Alan Perez will serve as the next editor in chief of The Daily Northwestern, the newspaper’s publisher announced Monday evening.

The SESP junior is currently the campus editor and will assume the position of EIC for Winter Quarter and Spring Quarter. After joining The Daily during spring of his freshman year, Perez has written for the campus and city desks during his time at the paper. Perez studies social policy and economics.

Perez said he looks forward to increasing engagement with The Daily’s readership.

“We’re a student newspaper and we do work on developing our own skills as student journalists,” Perez said. “But I also think that we should continue our focus on diving into important issues that the Northwestern community cares about and really listening to our readers to understand what they want to see from us and what they want us to report on.”

Typically, editors in chief served at least one quarter as a managing editor prior to assuming the position. However, the Students Publishing Co. board felt Perez’s skill set would allow him to quickly get up to speed, said Charles Yarnoff, chair of the board.

Yarnoff said the board appreciated Perez’s creative story proposals and ability to work collaboratively within the newsroom, as well as his big picture ideas for how The Daily could change in the next two quarters.

“He started off his interview with us emphasizing the importance of diversity and inclusivity in The Daily Northwestern,” Yarnoff said, “and we thought that was really important.”

Perez will succeed Medill senior Nora Shelly, who led The Daily during winter and fall 2018. Shelly said Perez has a good vision for what The Daily should be covering and what purpose the paper serves on campus.

“Alan has been a really innovative campus editor,” Shelly said. “I’m hoping he will be able to carry that over when he takes the helm. I think he’ll do a great job.”

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