Fresh Loaf

Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor Julia Wallace hasn’t talked publicly about three high-level editors who left the paper suddenly on Aug. 1. But she did tell AJC staff members Friday who’ll replace two of the departed editors.

Melissa Turner takes over for Robert Mashburn as senior editor for Sunday’s print edition, and Quindelda McElroy replaces Virginia Lewis as senior coordinator/planning for the digital department. Mashburn, Lewis and top photo editor Chris Stanfield left the paper suddenly on Aug. 1 for undisclosed reasons.

Wallace lumped those two changes together with 10 new assignments connected to the newsroom’s recently announced buyout of 73 staff members. In her memo, which I wrote about Saturday (but got later from business journalism blogger Chris Roush), Wallace and Managing Editor James Mallory say they’ll announce a lot more staff reshuffling today.

Among the other assignments, Public Editor Angela Tuck becomes chief of the Cobb bureau, where almost all the staff members took the buyout. That answers a question from my earlier post, which reported that longtime business editor reporter Matt Kempner would be the paper’s new public editor.

Full text of the memo after the jump.

On Monday, we will announce the newsroom assignments, based on our recent realignment. As we’ve said previously — everyone who did not take the VSP will have a job when this is completed.

Because we accepted more applicants than we planned and did not do involuntary separations, and the mix of people in certain jobs didn’t totally match the needs of the organization, many people will be moving to new areas. Thanks to so many of you for thinking creatively about how you can contribute. A reminder that we do not have the flexibility to give everyone their dream job.

We are doing our best to assign people to jobs where they can succeed, but all will not be perfect fits. But as we found from the past, sometimes apparent odd fits work out great over time when everyone works to make it a success.

On Monday, we will try to notify as many people in person as possible about their new assignments. In late afternoon, the new org. chart will be posted on the Intranet.

To get things going, we’d like to announce a few key assignments today. They are:

* Charlie Gay becomes senior editor/ N&I Sunday. Charlie has provenhimself as a calm-under-fire leader who is constantly working to improve the journalism. In his work on page one and in enterprise, he handled a wide variety with ease. In this new job, he will work with reporters and editors to create high-quality Sunday content that meets the needs of our readers. He will work closely with Reagan Walker and the Sunday senior in print.

* Matt Kempner becomes public editor. The public editor job changes into one focused on working with other departments at the company to build an ongoing and pro-active dialogue with readers about how we can constantly improve. Matt’s work on 2.0 and understanding of how other businesses connect and engage with their customers made him an ideal selection for this critical job.

* Andre Jackson becomes Senior Editor/Business, Federal and State. Andre joined the editorial page in May and has already made a mark, writing about federal oversight of banking, workplace issues and the impact of oil pricing on the economic downturn. He has a deep background in business, most recently working as Assistant Managing Editor for Business at the St. Louis Post Dispatch, where he led expansion of the business section and a redesign of the business news Web site. Andre has an MBA in marketing and management/competitive strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

* Quindelda McElroy becomes Senior Coordinator/Planning in Digital. Q joined Digital in the re-org last year and has quickly shown an aptitude for digital planning while leading the entertainment team. Her digital knowledge and past experience in print will allow her to collaborate with print and N&I, while focusing on digital planning and special projects.

* Melissa Turner becomes Senior Editor/Print Sunday. Melissa will be responsible for making sure the Sunday paper is excellent every week. She will direct a team of designers, copy editors and news editors who will work with N&I to make that happen. Melissa has done it all at the AJC —working in news, features, business and sports (Olympics). Her knowledge of Atlanta, our readers and great journalism will make her very successful in this new job.

* Mark Waligore becomes Senior Editor/Print Daily. Mark has been a creative force on many of our new print products. As 2.0 Sunday moves into implementation, we will begin looking at the daily papers and what they need to be. Mark will work with Todd Duncan, Senior Editor/Daily Initiatives and others to make that work as strong as possible, while guiding the day-to-day operation of daily print.

* Todd Duncan, Ginny Everett, David Gibson, Chris Kraft, Ronnie Ramos, Monica Richardson, Jennifer Ryan, Barb Senftleber, Dorrie Toney and Laura Weaver will remain in their current senior editor assignments.

* Nancy Albritton becomes City and South Editor. Nancy loves a good story and working with reporters to make that happen. In the page one job, she worked with reporters and others to make our journalism as strong as possible. In this new job, she will focus on a key area for us — filled with lots of news — and bring out the best in her staff.

* Dee Dee D’Asaro becomes Entertainment Manager in Digital. Dee Dee has been an important leader in bringing the design desks together in the past year and working with others on 2.0 re-design. Dee Dee decided she wanted to take her strong visual skills and knowledge of features into Digital. Her creativity and collaborative skills will push that group forward as it works with others around the company to grow this area for us.

* Bob Howard becomes North Fulton Bureau Chief. Bob has been a steady force as improving our editing for years — first on the news copy desk and then working with all copy editors in Print. He cares deeply about journalism that is clear, accurate and really matters to readers. He is also a strong leader who will guide the reporters in North Fulton to cover this critical part of our circulation area.

* Thomas Oliver becomes our Business News Columnist, writing about key business issues and what they mean to our readers. Thomas is the former business editor, has written a book on Coke and is a former Journal editorial writer. His knowledge about Atlanta business and keen insights will make this a must-read for smart business people.

* Karen Park becomes the Supervisor for Training and Recruiting. Karen has creatively led our training effort in the past year — creating classes that give us all the skills to move forward. That will become even more critical in the years ahead. Karen will work with Barb and people in the departments to provide training that makes all of us better.

* Angela Tuck becomes Cobb Bureau Chief. Angela has done a brilliant job as public editor, and our readers will miss her. Her level-headed approach and excellent manner kept many readers from leaving us over the years. Angela will lead a strong team of reporters covering Cobb County, a place she has lived for 19 years.

Please join us in congratulating this team.

Julia and James

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Tags: AJC, Angela Tuck, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Chris Stanfield, James Mallory, Julia-Wallace, Melissa Turner, Robert Mashburn, Virginia Lewis.