Our Team - MediaTracks Communications

SHEL LUSTIG
PRESIDENT
Shel Lustig heads the MediaTracks' public relations services unit. Over a more than 30–year career, he has developed world class knowledge of the use of a full range of radio and audio services to deliver the greatest possible impact for every client’s campaign.

Before co-founding MediaTracks in 1989, Shel was an award-winning host and producer for Chicago’s iconic WXRT and for NPR affiliate WBEZ, as well as producer of the PIA Radio Network’s Health Care and PIA Public Affairs programs. His work has won awards from organizations as varied as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Education Writer’s Association and the International Radio Festival of New York. He has also been a professional musician as drummer for the well known midwest ska band Heavy Manners, and is an award-winning graduate of Northern Illinois University.

REED PENCE
VICE PRESIDENT | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF RADIO HEALTH JOURNAL
Reed Pence, co-founder of MediaTracks, leads the company’s award-winning editorial and production departments. His four decades of news experience includes CBS Radio and the Associated Press Radio Network, where he hosted and produced the network’s daily health minute.

Reed's work at MediaTracks has won numerous local and national awards. He was part of a team sharing the National Award for Enterprise Reporting from the Associated Press and is a seven-time winner of the Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago Headline Club. Reed is a Kappa Tau Alpha honors graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Away from the office (and sometimes in it), you’ll find Reed singing. For the West Suburban Symphony, he has soloed as Phantom in Phantom of the Opera, Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, and as the dual title characters in Jekyll and Hyde. Reed has also sung opera professionally in a variety of chorus roles with DuPage Opera Theatre and Main Street Opera. Reed and his wife Madonna are proud parents of three grown sons.

POLLY HANSEN
PRODUCER OF RADIO HEALTH JOURNAL AND VIEWPOINTS | AFFILIATE RELATIONS REPRESENTATIVE
Polly Hansen has been a part-time member of the MediaTracks team since 1998. As a producer, she investigates program topics, conducts interviews with expert guests, and writes and edits segments. As an affiliate relations rep she communicates with both potential and current affiliates. She has also produced radio media tours on occasion and generally chips in wherever help is needed. Polly also teaches flute lessons and is currently writing a novel. She and her husband live with two black dogs and a 21 year old goldfish named “fishy.”

KIMBERLY SAWYER
Vice President, Client Services
Kimberly Sawyer is a radio veteran with a long track record of creating solid connections between clients and radio stations. Prior to joining MediaTracks, she was in affiliate radio sales with PSI Marketing. She then joined CBS Radio as Regional Sales Manager for its Spark Network Services division, traveling to the eastern seaboard and Canada to promote Dateline, a phone-based dating service. In addition to her extensive radio career, Kimberly is an actress who has performed on stage and in TV commercials, and currently teaches acting classes. She is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago.

Trevor Zavagno
Operations MANAGER
Trevor Zavagno first began working at MediaTracks as an intern in the summer of 2013, while attending the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa. Four years later, Trevor was still in touch with his friends at MediaTracks, and when a position opened up, he joined the team. As MediaTracks Operations Manager, Trevor’s diversity of knowledge and savvy for technology serve as major assets. While at school, he focused on multimedia and print journalism, selected philosophy as an area of concentration, and also developed an affinity for studying history. When he’s not writing, Trevor enjoys discussing philosophy, taking his three-year old lab/pitbull mix to the park, and cheering for Chicago sports teams.

Jason Dickey
Production Assistant
Jason began his professional radio career in 2007 at WXLC/WKRS in Chicago’s northern suburbs, where he held multiple positions--on-air & voicetracking talent, morning show producer, interactive sales specialist, and web guy. He has also worked with a network of NextMedia, Digity, and AlphaMedia stations in marketing, web design, website content curation, graphics design, branding, social media expansion, and radio promotions. In his spare time, Jason enjoys music and website production, Frisbee golf, being outdoors, and occasionally playing a cajon drum.

Amirah Zaveri
Producer of Viewpoints
Amirah started with MediaTracks as a broadcast journalism intern during the summer of 2015. She earned a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and after graduation worked in public relations in Chicago where she specialized in restaurant and franchise PR. Now, she’s delving back into journalism as the executive producer of Viewpoints and is passionate about a myriad of topics ranging from social and environmental issues to politics and economics. In her free time, you can find her exploring hole-in-the-wall restaurants throughout the city, biking in the summertime and binge-watching rom-coms and documentaries.

Gabriela Careaga
SPANISH-LANGUAGE MEDIA RELATIONS | affiliate representative
Gabriela was born in Mexico City, Mexico, where she earned a BA in Communications at Universidad Anahuac. She was a marketing executive at Televisa, the largest mass media company in Hispanic America, and worked in sales at Univision in Dallas before moving to Chicago. Here at MediaTracks, Gabriela is a Spanish-language media booker and affiliate representative, connecting our clients with Latino listeners in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Tampa, and San Diego. She enjoys Zumba, tutoring Spanish and spending time with her family.

SEAN WALDRON
Operations Director | Production Director
Sean Waldron began his professional broadcast career as afternoon host and production director at WGEZ-AM in Beloit, WI, working his way up to program director and morning drive personality. Later he joined the Rockford, IL RadioWorks cluster, working primarily at news/talk WNTA-AM and adult hits B103. Before joining MediaTracks, he dominated middays at NextMedia’s Star 105.5 in suburban Chicago, drawing a 30 share in the local female 25-54 demo. Sean's technical expertise and consummate communication skills have resulted in consistent client satisfaction as well as in savvy positioning of MediaTrack's growing digital presence. A graduate of Columbia College in Chicago, Sean is a proud father and husband who enjoys distance running in his spare time.

EVAN ROOK
Producer of Viewpoints Radio
Evan Rook began his career with MediaTracks as a broadcast journalism intern in the summer of 2015. He was hired as a part-time operations assistant in 2016 before working his way up to being producer of one of our two public affairs programs. As producer of Viewpoints Radio, Evan interviews authors and field experts about topics ranging from politics and history to culture and entertainment before writing segments to be aired. A graduate of Columbia College Chicago, Evan can often be found at local movie theaters, checking out the newest releases and passionately debating them with friends.