Executive Bios

Henry Haitz III, President & Publisher

Henry Haitz became President and Publisher of The State newspaper on May 22, 2006.

Henry joined The (Bradenton, Fla.) Herald as publisher in 2004 after seven years at the (State College, Pa.) Centre Daily Times, the last two as publisher. He joined that newspaper in 1996 as chief financial officer and was named a vice president in 1998. He was controller of the (Long Beach, Calif.) Press-Telegram from 1994 to 1996 and was chief financial officer of Suburban Newspapers of Greater St. Louis from 1992 to 1994. Prior to that, he held business-side positions at The (Lorain, Ohio) Morning Journal and The (Pottstown, Pa.) Mercury.

In 1986, Henry received his bachelor's degree in business administration/accounting from Bloomsburg University. He received his masters of business administration in finance from Penn State University in 1991.

In 2004, Henry was the recipient of the Bloomsburg University Alumni Association's Young Alumni of the Year Award and in 2000 was named one of the top 20 newspaper executives under the age of 40 by NAA.

Currently, Henry serves on the boards of the United Way of the Midlands, the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce, the Midlands Business Leadership Council, the Summit Club, the Central Carolina Community Foundation and the South Carolina Council on Economic Education. He is an advisor for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Henry is a member of the Palmetto Business Forum, a member of University Associates and on the advisory board for PAIRS (Parents and Adults Inspiring Reading Success). He is also a member of the Inland Press Association Board of Directors.

Henry lives with his wife, Tina Kelley and step-son, Adam Kelley.

Email Henry: hhaitz@thestate.com

Mark Lett, VP & Executive Editor

Lett is responsible for the news-gathering operations of The State and thestate.com, including local, state and national news, sports, business, features and photography.

He joined The State in 1998 as executive editor and vice-president. Lett previously was editor of the Post-Tribune in Gary, Indiana, and was assistant managing editor of The Detroit News. Lett is a former labor writer, auto editor, projects editor, state editor, national editor and city editor of The Detroit News.

Lett also was city editor of The Pittsburgh Press and was deputy city editor of the Detroit Free Press.

A native of Lincoln Park, Michigan, he attended Central Michigan University and is a graduate of Wayne State University in Detroit.

Email Mark: mlett@thestate.com

Diane Frea, VP/Human Resources

Diane has been employed by Knight Ridder/McClatchy since 1988 in management roles in various departments, including News, Production, Information Systems, Marketing, Circulation and Human Resources.

She is a certified career coach and a board member for the Columbia chapter of the Society of Human Resources Management. Diane has volunteered with the United Way of the Midlands and United Way agencies since 2000. She has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ohio State University.

Email Diane: dfrea@thestate.com

Kelly Edwards, VP/ Finance

Kelly is responsible for the financial operations of The State. She relocated to Columbia and joined the newspaper in 2006. Prior to The State, Kelly served as the Chief Financial Officer for The Bradenton Herald in Florida and has held various financial positions in the newspaper industry before that.

She is a native of Arkansas and graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in Accounting.

Email Kelly: kedwards@thestate.com

Phil Haggerty, VP/ Operations

Phil Haggerty became Vice President/Operations in May 2008. He has 24 years experience in the newspaper industry. Haggerty previously worked at Ft. Wayne Newspapers in Indiana, The State Newspaper (1988-93), and Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.

A native of Wilmington, DE, Phil is a graduate of Wilmington College with a B.S. in Business Administration and an A.A.S. in Industrial Engineering from Delaware Technical and Community College. He is married with three grown children.

Email Phil: phaggerty@thestate.com

Caryn Manning, VP/Advertising

Caryn C. Manning, Vice-President/Advertising is a 20 plus year newspaper advertising sales veteran.

Caryn served in a variety of sales and sales management capacities from 1985-2004 at The Detroit News and Detroit Media Partnership. Caryn left Detroit in January 2005 to serve as Vice President of Advertising at The Bradenton Herald in Bradenton Florida.

She returned to Detroit in October of 2006 as Vice-President of Advertising at Detroit Media Partnership.

She joined The State Media Company in October 2008 as Vice President of Advertising.

Caryn received both her Bachelors and Masters degrees from Central Michigan University.

She has been a member of The AdCraft Club of Detroit since 1992, and is past president of the Newspaper Advertising Sales Association (Detroit Chapter).

Caryn remains involved in several charities focusing on ‘Organ and Tissue’ Donation awareness as well as assisting underprivileged children. While in Florida, she has served on the board for the Sun Coast Coalition to End Homelessness (Bradenton, FL 2005 – 2006).

Caryn enjoys travel, golf & music. She and her husband Dennis reside in Columbia.

Email Caryn: cmanning@thestate.com

Matthew Ipsan, VP/ Interactive Media

Matthew Ipsan became Vice President of Interactive Media at The State publishing company on May 27, 2008.

Matthew was the Director of New Media for the Belo television station WCNC in Charlotte, where he worked for two years in that capacity. In 2004, Matthew started his own new media consulting company after leaving the PGA TOUR where he was General Manager and Executive Producer in their new media department, starting in 2000. Matthew's first job in new media was at Foxsports.com and prior to that he was on the television side of ESPN from 1993 to 1999 in a number of roles, including coordinating producer of SportsCenter and news editor for all ESPN properties. Matthew is a graduate of the University of Iowa, with a degree in Broadcast Communications. He is a frequent guest speaker on new media journalism and marketing at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina. Volunteer activities include Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina and Habitat for Humanity.

He and his wife Melissa were married in Charleston, SC.

Email Matthew: mipsan@thestate.com

Gary Ward, Online Editor

Gary returned to his newsroom roots when he became online editor in April 2007. Prior to that, he served in a number of technology management roles at The State and The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News. He installed and managed publishing systems at The Sun News and joined the information systems department at The State in 1993.

Before becoming a technology manager at The Sun News, he worked in the newsroom as a reporter, copy editor, news editor and metro editor.

He received a BA in Journalism from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a native of northeastern North Carolina.

Email Gary: gward@thestate.com

Warren Bolton, Associate Editor

Warren Bolton is an associate editor and member of The State's editorial board. His primary area of focus is local government.

The Columbia native has been with the paper for more than two decades.

Email Warren: wbolton@thestate.com

Derek Lawson, Information Technology Site Manager

Derek Lawson was appointed Information Technology Site Manager for The State in May, 2008.

Derek previously held positions at The State including IT Manager, Network Manager, as well as serving in other technology-related positions. He joined The State in April, 1997. Previously he served as Network Manager for The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

A native of Greenwood, S.C., Derek received a BA from Lander University in 1992. He, his wife, Angie Lawson, and son, Garrett Lawson reside in Camden, S.C.

Email Derek: dlawson@thestate.com