Welcome to the new home of Blue Sky, Chicago's gathering place for news, analysis and events related to innovation and entrepreneurship. Blue Sky informs, inspires and connects an audience that looks at business - and life - in new ways.

Andrea Hanis is the editor of Blue Sky Innovation, which was dreamed up over many hours in darkened research rooms before being given its sunny and aspirational title. She’s thrilled to be leading a staff of talented journalists who are excited about digital journalism and the opportunity to explore Chicago's most innovative companies, people and ideas.

Andrea is one of the few Chicago journalists to have worked in the newsrooms of the Chicago Tribune, the Sun-Times and Crain’s Chicago Business. At the Tribune, she led the Executive Profile series in Monday Business. At Crain’s, she launched and edited the award-winning Business of Life section. At the Sun-Times, she edited an award-winning Sunday Travel section.

A Hoosier native and graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington, Andrea intends to one day write a Blue Sky study of “Columbo,” which frequently explored the devious uses of innovations such as the answering machine, traffic camera and home-video security systems.

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John Carpenter is a reporter for Blue Sky Innovation, covering startup ventures, the culture of the new economy and transformative business innovation wherever he finds it.

An award-winning journalist, Carpenter has covered a variety of subjects, from business to education to transportation to sports to crime and politics. He has traveled all over the United States and as far away as Ireland and Northern Ireland covering major stories, and has produced numerous investigative and feature-length projects.

A native New Englander and graduate of Boston College, Carpenter has worked for the Daily Herald and the Chicago Sun-Times, where in his most recent stint he helped launch the Homicide Watch Chicago website.

Carpenter holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Carlow University in Pittsburgh, and is an avid reader, writer, and a mediocre-but-enthusiastic handyman who lives in the north suburbs with his wife and two children. He is also a champion feather bowler.

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Amina Elahi is a reporter at Blue Sky Innovation. Through her experience reporting on startups and innovation, she’s discovered her favorite stories derive lessons from people’s successes and mistakes. Although she was a student of magazine journalism at Northwestern University, the Internet is now Amina’s favorite medium for publishing and sharing.

Amina was previously a freelance reporter in Chicago covering everything from local businesses to startups to social media. Her writing appeared in Built In Chicago, Sprout Social Insights and Chicago Grid. Also during this time, she developed a knack for punny headlines (many of which were not published).

In her free time, Amina enjoys reading, cooking and cultivating her indoor garden. So far she has not killed any of her plants.

Connect with Amina: @aminamania | +AminaElahi | aelahi@chicagotribune.com

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Meg Graham is a reporter at Blue Sky Innovation. In her time covering business, she’s written about technology, design, startups and her favorite — old companies learning new tricks.

After graduating with a journalism degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012, Meg started as a business reporter for the Kokomo (Ind.) Tribune, covering local business and the auto industry. In 2013, she headed home to Chicago as a business reporter for Grid, a Sun-Times publication. Most recently, Meg covered crime, lawsuits and rotten Chicago weather at the Sun-Times breaking news wire desk. 

When she’s not writing, Meg loves messing up new recipes, camping out at the Art Institute’s Modern Wing and dreaming up book ideas.

Connect with Meg:  @megancgraham  |  +MeganGraham1020  |  mgraham@chicagotribune.com

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Pete Reinwald, Blue Sky's deputy editor and chilly Floridian, works with reporters on content and works with other editors to ensure that Blue Sky Innovation reflects its name. He previously served as the Tribune's consumer-finance editor and e-books coordinator.

His previous newspaper experience included stints with the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat, Detroit Free Press and Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle. As a teen, he briefly picked eggs, picked oranges and picked worms. As an adult, he picks sunshine. Yet 13 years ago, he moved to Chicago, anyway. He earned a B.A. in geography at the University of South Florida and an M.S. in public service management at DePaul University, where he teaches a professional-writing course.

His innovative moment: He and his wife published in suburban Glen Ellyn a community newspaper called "School Week," dedicated to education topics and issues. His innovative vision: a society that works for all. He and his wife have...