DTH board approves new general manager

A new face will be coming to The Daily Tar Heel later this semester.

The Daily Tar Heel’s Board of Directors voted unanimously Tuesday to appoint Kelly Wolff as the paper’s fifth general manager. She will begin in the position Nov. 6.

Wolff said she is looking forward to being around a bunch of college students.

“This is such a great opportunity to work with people as they are trying to figure out what to do with their lives,” she said.

Wolff has been the general manager of a media company at Virginia Tech since 1999 in addition to past positions at Radford University and a community TV station in Madison, Wis.

Wolff said rapid changes are defining the journalism landscape, which includes an influx of social media that has left some people in the news business in the dark.

“The business model of journalism has kind of blown up, and people are still trying to pick up all the pieces and do the forensic analysis,” she said.

But Wolff said she doesn’t think the change will be negative for college newspapers.

“If you have content and your content has value then people are going to want to access it and read it,” she said.

The paper has operated financially independently of the University since 1993 — a feature that Wolff thinks is important to maintaining a high-quality product.

“It’s a model that basically puts its money where its mouth is,” she said.

Wolff will replace Kevin Schwartz, who has held the general manager position off and on since 1988. Schwartz said he is confident the transition will be a smooth one.

“It will be a nice challenge for Kelly, but one for which we obviously feel she is prepared,” he said in a statement.

“I look forward to helping her get her feet under her and following her progress from afar.”

Newsroom adviser Erica Perel said she has known Wolff casually through a college media association and thinks she is a good fit for the position.

“She’s always impressed me as a smart thinker about college media,” Perel said.

Perel said Wolff’s background and energy will add a lot to the mix of talent.

“She runs a good program at Virginia Tech,” she said. “She’ll be able to bring her work experience and how she’s handled things there.”

Editor-in-chief Nicole Comparato said the position of general manager plays a vital role in the paper’s success.

“The general manager is someone who basically makes sure we can do what we want to do, and Kelly seems like a person who understands our vision for the paper and wants to help us achieve it,” she said.

Comparato said she thinks Wolff will be well-suited for the role.

“She’s definitely someone who understands all aspects of student media and what goes into publishing a successful newspaper,” she said.

university@dailytarheel.com