Will Lingo to be executive director of The Daily Tar Heel

Will Lingo still remembers the first couple of articles that he wrote for The Daily Tar Heel back in the 1980s when he was a staff writer for the then City Desk. 

“It was either about a charity book fair at the library or they were doing something at the graveyard next to Winston dorm,” he said. 

A long-time member of The DTH, Lingo was a reporter and editor when he was a student at the University. He has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2018 and now will take over as executive director. 

While on the board, he worked with the advertising department to organize and raise money, boosted morale in times of instability for the paper and much more. 

In his new role, Lingo said he wants to work with students on maintaining a healthy relationship with journalism, starting with burnout and where it might stem from. 

“I don’t want [burnout] to just be something that people talk about as a way to label what’s going on,” Lingo said. “I want to use it as a jumping off point for deeper conversations about how we can make it better.”

Additionally, he is looking forward to continuing to hone in on advertising in his role, as well as coming up with new and non-traditional products for The DTH. 

2024-25 Editor-in-Chief Laney Crawley said that she is looking forward to working closely with Lingo this coming year and doing great things. 

Lingo previously worked at the Winston-Salem Journal and Baseball America before co-founding Helium Agency, a full-service media agency based in Durham, in 2018. 

Courtney Mitchell, who stepped down as general manager on Friday, is looking forward to seeing a fellow DTH-alumnus in the role, noting that his experience and success makes him well suited for this role. 

“No one knows what the next few years hold for the news landscape, but with a thoughtful, strategic and service-minded executive like Will, The DTH will be well-positioned to navigate shifts and create new pathways for sustainability and innovation in terms of both revenue and audience service,” she said. 

The search for The DTH’s executive director began in March when Mitchell announced she would step down at the end of June. A selection committee chose Lingo for the position after multiple candidates were interviewed and brought to the office to meet and speak with the staff. 

Becca Segal, president of The DTH Board of Directors and a student at the University, said that the committee was looking for a candidate that would focus on the business side of running the nonprofit, and Lingo gave them the confidence that he was the right fit for this position. 

“It honestly just came down to the person who was ready to execute,” Segal said. “The DTH is this super, super complex entity, and Will demonstrated not only his knowledge of how it is now, but his energy, willingness and ability to do some really transformational things. So I was honestly so impressed” 

Erica Beshears Perel, who served as the general manager of The DTH from 2017-2021, helped recruit Lingo to the board and worked closely with him during her time in the role. She said that she is looking forward to seeing what he will bring to the job with his long history at The DTH. 

"[He has] a lot of experience on all sides of publishing, editorial, as well as revenue and I know that he case very deeply about The Daily Tar Heel continuing to provide the opportunities that it has provided for students for a long time, as well as helping it move to the future," Perel said. 

Lingo will begin his new position as executive director shortly. 

“My favorite part of being on the board was just getting to come and hang out in the office on the days I was able to do that, so getting to do that every day will be amazing,” Lingo said.

@nataliemcc212

@dailytarheel | university@dailytarheel.com