Beyond the Byline: Neil Holdway, deputy managing editor for late news

Neil Holdway is the Daily Herald's deputy managing editor for late news. He is the lead editor at night, working directly on editing and laying out the front pages and the website while overseeing the production of the news, business and sports sections.

He also helps oversee production of other Daily Herald products. He writes and oversees headlines and edits for grammar, style, clarity and ethical and legal concerns.

He started in the lead nighttime role in 2006. Before that, he oversaw the editing and production of the Neighbor section.

Neil finds that determining what's news and how to fairly present it is one of the most challenging and rewarding parts of his job. So is page design. He happens to work side by side - now in the home office - with his wife, nighttime News Editor Michelle Holdway, whom he met at the Daily Herald in the late '90s. Yes, human resources knows!

Neil also enjoys simply writing, which he began at Union Ridge Elementary in Harwood Heights, east of O'Hare, and continued at Ridgewood High School in Norridge. He moved to Evanston to attend Northwestern University, then began at the Daily Herald as a copy editor after graduation in 1992. Neil then lived in Hoffman Estates for 18 years, and now he has lived in Schaumburg for 11 years.

He has liked the extra space in the suburbs - and he's made the most of it with his hobby, cycling, through which he has gotten to know an awful lot of the trails and roads throughout the suburbs.