Charleston Gazette announces promotions

The Daily Gazette Company President Elizabeth E. Chilton announced that Susan Chilton Shumate has been elected publisher of the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette. She also announced that Robert L. Smith II has been elected to the Board of the Daily Gazette Company.

Shumate, a lifelong Charlestonian, is the daughter of the late Gazette editor and publisher, W.E. Chilton III, and Elizabeth E. Chilton. She graduated from St. Timothy's School, attended Hollins University and graduated from West Virginia University. She is a member of the Gazette Board of Directors, vice president of the Board and assistant to the publisher. She is married to N.W. Shumate III (president of Charleston Newspapers), is the mother of two sons and one daughter and is an active member on many community boards.

Elizabeth Chilton, who was president and publisher of the Charleston Gazette, retains the title of president.

Smith is also a lifelong Charlestonian. He is the grandson of Robert L. Smith, long-time publisher of the Charleston Gazette. He attended West Virginia University and graduated from the University of Charleston. He has been for 25 years an advertising executive with Charleston Newspapers. He is married to Judie Taylor Smith and the father of two daughters.

The Charleston Gazette, a family-owned newspaper for over a century, is West Virginia's largest newspaper. The Gazette owns Charleston Newspapers, a 300-employee company, which publishes The Charleston Gazette, Charleston Daily Mail and the Saturday and Sunday Gazette-Mail.