Van Tassel to head PD features

Here’s a capsule of a PD report on former BJ staffer Debbie Van Tassel:

Debbie Van Tassel, an experienced editor with a penchant for innovation, is The Plain Dealer's new assistant managing editor for features.

She will oversee a staff of about 50 people who produce the daily Arts & Life section as well as many special feature sections, including Travel, Taste, Sunday Arts, PDQ, Friday magazine, Inside & Out and the Sunday Homes sections.

She starts her new job today, replacing Karen Sandstrom, who is choosing to step down from an editor's role to return to writing.

Van Tassel, 52, came to The Plain Dealer as business editor in 1999 [from the Beacon Journal] after serving as an editor at newspapers in Akron, Seattle and Philadelphia. She said she believes great newspapers are full of surprises.

"They tell people what they don't know they want to know," she said.

"Debbie is a talented and veteran editor," said Plain Dealer Managing Editor Tom O'Hara. "She's skilled at managing people, developing ideas and editing the copy. As the editor of our revamped Monday paper, Debbie has been a leader in exploring new, reader-friendly ways to tell stories and convey information."

She lives in Hudson with her husband of 24 years, Stuart Warner, The Plain Dealer's enterprise editor and writing coach. In her free time, she likes golfing and gardening. They have a 22-year-old daughter [Denise}, who lives in New York City.

Click on the headline to read more about Debbie. See the blog archives for an earlier post on her promotion on April 28, 2005.