ROUSH HOUR.

• Author: Mildenberg, David

This month's story on how regional malls are adapting to change marks the first feature produced by our new colleague, Chris Roush. It's a fitting topic for someone who's tracked change in his own industry, journalism, for a long time.

To say we're excited to be working with Chris is like saying LaMelo Ball is pleased with his new $262 million, five-year Charlotte Hornets contract. A big understatement.

Chris joins us after more than 20 years as a full-time academic, during which time he gained national respect as a leader in business journalism education. Most of that time was at UNC Chapel Hill, where he helped several hundred Tar Heel students prepare for jobs at both big media companies and small news organizations.

More recently, he was dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University, a Connecticut school best known for its political poll and winning the NCAA men's hockey championship this year. His desire to return to North Carolina for family reasons is our good fortune.

While Chris is already making our 42-yearold print magazine stronger, he'll spend much of his time helping create more value for readers of our newsletters and website.

"Having Chris on board will allow us to have an industry expert solely focused on making BNC a major player in digital media in the state," Publisher Ben Kinney says.

Last year, Chris published "The Future of Business Journalism Why it Matters for Wall Street and Main Street," after previously writing a leading textbook for business journalism. His love for our state is evident in his books on the history of Hickory-based Alex Lee food business; Progress Energy; and a biography of famed Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster, who was born in Raleigh.

"Business journalism has always been the one area...