Former Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter and High Profiles Editor Rachel O’Neal Chaney will return to the newspaper April 1 to be its new business editor.
Democrat-Gazette International Editor Yavonda Chase will also take a new role as an assistant city editor, Managing Editor David Bailey said Wednesday.
Chaney left the newspaper in November after three years of editing High Profiles to become communications director for the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation.
“This is a great place to be,” Chaney said of the foundation. “My heart’s just with the newspaper, and I’ve realized that’s where I want to be.”
Chaney, 49, replaces Roger Hedges, who retired in January after 12 years as assistant managing editor for business and a total of 26 years at the paper.
She worked from 1989-2000 as a reporter for the Arkansas Democrat and the Democrat-Gazette, covering North Little Rock, Little Rock and the Capitol. Chaney eventually served as Capitol bureau chief before leaving for an 8½ -year stint in corporate communications at Acxiom Corp.
As business editor, Chaney will oversee reporters in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas who cover the state’s companies, energy industry and agriculture.
“Rachel is immensely qualified for almost anything a newspaper does,” Bailey said. “She’s a good editor; she’s a good manager and she’s a team builder.”
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Chaney decided to move to Little Rock,attracted to the hyper-competitive “newspaper war” brewing between the Democrat and the Arkansas Gazette at the time.
“I’m excited about this opportunity and trying something new,” Chaney said. “It’s a really great team over there, and I’m excited to work with them.”
As one of the newspaper’s assistant city editors, Chase, 35, will help supervise reporters and generate story ideas for the paper’s news sections.
Chase has a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from Harding University in Searcy.
She joined the Democrat-Gazette staff in 2000, first working as a copy editor.
She became national editor in 2003 and international editor in 2006. In those roles, she assembled and edited stories from the newspaper’s wire services.
“I look forward to working with reporters and dealing with local issues,” Chase said.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 03/14/2013