Jeffrey Spivak specializes in metropolitan trends and in-depth research projects for The Star. Projects include a light-rail plan for Kansas City, which won the American Planning Association's journalism award, and Kansas City's abuse of tax-increment financing, which is a finalist for the Gerald Loeb Awards for business journalism.

Spivak is author of the books, Crowning the Kansas City Royals: Remembering the 1985 World Series Champs and Union Station Kansas City, about the Kansas City landmark building.

Spivak received a journalism degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and earned a master’s in business administration from the University of Kansas.