Inside LINK is a weekly column from our CEO, Lacy Starling. If you have questions you’d like Lacy to answer, email her at [email protected].
Earlier this week, our Chief Content Officer, Michael Monks, announced his departure from LINK, and NKY altogether.
What came as a surprise to many in the community was not a surprise to us at LINK. I think it was the second time I met Michael, back in March of 2021, that he told me he wanted to move to LA. His desire to move to the coast, to a city that held such potential for him, was a running theme of our conversations in the 18 months we worked together.
As someone who pulled up stakes and moved away from my hometown sixteen years ago, I understand. The siren song of a fresh start and a new adventure is strong, and we wish Michael nothing but incredible success in his new life.
We absolutely could not have built LINK without Michael. The work he did with the River City News laid a foundation that we were able to build on, and his year as our Chief Content Officer helped form our team, and develop our coverage of his hometown.
But a well-built organization is never the work of just one person, and a sustainable organization cannot fall apart with the departure of one person, even a founder. I’ve said from the beginning that what we are building is much bigger than any one of us, and that LINK will remain standing long after all of us are gone.
While we will miss Michael, we will not miss a beat in our coverage. We’ve spent the months since he let us know he was leaving re-organizing our team, re-assigning our beats, and preparing ourselves for his departure. We’re now into our second year of reporting on the NKY metro, and we feel good about our team, our coverage, and our future.
We also have the incredible advantage of another long-time veteran of NKY news already in the organization – Mark Collier ran Fort Thomas Matters and covered Northern Kentucky as long as Michael did. He may be in a different role now, but his institutional knowledge and understanding of the NKY landscape is invaluable to us.
For those of you wondering, we will not be replacing Michael in the role of Chief Content Officer. At least not with a new hire. Instead, we’re going to turn to you, our readers, to help us guide our content and decide what is important to cover.
Yes, that’s right – YOU are our new Chief Content Officer. You, who read all the way to the end of this column, who consumes our content daily, who subscribes to our print edition and who gets our daily email newsletter. You, our engaged reader (or our reader who would be more engaged if we just covered the things important to you).
Our content only meets our mission – advancing NKY in the region, the commonwealth and the nation – if it addresses the issues that are important to you.
So welcome to the team, new Chief Content Officer. I’ll be back next week to onboard you, and to go over expectations with you. We’re happy to have you on board.