Towns named to new VP role at Gannett

Hollis Towns, Atlantic regional editor, has been promoted to second-in-command in the local news division for the USA TODAY Network. As vice president of local news initiatives and regional editor, Hollis will oversee several of our regions and help set the strategy and priorities for the local news division.

He will work closely with our newsrooms and their leaders on a daily basis, helping to guide them to success. He’ll also oversee specific projects and will work closely with our partners in other divisions.

Hollis began his career with Gannett in 2004 as managing editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer. He was later promoted to executive editor and helped to oversee the Enquirer’s daily news, weekly and digital products, as well as serve as liaison for Gannett’s northern Ohio properties. He spent 10 years as editor of the Asbury Park Press (New Jersey) and helped to launch one of the company’s earliest regional newsroom strategies with OneJersey. Anyone who has worked with Hollis knows he’s an ambitious journalist who aims to right wrongs and expose wrongdoing through our work and is a fantastic leader who has spent his career focused on better diversifying our industry and our coverage.

—Amalie Nash, Sr. VP for Local News/Gannett

Examining immigration issues

With the election of President Donald Trump, illegal immigration has become even more of a hot-button issue, and the USA Today network has led the way with aggressive coverage.

In order to gain better insight on controversial border crossings, Joanne Lipman, Chief Content Officer for USA Today network and Randy Lovely, VP of Community News, led a small group of editors to the border town of Nogales, Mexico. I was part of the June 2017 team that visited to learn about the illegal border-crossing issue first-hand.

The trip laid the the groundwork for a far-reaching newsroom project that promises to shed new light on this divisive issue.