Francesca Maximé is a seasoned journalist with over a decade of experience. She graduated from Harvard University in 1994 with a degree in English Literature. She began her journalism career in her hometown of Boston as an intern for WCVB, and soon got a Weekend Anchor job at WIVT in Binghamton, NY. Francesca then worked as a Reporter and Anchor in various northeast cities, including Philadelphia, Boston, Hartford, and Syracuse. Francesca has reported live, first-hand, on such national stories as the Beltway Sniper Shootings, the August 2003 blackout, the Martha Moxley/Skakel murder case, the Dartmouth Professor slayings, and the disappearance of Molly Bish. She has interviewed President Bill Clinton, Senators John Kerry, Chris Dodd, Charles Schumer, Joe Lieberman, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Vice President Dan Quayle, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Philadelphia Mayor John Street, and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.  Francesca also worked as an Entertainment Reporter for Comcast’s “Backstage,” and has interviewed countless celebrities including Debra Messing, Damon Wayans, Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson, Steve Martin, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, Huey Lewis and Robert Duvall. Her last television job was as the Primary Nighttime Anchor (and Reporter) at WEAR-TV ABC3, the #1 station in Pensacola, Florida. While in Pensacola, Francesca spent as much time working out in the community, as inside the newsroom. In 2006, Francesca joined the Pensacola Young Professionals and founded the Quality of Life Environmental Subcommittee to effort curbside recycling in Escambia County, which was passed in April of 2008.  She also served as a working board member of the Pensacola Opera, Film Festival, and National Association on Drug and Alcohol Dependence. In 2007, Francesca was awarded the “Beacon Award” in the Media Category, given out by the “Circuit One Community Alliance,” for her work on behalf of foster children. As a Haitian-Dominican Italian-American, Francesca is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the National Association of Black Journalists, and also volunteers her mentoring and media consulting services to the Asian American Journalists Association.  She is proficient in Spanish, French, and Italian, and spent a summer while at Harvard working for “Let’s Go: Italy,” researching and writing content for the budget travel guide. She loves keeping up to date with all her friends, and has an active Facebook and Twitter page. Francesca was born and raised Catholic and enjoys knowing that, with God, she is never alone.

Matt McClure is thrilled to be part of the team at NET! Matt comes to New York City from Atlanta where he most recently served as Morning Anchor for the Georgia News Network and WGST-AM. Before that, he was Afternoon News Supervisor at WDUN-AM and WMJE-FM in Gainesville, GA, and Morning Anchor at WNEG-TV in Toccoa, GA. He’s also served as News Director for WGTJ-AM in Gainesville, GA and got his radio start at WDGR-AM in Dahlonega, GA.  During his career, Matt has been the recipient of numerous Associated Press awards for his work, including several “Best Newscast” Awards and the 2007 “Best Anchor/Reporter” Award in Georgia. He has also served as music minister in churches in Metro Atlanta. Although he misses his family and the great southern food, Matt is making the transition to New York-style pizza and rides on the subway. A native of Gainesville, GA, Matt now lives in the Upper West Side with a roommate and his wonderful dog, Max.

Nathalia Ortiz has been working in the television industry since 2000.  She began her career as an intern at Univision network in Miami and parlayed that into a steady position as production assistant for a national dance/music show called “Caliente”; all while attending Florida International University. There, she received a BS in Communications with a concentration in Broadcast Journalism. She earned the “employee of the year” award after her first year in the company and eventually became the producer entrusted with coordinating national and international productions.  All along Nathalia’s long term goal was to be a reporter. Some of her earliest on-camera work includes reporting for several of Univision’s network shows; among these the fast-paced teen magazine show, “Control” and a regular segment on “Caliente”. She continued learning the ropes on-camera by co-hosting a weekly entertainment show called “Romance” for a local cable network, LTV in 2003. In 2005 her career continued to grow as she became part of one of Univision’s most prestigious departments: Special Events.  There, she oversaw essential aspects of live events including Univision’s premiere award show, “Premio Lo Nuestro”, “Latin Grammys”, and “Premios Juventud”, for which she was part of the original production team. After honing her skills behind the scenes, Nathalia decided to shift her focus completely to journalism. In 2006 she became the weekend reporter for WLTV, Univision’s local station in Miami. There, she covered important events such as President Bush’s visit to Miami and issues regarding Cuban political affairs, local crime and politics. Nathalia considers herself the quintessential “Miami girl”. Though she was born in New Jersey of Cuban and Colombian parents and lived in Houston in her early childhood (which holds a special place in her heart), she lived in Miami for over 20 years. She moved to New York City in late 2008 to report for News12 and shortly after joined NET as reporter and fill-in co-anchor of “Currents”. Besides television her passions include ballet, fashion, wine tasting and entrepreneurship. 

Lino Rulli hosts the entertaining radio show “The Catholic Guy”, heard across North America on SiriusXMSatellite Radio. He has worked in television since 1998; this 3-time Emmy award winner has won most of the nation’s top awards in journalism. For six years he was host of “Generation Cross”, a Catholic comedy show. Lino won back-to-back Emmy awards for Program Host and was the first person to win an Emmy for hosting Catholic programming since Archbishop Fulton Sheen. His production company, Linose Productions, LLC, is part of a team whose credits include: Dateline NBC, CBS Evening News, The Food Network, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities USA, among others. Lino also produced ”Champions of Faith”, a film featuring major league baseball players and their Catholic Faith. Lino has a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in theology.