Cardinal News is pleased to announce that Megan Schnabel will take on a new role within the organization as managing editor.
Schnabel will begin immediately, working directly with Cardinal’s reporters in developing both daily and project stories.
She was one of Cardinal’s first two reporters and has written stories ranging from flooding in Hurley to an inland port for our region to solar fields in coal country.
With Schnabel taking over the day-to-day management of Cardinal’s reporters, Executive Editor Dwayne Yancey will be able to focus more on strategic decisions regarding news coverage as Cardinal continues to grow, and to accommodate the increased demands for speaking engagements. He also will continue to write his column, consistently among the most-read articles on Cardinal’s site.
Yancey has served as Cardinal’s ambassador and will now be able to accommodate even more requests for public speaking about the importance of local journalism, and of supporting new models that bring foundational principles of independent reporting to inform people of the context in which to consider the day’s issues.
Cardinal started with an editorial staff of Yancey, Schnabel and political reporter Markus Schmidt and has rapidly grown its reach and staff.
“It became clear that our reporting staff is growing beyond the capacity of any one editor, even one as formidable as Dwayne. We needed additional editing power, and no one can fill that role better than Megan,” said executive director Luanne Rife. “Our readers know her as an immensely talented writer. They’ll now get to know of her immeasurable editing talents.”
Schnabel has been a journalist in Southwest Virginia for more than 25 years. She started out writing about economic development, technology and retail business for The Roanoke Times, then became an editor at the newspaper, overseeing coverage of topics including business, local government and criminal justice. She also spent two years as editor of The Blue Ridge Business Journal. She holds a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and lives in Roanoke.
Cardinal will begin an immediate search to fill her business reporting position.