Last week, after a vote of the senior staff members, The Hoya was proud to announce that Evan Hollander would be the 2013-2014 Chair of the The Hoya Board of Directors. To get to know Evan and his exciting new plans for Georgetown’s newspaper of record, here’s what Evan had to say about The Hoya, his favorite memories on the paper and, of course, his home state of Kentucky.
Name Evan Hollander
School SFS
Year 2014
Major International Politics
Hometown Lousiville, KY
Positions held on The Hoya Deputy Sports Editor, Senior Sports Editor, Member of the Board of Directors
What has been your favorite part about working for The Hoya?
Growing up in Louisville, I’ve been passionate about college basketball since about the time I could walk and talk. The chance to cover Georgetown’s basketball team, including travelling up and down the East Coast for its tournament appearances this season, has been the most exciting thing about working for The Hoya.
What is your favorite Hoya office experience?
There are some I can’t remember and there are some I’ll never forget, but I keep those pretty close to the vest. One of the most ridiculous, without question, was the time Emory Wellman (former Layout Editor), Jon Rabar (former General Manager) and I chased a bird out of the office, eventually trapping it in a trash can to fling it out the window. When Mary Nancy Walter (current General Manager) came in as we were chasing the bird around, it’s safe to say she was quite confused.
This year you served on the Board of Directors. What was the experience like? What were the most memorable moments?
The Board is a great institution made up of some great people and we had a lot of fun over the last semester. I’m especially proud of the work we did revamping personnel, and I’m really excited to see the results of our work on the Faces campaign (which launches next week! #shamelessselfpromotion). One of the most memorable moments was our impromptu trip to Booey’s for a lengthy meeting. There’s nothing quite like having a two-hour powwow in the middle of a deli.
If you had to pick someone on the Board to have his/her own reality TV show, who would it be and what would his/her show be called?
Without a doubt, it would be Lauren Weber (current Chair of the Board). Anyone who has encountered her ridiculousness knows that her show would feature her frequent loud declarations, and a play off of CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, would definitely be in order.
Describe your goals and vision for The Hoya under your leadership as Chair.
The Chair has a big role in shaping the strategic vision for The Hoya, and there are a couple directions we are going with that.
First, we want to make sure that our staffers get the most out of our experience, so we are planning to launch more training and mentoring for new hires in the fall. We offer some of the best experiences on campus, and we owe it to our staff to help nurture them as they help make our product great.
Second, The Hoya should strive to be the best news source at Georgetown in print and on the Internet, and we plan to continue to improve our online presence. That includes creating a new position of online editor, which will be filled by the very capable Victoria Edel (current Managing Editor). We will also be rolling out a new email newsletter and a mobile app in the fall — I think the response to these will be great.
Finally, one of the best parts about The Hoya is the connection with the people who came before us. Our corporate development department, led by rock star Mariah Byrne, is working on a plan to renew outreach to alumni and we have a digitization plan in the pipeline.
These are all really exciting initiatives and I hope we can see them through to execution this year!
What are your three favorite things about Kentucky?
1. The passion, excitement and revelry surrounding the Kentucky Derby at the beginning of May.
2. Cheering for basketball’s best team — tied with the Hoyas, naturally — the Louisville Cardinals.
3. Enjoying a bowl of burgoo in the shade on a spring day at Lexington’s Keeneland Race Course.
Lastly, would you rather have an unlimited supply of the most quality, expensive, delicious bourbon you could imagine or resurrect Ted Kennedy for one day and spend it with him?
Having read a lot about Ted Kennedy, I imagine that a day with him would end with a limitless supply of bourbon — after I’m 21, of course.
Once a week, The Hoya recognizes one or two staffers who have done a particularly awesome job — now you can get to know about them, too. Here’s our interview with Staffer of the Week, Hannah Kaufman:
