Two of the Colorado Sun’s founders are taking on new responsibilities and job titles this week as the news outlet marks its sixth anniversary.
Dana Coffield will become Editor of The Sun, succeeding Larry Ryckman, who has been named publisher.
The moves follow The Sun’s transition to status as a 501(c)3 nonprofit late last year and reflect new responsibilities for its senior leadership. The Sun launched in September 2018 with 10 full-time employees and today has more than two dozen staffers and a large crew of talented freelance reporters and photojournalists.
Coffield, a co-founder of The Sun, has helped guide the organization since its inception, including through the conversion to nonprofit, which called on entrepreneurial skills gained in editorial direction and management at publications ranging from her family-owned North 40 News in Wellington and The Lafayette News, to the start-up Northern Colorado Business Report. She also was an editor at the Daily Times-Call and The Rocky Mountain News, and for 17 years worked as an editor on the features, business and city desks at The Denver Post.
“I’m thrilled to know that Dana is at the helm of our newsroom,” Ryckman said. “As any reporter or photographer can tell you, Dana brings a wealth of knowledge about our state, great skill as an editor and warmth and humor as a friend and colleague. She will continue to be a great champion and advocate for our readers.”
Ryckman, also a co-founder of The Sun, served as former senior editor at The Denver Post and in news leadership positions at the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Greeley Tribune. He spent 22 years at the Associated Press, serving as assistant managing editor of the world’s largest news-gathering organization, a national editor in New York and reporter and editor in San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego and Carson City, Nevada. He helped cover the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of a new Russia as a Moscow correspondent in the 1990s. He also directed AP’s coverage of the Columbine High School shooting, the presidential election recount in Florida in 2000 and countless other national and international news events.
As publisher, Ryckman will oversee all operations with a particular emphasis on the business and nonprofit fundraising efforts to support The Sun’s mission.
The Sun serves a statewide audience and since its founding has won numerous awards, most recently in the Colorado Press Association journalism contest. In May, it earned 29 awards in the four-state Top of the Rockies contest, including 13 top honors.