Ronnie Ramos believes this is a natural progression.
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| Ronnie Ramos |
During the past five years at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, in various positions including Sports Editor, one of Ramos’ chief duties has been providing sports and features content for the AJC web sites. Now, he’ll be focusing on the internet full time.
Ramos has been hired by the NCAA as its Managing Director of New Media Strategies and Content Development. He’ll be responsible for running the organization’s various web sites, including ncaa.org.
"In some regards, I look at it as an evolution," said Ramos, who will start the new job on May 4. "Where we have been heading in the newspaper industry we have spent a lot of time online. I’m excited to have the opportunity to do that exclusively."
Ramos will start in Indianapolis nearly five years to the day after being hired in Atlanta, and just one week shy of his 25th anniversary in the newspaper industry.
"It will be an emotional change more than anything," he said. "Any time you are getting ready to leave something you have been doing your entire life I think it’s emotional.
"But I think this is a positive step, and I’m excited about that."
The NCAA created Ramos’ position in an effort to improve its online presence. He was hired after a nationwide search.
"Ronnie’s past experience with sports, and specifically with NCAA sports was a plus," said Dennis Cryder, the NCAA’s Senior Vice President for Branding and Communications. "But the thing that resonated most about him is that he is a strategic communicator. We need to be able to quickly and easily bring our product to our athletes, administrators and fans, and we feel like Ronnie is the perfect person to lead us toward that."
An active member in APSE for many years, Ramos commended the organization on its recent decision to include online organizations as full member, and its initiative to include them in judging. He hopes that will allow him to stay involved.
"I hope I can," he said. "I love APSE, and as newspapers continue to grow online I think these relationships will benefit everyone. I think we will all need to continue to work together."
Ramos’ last day in Atlanta is May 1.
"I got hired at the AJC as sports editor to try and transform print to thinking online first," Ramos said. "And I think we’ve done great in that regard for high schools, recruiting, etc. So, while it’s hard to leave on one hand, it’s a good time to go because I get to do online exclusively."
