Michelle Havist Weekly News GM

Michelle Havist is the new general manager of the La Conner Weekly News. Havist, who keeps the Sunrise Food Bank humming as its director, will bring her management and marketing skills down the hill to the Weekly News. As a volunteer for the Food Bank, she created a new website and brought them into the 21st-century digital world. The board recognized the gem they had and asked her to become its director when Susan Widdop retired in September. Havist was likewise recommended to the Weekly News by the Rev. Marcella Baker.

Havist is charged with making the Weekly News more visible in the community and useful in your life. She has an extensive background in traditional and digital marketing, having been the marketing manager for a large global corporation for 14 years. She understands local, having worked with small companies as a marketing freelancer specializing in brand-building using digital techniques.

Havist will direct marketing and sales at the Weekly News. She will be responsible for all sales functions, developing and enacting plans for increasing display advertising and managing sales representatives. She will lead Weekly News participation in the community.

She will also manage the business side of the newspaper

A recent arrival to La Conner, love kept her here when Seattle beckoned. Instead, she met Scott Price, “fell in love, and got married.” The two of them love living in La Conner, where the out of doors is out their door. They boat, bike ride and hike. They also enjoy food, whether it is at home or eating out nearby or on the road. “Our day is complete when we have a good meal,” she says.

“Michelle will bring the Weekly News into the 21st century,” said Ken Stern, its publisher. “She will help make it a robust, seven day a week presence in the community, helping readers and merchants alike connect with each other and news, art, entertainment and the interesting and eclectic people that are all around us. I have high hopes for her, and thus the paper’s success. I welcome her as a colleague.”

Havist starts this week. Say hello when you see her on the street or are at the newspaper’s office.