The Minnesota Daily Board of Directors has selected new newspaper leadership for the coming year.

The three new members of the office of the publisher for the 2007-2008 school year were named in late March.

Journalism junior Emily Banks will be the co-publisher and editor in chief, public relations junior Michael Marino will be the co-publisher for organizational development and communication, and public relations junior Katherine Groth will be co-publisher and business operations officer.

Banks, the 2004 Journalism Education Association Minnesota high school journalist of the year, started at the Daily as a student director on the board of directors as a first-year student and freelanced before becoming a reporter and editor.

Banks said she would like to overhaul the newspaper’s Web site, mndaily.com, and focus on increased integration between print and the Web.

“The biggest thing readers can expect will be to see the Web site really updated and offer things the newspaper can’t, including interactive graphics and enhanced audio and video,” she said.

A renewed emphasis on the Web site will assist Banks’ other mission to shift the collective identity at the Daily, a move in tune with the changing newspaper industry.

“As employees at the Daily, we really need to think of ourselves as a news organization and not just a newspaper,” she said.

Like Banks, Marino sees room for improvement on the Web site.

Marino has been with the Daily a year in the marketing department and wants to increase communication both internally and with readers.

“I want to give readers one place on the site to ask any questions and get what they need in contacting us,” he said.

Marino said he wants everything in the organization to be done efficiently and wants to boost communication among the newspaper’s employees.

Groth, who spent last summer in Montana with a marketing internship, also got her start at the Daily in the marketing department at the beginning of the school year.

Groth said she had “some big shoes to fill,” but was looking forward to working with new people and new ideas, marketing initiatives and events.

“I am really excited to try and make all the ideas in the business division a reality,” she said.