Albers named Herald managing editor
Veteran reporter and editor Gwen Albers of Naples has been promoted to managing editor of the Bonners Ferry Herald.
A reporter at the Daily Bee in Sandpoint, Albers replaces Kathy Nussberger, who resigned.
"Gwen Albers will be a great managing editor," said Herald Publisher David Keyes. "She understands what community journalism is, she loves Boundary County and wants to continue to make the Bonners Ferry Herald a great newspaper."
Albers in March 2006 joined Hagadone Newspapers. She moved from her lifelong home in northwestern Pennsylvania to Libby, Mont., for a reporting position with The Western News. Albers moved to Libby sight unseen with only the belongings that fit in her car. She said she made the right decision.
"The Northwest is great," Albers said. "I love having the opportunity to write about the people here while exploring the outdoors during my free time."
Albers in April transferred from The Western News to the Daily Bee in Sandpoint, which is also a Hagadone newspaper. In Sandpoint, she reports on city matters, business and the outdoors.
"When I heard about the opening in Bonners Ferry, I was immediately interested," she said. "I'm a small-town girl who enjoys sharing a small community's stories. I can already tell there's a lot of good stories to be told in the Bonners area."
The Bonners Ferry Herald is also owned by Hagadone Newspapers.
A native of Warren, Pa., near Erie, Albers has worked for newspapers as a reporter, editor and photographer for 22 years. Before moving to Libby, she was a reporter for the Erie Times-News, an award-winning regional publication that was Pennsylvania's Newspaper of the Year in 2003. She also worked for several smaller newspapers in western Pennsylvania.
Albers in the early 1990s received a statewide award for investigative reporting for the murder of a northwestern Pennsylvania college student. The death of Butch Pratt was turned into a television movie starring Kate Jackson.
Albers over a period of 10 years also taught writing and journalism courses at Thiel College in Greenville, Pa., and served as the advisor to the private college's weekly student newspaper.
She has an English degree with an emphasis in journalism from Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pa., and a master's in journalism from Ohio University in Athens.
Albers, 46, enjoys hiking, traveling, fishing, hunting, downhill and cross country skiing, photography, camping, cooking and scrap-booking. She and her significant other, John Thomas of Naples, are looking forward to a red stag hunting trip to New Zealand next spring.