FAMU grad is Sr. VP/GM of Orlando Sentinel

Avido D. Khahaifa, last year was named Sr. VP/GM of the Orlando Sentinel newspaper after serving a stint as president of the Sun-Sentinel Community News Group in Fort Lauderdale. He filled several jobs for the “big paper” (Sun-Sentinel) but took a much more personal delight in managing the 33 nondailies distributed across southern Florida and supervising the 250 advertising, business, circulation, editorial and production staffers who produce them.

In May 2005 took over as Sr. VP/GM of the Orlando Sentinel. The "O Sentinel" and the Sun-Sentinel are both owned by Chicago-based Tribune Company.

Khahaifa started his journalism career in the newsroom, but from the beginning, he was intent on learning as much as he could about all aspects of the business. “I was pretty ambitious, and I felt strongly that in the long run, I could have a lot more influence over how the newspaper functioned in a community if I became the publisher.” Among his achievements, he proved instrumental in developing the Sun-Sentinel Diversity Venture Fund, which helps underfunded organizations develop programs to meet the needs of “emerging communities.”

Education: 1984, B.S., journalism, Florida A & M School of Journalism, Media & Graphic Arts, Tallahassee.
Career: 1982 news clerk, Tallahassee Democrat; 1984, reporter, Minneapolis Star and Tribune; 1984-present, copy editor, reporter, assistant city editor, news editor, planning coordinator and special projects manager, advertising project manager, manager of strategic areas, director of cross-media operations and interim general manager at the Sun-Sentinel Community News Group, president of Sun-Sentinel Community News Group, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale.

Mr. Khahaifa, a former editor of the FAMUAN newspaper, is this year's recipient of the FAMU School of Journalism's Thelma Thurston Gorham Distinguished Alumni Award.