About Us

Complete Communications co-founder Sharon McGowan has helped companies communicate for more than 35 years, as a reporter, writer, editor and trainer. She started her career as an investigative reporter and managing editor at The Chicago Reporter and later was assignment manager for WBBM-TV and managing editor/assistant news director at all-news WBBM-AM, both in Chicago. She directed the Introduction to Journalism program and was a newswriting instructor at Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University for 20 years. From March 2011 through January 2019, she was founding editor of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS), an online multimedia news operation that covers central-city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. During her tenure, NNS was honored multiple times by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and the Milwaukee Press Club, and in 2019, she was inducted into the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame. From 2019 through 2021, she worked as Amplify Collaborations Editor for the Institute for Nonprofit News. Sharon has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Radio Television News Directors Association, Women in Communications and others. Along with Jim McGowan, she is co-author of “Writing on the Job: How to Make Your Point Precisely” (Ragan Communications, 2008).

Jim McGowan has done design, layout and production for corporate and nonprofit clients for more than three decades. His graphic design work won three Peter Lisagor Awards from the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Before co-founding Complete Communications, he performed editing, design and layout duties as a copy editor for Advertising Age, a weekly national magazine covering advertising and marketing. He worked as a reporter and editor for Pioneer Press, a newspaper chain covering the Chicago suburbs. He has done extensive communications work for a number of school districts and education organizations, and has made presentations to local and national education organizations on strategic planning and communications. He is co-author with Sharon McGowan of “Writing on the Job: How to Make Your Point Precisely” (Ragan Communications, 2008), and co-author with Vicki Gunther and Kate Donegan of “Strategic Communications for School Leaders” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011).