Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Katrice Hardy is set to oversee the Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper as Southeast regional editor for Gannett Co.’s USA Today Network. Hardy started her new job a couple of weeks ago.
Hardy will work from an office based in Greenville, S.C., the home of the Asheville Citizen-Times’ sister newspaper, The Greenville News, where she will serve as that newspaper’s executive editor.
In June, the Citizen-Times named Katie Wadington, a former part-time editor in Asheville, to the role of executive editor. Wadington replaced Josh Awtry, who oversaw both the Asheville and Greenville newspapers from here in Asheville. Awtry moved up the Gannett chain to become senior director of news strategy for Gannett and the USA Today Network, which was created last year.
What is the USA Today Network, you ask? It is Gannett’s attempt to meld its national USA Today brand with all the local newspapers it owns. It is also Gannett’s attempt to accomplish investigative journalism by uniting the forces of all its various reporting assets. That’s where Hardy’s work as a regional editor will come into play: she’ll oversee the news-gathering efforts of a total of four Gannett newspapers: the Asheville and Greenville papers, as well as Gannett newspapers in Anderson, S.C., and Staunton, Va.
Good luck to Hardy. Here’s more about Hardy from The Virginian Pilot:
Katrice Hardy, managing editor of The Virginian-Pilot, is leaving the newspaper after 21 years for a position with Gannett Co. in South Carolina.
Hardy, 42, will be executive editor of The Greenville News. She also will be one of Gannett’s 15 regional editors, leading the southeast and overseeing three other newspapers in Asheville, N.C.; Anderson, S.C.; and Staunton, Va.
Gannett Co.’s flagship newspaper is USA Today. She will start her new job on Sept. 12.
Pilot Editor Steve Gunn said Hardy brings a great focus to local journalism that readers in South Carolina will come to love: “Hampton Roads’ loss is Carolina’s gain. We all wish her the best.”
Born in Baton Rouge, La., Hardy has spent her entire career at The Pilot, starting as an intern in 1995.
Here’s more about Wadington, from the Asheville Citizen-Times announcement:
Wadington joined the Citizen-Times in 2005. Over the past decade, she has held multiple leadership positions within the company, including business editor, assistant copy desk chief and editor of WNC Parent. Before moving to Asheville, she was the national news editor at the Chicago Sun-Times.
She has been recognized as one of Gannett’s emerging leaders and was selected as part of the region’s Leadership 5.0 Development Program in 2014.
Minor correction, Jason – Katie Waddington is not “executive editor” of the AC-T. If you go to the AC-T staff directory, she’s listed as “news director”. I traded tweets with her last month, and she described her role thusly: “As news director, I’m lead editor.”
I think they just don’t want us to realize that Asheville’s newspaper is being run out of Greenville SC.
Like being promoted to captain of the Titanic.