Ronnie Agnew Joins New Jersey Advance as General Manager, Content

Cara Erickson, president of media executive search firm NewCoordinates, LLC is pleased to have partnered with New Jersey Advance Media to recruit journalism and public media executive Ronnie Agnew as its General Manager for Content. In this new leadership role, Agnew will focus particularly on journalistic and audience strategy, community outreach to serve the state’s diverse audiences, internal DEI efforts, partnerships, and newsroom operations. He reports to Steve Alessi, president of New Jersey Advance.

Agnew brings more than two decades of leadership to NJAM, most recently 11 years in public media as executive director at Mississippi Public Broadcasting and general manager at WOSU Public Media in Columbus, Ohio. Previously, he was executive editor at The Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi’s largest paper, where he led notable coverage of the civil rights movement. His earlier journalism experience includes executive editor at the Dothan (AL) Eagle and metro and suburban editor at the Cincinnati Enquirer. Agnew’s teams have won national journalism awards. He has served on the national PBS Board of Directors and chaired the board of America’s Public Television Stations. He has judged the Pulitzer Prizes four times.

Concurrently, Chris Kelly was promoted to VP, Content for the New Jersey Advance newsroom, which produces the leading statewide website NJ.com, The Star-Ledger, The South Jersey Times, and affiliated newspapers. Kelly was previously Senior Director for Content and Innovation and has held editorial roles within the newsroom since 2014.

NJAM President Alessi noted that the team of Agnew and Kelly is ideally suited to build on the company’s tradition of journalistic excellence, while also guiding the organization through this time of challenge and change in the news industry.

New Jersey Advance is a division of privately-held Advance Local Publishing, one of the nation’s leading local media companies.