The New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans announced Monday the hiring of Doug Tatum as the Executive Director of Digital Media.
Tatum joins the organization after having served 13 years, first as deputy then as lead sports editor, for the state's largest newspaper, The Times-Picayune. Most recently, Tatum helped usher NOLA.com through a transition phase that saw the reduction of The Times-Picayune from a daily newspaper to a more digitally focused endeavor.
Tatum will oversee the direction of all digital media properties and the support staffs for both the Saints and Pelicans, including all social media accounts and all team related mobile and email platforms. He will also manage the team's overall digital marketing strategy, mobile commerce, digital advertising and search initiatives.
"Doug (Tatum) has always been someone that our teams have enjoyed a strong working relationship with during his time as an editor at The Times-Picayune and most recently, Nola Media Group," said Saints and Pelicans Senior Vice President of Communications & Broadcasting Greg Bensel. "Doug's experience and strong skills overseeing all elements of writing, photography, design and multi-media will be a great asset to our organizations and, ultimately, to the fans of the Saints and Pelicans. He joins our organization at a very exciting time as we launch this new department under his leadership. It is critical that we take the invaluable content that we control and deliver it efficiently not only through the media but through media platforms that we control."
"Some opportunities are just too good to pass up," Tatum said. "The chance to work for not one but two professional franchises in a city my family has come to call home was something I couldn't turn down. Mr. Benson and his leadership team have a clear vision for the direction of their digital properties and I think my experience and skill set are a perfect fit for the position. Their organization has been a leader not only on the field but off and that was something that was attractive to me."
Tatum, a 1992 graduate of Western Kentucky University and native of Louisville, also previously served as an editor at The Cincinnati Enquirer and The (Louisville) Courier-Journal. Tatum was part of The Times-Picayune staff that received two Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Under his guidance, the sports staff of The Times-Picayune has earned numerous state, regional and national awards for its work.
He was responsible for leading the coverage for two professional sports franchises, multiple colleges and almost every major sporting event in the country, from the Saints' Super Bowl victory season to multiple Super Bowls held in New Orleans, to Final Fours and college football's BCS National Championship games.
