Hall named permanent editor of The Lakeland Times

Two veteran Lakeland Times editorial staff members have new official titles, as Dean Hall was named the permanent editor of the newspaper after a successful stint as interim editor and reporter Trevor Greene was promoted to assistant editor after his own productive stretch of reporting and providing editorial support.

Lakeland Times publisher Gregg Walker made the announcement last week.

Greene

Hall has served as The Times’s interim editor for close to two years, but this week Walker said Hall had earned the permanent promotion and “interim” was being dropped.

“Dean has served in this role with distinction,” Walker said. “He has a natural eye for detail in editing stories, and he brings much valued editorial insight in considering all sides of issues in a search for journalistic balance.”

Walker said Hall’s photographic experience and talent also bring to the role skills many editors don’t have, and he said that Hall, with 10 years in the newsroom, knows the workings of the newspaper inside and out: “There’s no one more qualified for the job.”

Under Hall’s watch, the newspaper won another Newspaper of the Year award last year.

Walker was equally excited about Trevor Greene’s new position as assistant editor, which he will assume in addition to his work as a reporter, a role he has worked in for more than two years. 

“In his several years at the paper, Trevor has stood out as the kind of reporter we at The Times view as the ideal journalist: dedicated to the craft, unafraid to ask tough questions and to search for the truth, no matter where it leads, and to get out and track down a story the old-fashioned way, which is still the best way: using shoe leather.”

Walker said the newspaper and the entire Lakeland community are extremely fortunate to have Hall and Greene at the helm of the editorial ship.

Backgrounds

Dean Hall was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and says he spent most of his life there. However, he was no stranger to the Northwoods, having vacationed in northern Wisconsin. 

“My grandparents built a house here during their retirement years,” Hall says. “My parents then retired here. My plan was to eventually retire here, too, but life intervened and I moved here earlier than originally planned.”

Hall has a masters of urban planning, design and development from the Maxine Goodman College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University.

“While working toward my masters degree I worked for a community planning firm, North Coast Urban Consultants, which I had co-founded with a fellow graduate student,” he says. “After graduation I worked for two architecture, engineering and planning firms in Cleveland, wearing many hats — community planner, transportation planner, economic development specialist, GIS specialist, etc., depending on the client.”

A work force reduction caused by the Great Recession prompted a move to Wisconsin, where Hall worked for the 2010 census.

Hall says he has always enjoyed photography as a hobby and through the years honed his photography skills, winning awards in Cleveland. When a job with a photography component was posted at The Lakeland Times, he says he jumped at the chance. 

“About a decade sharing what I see through my lens with our readers in the Lakeland area ensued,” he said. “In the last year-and-a-half I’ve had less time to take photos as I moved into the role of interim editor, but I will continue to contribute where I can.”

Hall says he is enthusiastic about his new title.

“I am proud to continue to be a part of The Lakeland Times and provide our readers with this essential and crucial community service,” he says.

As a “feet-on-the-ground general assignments reporter,” Trevor Greene says it has been his pleasure to grow with the community and gain a deep understanding for how it operates and what it’s all about. 

Greene was born and raised in southeastern Wisconsin, graduating from Pewaukee High School in 2014 and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2020. 

Moving to the Northwoods from a more urban setting was not an easy decision, Greene says.

“I was skeptical at first coming to the Northwoods, getting away from the ‘hustle and bustle’ I’d always known,” he says. “But now, two years in, it’s safe to say I’ve become acclimated to and appreciative of the Lakeland area.”

Greene says it feels to him like the community has embraced him as much as he has embraced the community. 

“Now, as assistant editor, I look forward in continuing my work as a feet-on-the-ground reporter with additional duties that will further enhance my role in this great community,” he says.

It’s not all work, Greene says.

“When I’m not working, you might be able to find me fishing on a lake or out and about enjoying everything else this area has to offer,” he says. “If you see me around, feel free to stop and say hi.”