WBNS in Columbus has finally named a news director: Kelly Frank. She's headed to the Dispatch station from WGCL where she's the Senior Managing Editor of Broadcast, Digital & Social. Prior to WGCL, Frank was an EP at CNN.

Frank had been at at the Atlanta station only about 7 months.

WBNS GM John Cardenas sent out the requisite flowery press release, saying: "Kelly’s depth, experience and background in television news combined with her expertise in digital and social media content makes her the perfect candidate for the job as we move more towards a digitally-centric news operation.  Her contemporary and progressive approach will help grow our audiences while maintaining the journalistic integrity we have long been known for."

Coincidentally, Frank's partner is former Tribune SVP of News, Katherine Green, who FTVLive first reported was leaving her corporate gig to spend more time with her family in Atlanta.

Here is the full internal memo sent to the staff and obtained by FTVLive:

I’m thrilled to announce Kelly Frank will be joining 10TV as our new Director of News and Digital Content.  Kelly is currently the Senior Managing Editor, Broadcast, Digital, & Social at WGCL in Atlanta.  In her current role, she manages content across all platforms including television, digital and social media.

Kelly most recently worked as Executive Producer, U.S. Operations for CNN where she supervised several show teams over four plus years.  While at CNN, Kelly oversaw special coverage for hurricanes, politics, the Japan Earthquake/Tsunami and the Gulf Oil spill producing shows with Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Christiane Amanpour and Soledad O’Brien. She was part of the team that took home three Peabody Awards for coverage of the 2008 election, the 2010 Gulf Oil spill and coverage of the Arab Spring.

Before working at CNN, Kelly was an Executive Producer in Washington DC for Fox owned WTTG, overseeing the Emmy-award winning morning news and then evening news. She moved to the nation’s capital after spending 6 years as an Executive Producer and Producer for NBC affiliates in Phoenix and Milwaukee.

Kelly is no stranger to Columbus and is in fact a diehard Buckeye fan.  She began her career across the street at WCMH where she produced weekend and weekday morning news. She grew up in Southern California but moved to Columbus where she was a two time All-Ohio softball pitcher at Bishop Ready High School.  Kelly holds a Bachelors degree from Kentucky Wesleyan College where she now proudly serves on the Board of Trustees. Kelly will graduate next year with a Master’s degree in Social Media from the University of Florida, the only program of its kind in the country.  

Kelly’s depth, experience and background in television news combined with her expertise in digital and social media content makes her the perfect candidate for the job as we move more towards a digitally-centric news operation.  Her contemporary and progressive approach will help grow our audiences while maintaining the journalistic integrity we have long been known for.

Kelly’s other passion in life besides news are her two daughters Gracen(3) and Avery(1.5).  Kelly and her family will make the move in August and Kelly will begin on August 30th.  Please join me in welcoming Kelly to the team. 

John Cardenas
President & GM WBNS-10TV