After graduating from Comsewogue High School in 1987, he got a Bachelor's degree in Communications from Boston College (graduated 1991), then went on to attain his Master's in Journalism at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1993.
Grew up in Port Jefferson Station, Long Island, New York.
His sister, Courtney, and her husband, Brian, welcomed their second son on September 16, 2013. Their first son is named Clinton, after his uncle.