Beginning Aug. 30, Mike Thoele will step in as Oregon Daily Emerald interim publisher. Thoele’s appointment follows the departure of first Emerald publisher Kellee Weinhold, who will start a new job with Living Social on Sept. 7. 
The Oregon Daily Emerald Board of Directors hired Thoele for a four-month interim period while a national search is conducted to find a permanent publisher. Thoele has four decades of combined reporting, editing, publishing and instructing experience.
“Mike Thoele’s name is synonymous with integrity and journalistic excellence,” said Melody Ward Leslie, board chair. “We are certain that the Emerald will thrive under his leadership while we conduct a national search for a permanent publisher.”
Thoele has assembled a three-person team to temporarily fill professional staff vacancies, including two former Register-Guard advertising executives. The interim team includes former Register-Guard advertising executives Michael Raz and Donovan Mack, who will step in as joint advertising directors to advise student sales executives, and Brianne Beigh, who will return to the as creative services manager after leaving in July to freelance as a graphic designer.
“All of us on the team have had valued mentoring relationships with university students over a period of years,” Thoele said. “For each of us, this is an opportunity to give back and, with luck, to leave the Emerald in a better place with all of its key positions filled by permanent hires.”
Theole has worked with student journalists as an adjunct journalism instructor at the University since 1974 and as the former owner and publisher of Junction City and Veneta newspapers.
Emerald Editor-in-Chief Nora Simon said the newsroom will benefit from Thoele’s expertise.
“Hiring an interim publisher who understands both student journalists and the inner workings of the newspaper business will put the Emerald in a strong position to do great things this year,” she said.
The Emerald will publish its next edition, Game Day vs. New Mexico, on Friday, Sept. 3 and will publish Game Days every Friday in September. Daily publication will resume the first day of fall term, Monday, Sept. 27.