Ryan Bonner, Patch Staff

Email: ryan@patch.com

Hometown: East Islip

Current town: Holbrook

Bio: Ryan Bonner is a regional editor at Patch, managing a team of editors who cover more than 80 sites on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley. He launched Merrick Patch, the first Patch site in New York, in December 2009. Ryan grew up on Long Island and then fled south to the University of Richmond, where he graduated with majors in journalism and political science. He spent two years as a reporter at a community newspaper in the Richmond suburbs before heading to Seoul, South Korea, where he taught English for a year and was constantly pointed at by small children yelling, "Big nose!" After deciding to leave teaching to those with more skills (and patience), Ryan returned home and earned a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In his free time, Ryan is bossed around by his 5-year-old daughter, Brooklyn. His 2-year-old son, Finn, routinely eats hazardous materials that Ryan must then save him from.