Nicole Stockdale, a native Midwesterner who has helped oversee five newsrooms in California for McClatchy in recent years, will become the next executive editor of The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) and The Herald-Sun (Durham, North Carolina).
Stockdale replaces Bill Church, who left the Triangle after three years last summer to become executive editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Robyn Tomlin, who oversees news operations for McClatchy nationwide, announced his successor on Thursday. Tomlin told N&O staff that competition for the job was stiff, but that Stockdale stood out because of her “visionary leadership, strategic acumen and collaborative nature.”