Veteran journalist and media executive Kevin Donahue is named as the next editor of Billy Penn at WHYY today.
Donahue is a former senior managing editor at Men’s Health. He has held news manager or editor roles at the Philadelphia Business Journal, Rodale, Philly.com and Philadelphia Daily News.
He will take on the Billy Penn editor role as well as Senior Director of News Specialty Products, a newly created initiative to build capacity around WHYY News digital news content, products and programs. In addition to editing Billy Penn, Donahue will manage The Pulse and PlanPhilly teams.
“Kevin is first and foremost a seasoned media executive who is no less comfortable in general news making as he is with building news franchises like Billy Penn, PlanPhilly and The Pulse. We’re quite fortunate to have him join our news leadership team as we face several opportunities to grow our newsroom’s impact on our regional marketplace,” said Bill Marrazzo, President & CEO of WHYY Inc.
He comes to WHYY from Universal Health Services, one of the largest employers in the Greater Philadelphia region, where he worked as a director of content and publications.
“It would be hard to overstate how excited I am to be joining the WHYY News team,” Donahue said. “The opportunity to help engage, inform and impact our regional community, and to work with talented, dedicated colleagues, is very humbling – especially in this time when so very much seems to be in flux. I look forward to starting the journey together.”
Sarah Glover, WHYY vice president of news and civic dialogue, said Donahue emerged from a competitive nationwide candidate pool. He starts on June 17.
“Billy Penn serves Philadelphia with a unique journalistic voice. The WHYY News team is thrilled to welcome Kevin Donahue as the next editor of Billy Penn. Kevin has a track record of growing and reaching new audiences and is a trusted journalist with a multiplatform journalism background,” said Glover. “We are fortunate that he will take on additional duties to aid audience growth and sharing of best practices across the news department.”
Billy Penn was acquired by WHYY five years ago. The WHYY News brand is celebrating its 10th anniversary in September.
