I’m excited to report the following promotions here at Billy Penn: Shannon Wink is now our Managing Editor, and Danya Henninger is our new Culture Editor.
Shannon, who joined Billy Penn prior to its October 2014 launch from NewsWorks, formerly held the title of Community Manager. But she’s been our de-facto managing editor since the start, consulting on headlines and acting as an essential pair of eyes on every original article we post, as well as handling strategy on social networks, partnerships or any other task we’ve thrown at her.
Danya started as Billy Penn’s part-time Weekend Editor in May. In her new role, she’ll continue to oversee our coverage of events and dining, while adding a wider scope of subjects plus responsibilities that include soliciting and assigning work from freelancers.
Both have accepted their new roles and titles in exactly the way I’d expected: With their trademark grace and good humor.
“When Billy Penn was in its formative stages, Chris was adamant that the one person we needed to go all-out to hire was Shannon. Boy, was he right. Shannon has her hands in every part of Billy Penn — editorial, events, product — and she’s simply a rock star. Frankly, this promotion is merely an acknowledgment of the job Shannon’s being doing since launch,” said Jim Brady, Billy Penn‘s CEO. “Danya made Billy Penn relevant on weekends for the first time when she started. Her fine reporting and writing and her deep knowledge of the Philly food and drink scene have been invaluable to us, and I cannot tell you how thrilled we are that she’s now a full-time Billy Penn staffer. She’s earned it, and we owe much of our success to her.”
The promotions are effective immediately. They come on the heels of a minority investment by publishing giant Gannett in Billy Penn’s parent company, which will fuel new roles in Philadelphia and other markets.
