Tegna Shake Up in DC
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A big shake up is going down at Tegna's WUSA in DC.
News Director Bill Lord is stepping away and Michael Valentine will be joining WUSA as VP Station Manager/ Director of Content (which is the ND role).
Here is the internal email, obtained by FTVLive that was sent inside Tegna and to the staff at WUSA.
From: "Franks, Lisa"
Date: December 2, 2016 at 10:30:09 AM EST
To: TEGNA Media Management Team TEGNA Media General Managers , WUSA-All
Subject: WUSA Announcements from Peter Diaz
Two years ago we asked Bill Lord to step into the WUSA newsroom to right a tilting ship. Today the ship has wind in its sails and bustling to overtake the worn masts of other boats. And it is fair wind, blowing warm out of the South, beckoning the Captain to chart a new course. So with the wind at his back, and a long illustrious career of achievements, Bill shared year-end retirement plans with his staff this morning. Please join me in thanking Bill for his WUSA contributions and wishing him well in the retirement phase of life. It would be unwise to allow momentum to wane.
I am delighted to announce that Michael Valentine will be joining WUSA as VP Station Manager/ Director of Content. Working with incoming president and general manager Richard Dyer, Michael will lead news transformation initiatives at WUSA continuing the movement to platform agnostic content and an audience first culture. Michael’s previous roles at TEGNA / Gannett / Belo have uniquely prepared him for this assignment. As VP/News for TEGNA over the past three years, he has been directly involved with newsrooms across the company in orchestrating change and transformation projects. Earlier in his career he ran the Dallas/WFAA newsroom before being promoted to corporate VP of Content for Belo.
Michael has a MA from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and a BA from the University of Vermont. He and his wife, Kriste, live in Leesburg, VA with their daughters; Taylor and Emerson. Michael officially begins his new job on January 2nd. Congratulations Michael on this new exciting chapter of your professional career!
PETER DIAZ
Executive Vice President | TEGNA Media
