Former WSJ executive named Knight chair

Penelope Muse Abernathy, a former executive at The Wall Street Journal, has been named the Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her appointment takes effect July 1.

As an executive, Abernathy launched new enterprises and helped increase revenue at some of the nation’s most prominent news organizations and publishing companies, including The Journal, The New York Times and the Harvard Business Review. At The Journal, she oversaw the international division and reversed its declining revenue to profitability in less than a year.

“Penny has done both journalism and business at a high level and in a great variety of situations. She is creative, entrepreneurial, focused and results-oriented,” said Paul Steiger, former managing editor at the Journal and a Knight Foundation trustee, in a statement. “I have high confidence that Penny will be able to convert her effectiveness in the worlds of business and journalism to success in the academy, and in short order.”

Before moving to the business side of the industry, Abernathy served as a newspaper reporter or editor at several daily newspapers, including The Charlotte Observer, The Greensboro News & Record, The Dallas Times-Herald, The Wichita Eagle-Beacon, The Fayetteville Times and The Laurinburg Exchange.

“Penny brings to every task both the creative and inquiring eye of a seasoned journalist as well as analytical rigor,” said Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman and publisher of The New York Times Co., in a statement.

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