Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509080092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
She will replace Forrest Landon, who will step down as executive editor in keeping with corporate policy that top managers not serve after age 62.
Zomparelli, 45, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Cornell University. She worked as a writer and a copy editor for The Raleigh (N.C.) Times and later the Raleigh News & Observer. In Roanoke, she has been assistant features editor, then features editor and, for the past three years, assistant to the publisher.
Rugaber praised Zomparelli for making improvements to the company's strategic plan and for her work with a reader research program, the results of which will play a significant role in how the newspaper pursues new subscribers while continuing to satisfy current ones.
Zomparelli also directed similar research for Landmark Communications, the Norfolk company that owns The Roanoke Times and the daily newspapers in Norfolk and Greensboro, N.C.
"Getting a new editor is always a big deal for the paper. If you go back three editors in our history, we'd be in the '50s," Rugaber said.
He praised Landon for being a fierce supporter of news operations, and said that, while the newspaper is strong and does not need "rebuilding," the pressure for change "will just not go away."
The paper needs to manage its newsroom resources carefully, Rugaber said, and it needs a leader who is astute in the company's Continuous Improvement and team-management programs, as well as one with "nerve and courage."
Zomparelli has a willingness to "jump in and learn," and she has "grit and determination," he said.
Zomparelli, who is married to Hollins College Professor Andre Spies and has one son, Sam, becomes the first female top editor for the Roanoke paper.
She said returning to the newsroom will take her back to the reason she became a journalist.
"I love stories," she said.
The editor she succeeds has been a prominent figure in the Roanoke Valley since he joined Times-World Corp. 40 years ago on the same day it began WDBJ-Television.
Landon worked in broadcasting for a decade and was news director of WDBJ-Radio. He was an editorial writer for the newspaper when the communications company was sold to Landmark and the radio and television stations were sold to new owners.
Landon was editor of the editorial page of The Roanoke Times when he came to the newsroom to work in 1973.
He also was moderator of the "Nightline" show on WBRA-TV until he became the newspaper's managing editor in 1979. He has been executive editor since 1982.
Landon is married to Barbara Landon, development director for WBRA-TV, and they have a grown daughter and son.
After the end of the year, Landon said, he possibly will begin a column on local issues for the editorial department. He also hopes to establish a statewide First Amendment foundation that can work to make local and state government and public records more accessible.
He is a past president of the Virginia Press Association and was on its board until June.
by CNB