January 3, 2002

Biography of Mike Tronnes

Mike Tronnes was born, raised and educated in Minnesota, attending the University of Minnesota, Duluth, where he minored in communications, and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where he received a B.A. in journalism and history in 1977. He also completed the Stanford Professional Publishing Course in 1994.

In addition to editing Cursor, Tronnes is a publishing consultant, specializing in advertising sales and marketing for independent publications. He was the advertising director at Utne Reader for nine years, growing annual ad revenue from $50,000 to $2.5 million, by successfully positioning the independent title to attract a combination of mainstream and alternative advertisers.

Since leaving, he has consulted for numerous publications, including Utne Reader, Sierra, DoubleTake, Mother Jones and Shambhala Sun. He has also edited two critically acclaimed literary anthologies, "Closers: Great American Writers on the Art of Selling" and "Literary Las Vegas."

In 1998, along with Rob Levine and others, he founded Cursor, Inc., a Minnesota non-profit corporation dedicated to media education and criticism, and began publishing Cursor.org. In 2001, along with Levine, he launched Ventura Watch, an entertainingly critical look at Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura.

He lives and works in Minneapolis.