The Rodale.com Team

Maria Rodale
Maria Rodale is the CEO and Chairman of Rodale Inc., the world’s leading multimedia publisher of advice and information about health, wellness, and the environment, and the largest independent book publisher in the United States. Rodale reaches tens of millions of people worldwide through magazines like Prevention, Men’s Health, and Women’s Health; through books like The South Beach Diet and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth; and with the content-rich web sites that complement its publications. Maria is Editor-in-Chief of the company’s newest online venture, Rodale.com, which features the latest news about healthy living on a healthy planet.

Maria is the author of three books: It’s My Pleasure, written with her daughter Maya Rodale, Betty’s Book of Laundry Secrets, and Maria Rodale’s Organic Gardening. You can find out what she’s currently thinking about on her blog: mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com.

In 2004 Maria received the National Audubon Society’s “Rachel Carson Award” for “Working to Ensure a Healthy Environment for Future Generations.” In 2007 she received the United Nations Population Fund’s “Award for the Health and Dignity of Women.” She is a member of the board of Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project, a board member of the Rodale Institute, and has recently joined the board of the Lehigh Valley Hospital.

Maria lives in an ecologically-friendly house in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with her husband and three children.


David L. Kang, J.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President and General Manager
Editor-At-Large
David Kang is responsible for managing P&L, operations, marketing, strategy and product development for Rodale.com. David is also Editor-At-Large, contributing to editorial and multimedia content on Rodale.com. David was previously Editorial Director of Rodale Interactive Products, and General Manager of Rodale’s Online Subscription Services group.

Prior to joining Rodale, David worked at Major League Baseball Advanced Media where he was of Senior Vice President, Entertainment and was the Chief Operating Officer for Entertainment joint ventures. Previously, David worked as Senior Vice President, Strategic Development and New Media at the artist management company The Firm. David also worked as a Media & Entertainment consultant for McKinsey & Company, and as Senior Vice President, New Technology & Strategic Development for BMG Entertainment. David served on the Harvard Business School faculty as an Assistant Professor of Business Administration, and holds a Ph.D. from Harvard Business School/Harvard University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a M.A. from Harvard University and an A.B. from Stanford University.

David was born and raised in LeMars, Iowa and currently lives in New York City. He enjoys playing rock guitar, digital audio and video production, and running.


Rick Chillot, Senior Online Editor
Rick Chillot entered the publishing world in 1990 after bailing out of a graduate degree program that required entirely too much time staring at empty bluebird nests. In the 1990s, he helped create Rodale’s first content-rich website that eventually became MensHealth.com. His writing has appeared in Prevention, Men’s Health, American Health, Health, and other magazines with and without the word health in the title. Prior to joining Rodale.com, he worked as a freelance writer and editor for many years, wrote a book, worked at a local newspaper, and edited the alumni magazine of Moravian College. Subjects he’s written about include cancer, heart disease, how to buy a pair of sneakers, how to keep your propane grill from exploding, Peru, RV’ing, erectile dysfunction, vampires, and a zillion other things too numerous to list.

If you have an idea for a story that you'd like to share you can send an email to the Rodale.com News Editors!


Emily Main, Online Editor
After starting her career reporting on the worlds of architecture and design, Emily Main became interested in environmental issues and worked for The Green Guide, a nonprofit environmental newsletter, print magazine and website (TheGreenGuide.com) operated by The Green Guide Institute and later by the National Geographic Society. While there, she wrote about everything from pesticides on apples to the environmental benefits of washing your clothes in cold water. She also served as a contributor to Mothering magazine and Mothering.com, for which she wrote columns on children’s health issues, and sat on the expert advisory panel for a soon-to-be published National Geographic book on green families. When she’s not writing for Rodale.com, she’s busy tending her windowsill garden and in-home worm composting bin.


Leah Zerbe, Online Editor
Leah Zerbe grew up reading her dad’s mail-order Rodale health books (The Doctor’s Book of Home Remedies is still a favorite) and was thrilled to join Rodale.com as an online editor in the summer of 2008. Prior to this gig, she was the senior online editor at NBCPhiladelphia.com, where she headed up the station’s online “Going Green” initiative, wrote about center city crime and traffic jams, and blogged about her beloved Philadelphia Phillies. Her stories about health, the environment, jocks, pets, crime, and ordinary people have appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and half a dozen other newspapers. This 2005 Temple University grad also appeared on CNN’s Nancy Grace Live. Her greener stories have been featured online at HuffingtonPost.com, CBSNews.com, and NBC’s GreenisUniversal.com. She lives with her husband on a farm in the boondocks of Pennsylvania, where they are feverishly trying to rehab a 90-year-old chicken coop.