire. "Deep Thoughts" was already taken, so you instead you'll find his musings at Club Ed.