Eight and a half years after founding MinnPost, we are excited to announce that we will be transitioning out of management later this year, turning it over to two leaders who joined the enterprise two years ago.
At its April 19 meeting, the MinnPost board of directors gave final approval to a plan to promote Andrew Wallmeyer from publisher to CEO and Andrew Putz from executive editor to editor, effective October 18. Laurie was elected to her own spot on the board, and she will become chair of the development committee.
As CEO, Wallmeyer will have overall responsibility for the success and financial health of MinnPost, and will report to the chair of the board. As Editor, Putz will have full control over all editorial decision-making. He will report to Wallmeyer, with a dotted-line report to the board chair. The board affirmed MinnPost’s long-standing commitment to the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics, which requires editorial independence from any outside influence — a value strongly shared by both Wallmeyer and Putz.
Under the direction of Wallmeyer, MinnPost increased the number of member households by 15% last year, more than double our previous pace of growth, and is on course for an even faster growth rate this year. And under the direction of Putz, traffic to MinnPost articles has shown double-digit growth over the past year, and for the second year in a row the Online News Association named us one of the nation’s top sites of our size.
The two Andys have a tremendous supporting cast. Director of advertising and sponsorship Sally Waterman and web editor and design guru Corey Anderson have been with us since before we launched in 2007, and managing editor Susan Albright joined MinnPost in 2008. Bethany Hollenkamp was hired as office manager in 2014, and was promoted to director of finance and operations earlier this year. Claire Radomski joined us in January as director of development.
We are equally proud of the rest of the MinnPost team, including advertising operations director Brian Perry, user experience engineer Jonathan Stegall, news editor Tom Nehil, projects editor Roger Buoen, staff writers Briana Bierschbach, Eric Black, Sam Brodey, Peter Callaghan, Erin Hinrichs, Ibrahim Hirsi and Greta Kaul; advertising and membership assistant Laura Lindsay, our contract writers, free-lancers and many volunteers, ranging from board members to comment moderators. You can read brief bios of all staff members here.
Once we leave our management roles in October, we intend to remain actively involved, from our seats on the board, in supporting the new management team — especially in the area of generating sufficient resources to sustain and grow our editorial efforts. Joel will serve as a mentor/coach to both Andys, and Laurie — as chair of the development committee — will work closely with Wallmeyer and Radomski on nurturing our major gifts initiatives. Jill Field will become MinnPost’s third board chair in October, replacing Jack Dempsey, who followed Lee Lynch.
Founding and leading MinnPost has been a profoundly enriching experience for us. We are especially grateful to the many thousands of donors who make the work of our 501(c)(3) possible, and to the readers who have made MinnPost an important player in the media landscape of the Twin Cities and Minnesota. We look forward to even better times ahead.
