Christie Willhite is an assistant city editor, a position she has held since 2000. She works with reporters, photographers and editors to coordinate stories for the Neighbor section in our print editions for DuPage County and for the local pages of our website.

In 2008, she launched the Lend a Hand column highlighting charity groups and service organizations in DuPage County, and the following year introduced the Join In column to feature the activities of interesting local clubs. She also oversees Why We Walk, a series of essays from participants in charity walks and runs that describe why such events make a difference to those who support the cause.

Willhite covered Naperville Unit District 203 and Indian Prairie Unit District 204 from 1996 to 2000, writing stories ranging from features on classroom projects to reports on superintendent searches, threatened teacher strikes, attendance boundary changes and the opening of Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville. In 1997, she led a team of reporters in reporting on an accident in which three high school students were killed by a drunken driver. The coverage was recognized with a Lisagor Award from the Society of Professional Journalists' Chicago Headline Club.

Before reporting on the Naperville school systems, Willhite worked as a police reporter and handled a variety of municipal beats throughout DuPage County including Oak Brook, Oakbrook Terrace, Lombard, Villa Park and Wood Dale. She joined the Daily Herald in 1991 after an internship with the paper in 1990. Willhite graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and minors in political science and English. She grew up in Lombard and lives in Naperville.