Departing editor sad to be leaving

NEW CHALLENGE: Kim Gillespie is taking the next step in his career. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

Change is in the air at the Rotorua Daily Post, with editor Kim Gillespie leaving to take up a new role within parent company NZME.

Mr Gillespie has had three separate stints at the newspaper, totalling more than 13 years. He has been editor for the last five and a half years, leading the paper and its staff to numerous awards.

Today's edition was Mr Gillespie's last and, on Tuesday, he will take up his new role as general manager editorial operations (regionals) for NZME. As part of this, he will lead group-wide projects for the NZME Local Network, including the editorial operations of the company's six daily and 23 community newspapers.

Rotorua Daily Post general manager David Mackenzie said he was delighted Mr Gillespie was remaining within NZME and congratulated him on his appointment. However he admitted Mr Gillespie would be hugely missed, professionally and personally.

"Kim is highly regarded by all his colleagues and has done some fantastic work in his time at the Rotorua Daily Post," he said. "I want to thank him for all the blood, sweat and tears he has put into the paper over the years."

Mr Mackenzie said Mr Gillespie, who grew up in Rotorua, had a genuine passion for his community.

"He cares about the city and its people and what is best for the region - and that always came through."

He had also mentored many reporters and genuinely cared about their development, Mr Mackenzie said.

Mr Gillespie said he'd loved his time at the Rotorua Daily Post, and while he was happy to be moving into a new role, he was sorry to be leaving the paper.

"Being the editor of the local newspaper in a newsy town like Rotorua is a journalist's dream job - more so in this case because this is my hometown."

A search is now under way for a new editor, with deputy editor Katie Holland filling the post in the interim.