Who We Are
Our company, Commonwealth Editorial Services, is a group of writers, editors, and proofreaders with more than seventy-five years of collective experience at their jobs.
Rob Hewitt, Managing Editor
Over the last thirty years, Rob has edited numerous books and created scores of smaller pieces, such as magazine articles, marketing materials, multimedia scripts, and websites. He has also authored two books, one of which was nominated for the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Nonfiction. A teacher at heart, Rob particularly enjoys taking complex subject matter and making it understandable for a general audience. He received his B.A. and M.Ed. from the University of Virginia, and was awarded a Diploma in Christian Studies from Regent College in Vancouver, B.C.
Dara Powers Parker, Lead Editor
After more than 20 years in the publishing industry, Dara feels most at home in books—whether reading them, writing them, or making them better. She started as an editorial and production manager for a publisher in Charlottesville, Virginia, and since then has been a book coach, copyeditor, developmental editor, ghostwriter, copywriter, book designer, and English teacher. Moreover, Dara is the author of three novels and her (ghost)writing has appeared in such diverse publications as Marlin Magazine, Country Sampler, and The Washington Post.
Jeffrey L. Zvengrowski, Editor
Jeff has a PhD in History from the University of Virginia. He gained extensive proofreading experience from the process of writing his dissertation, his dissertation-based book, and several academic articles. Jeff also has several years of experience transcribing historical manuscripts for Founders Online, a repository of writings by "seven major shapers" of the United States, as well as additional work for The Washington Papers, where he worked as an assistant editor for eight years.
Callie Blackwell, Editor
Callie lives in Richmond, Virginia with her wonderful husband, Garreth, and four sweet kids. She has an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Mississippi and has spent most of her professional career writing, editing, and designing. When she’s not homeschooling her kids and adventuring with her family, she loves to tend to her house plants and garden, read classic fiction, write poetry, and play board games.
Emily Peters, Editor
Emily is an educator across a variety of ages and platforms, beginning her career in the middle/high school public school classroom and transitioning to community college courses. In the collegiate space, she created engaging online instructional design and provided training for other instructors. Emily has also worked with university research associates, proofreading and editing for journal and conference paper submissions. She is currently homeschooling her and her husband's three children.