Chapel Hill Media Group is proud to be independently owned and operated.
The current ownership purchased the company in 2015 with a desire to keep it local, recognizing the long-standing importance of WCHL in Chapel Hill. All three owners are Tar Heels and have built their lives, businesses and families in Chapel Hill. They also share a passion for entrepreneurship – all owning and operating other very successful businesses in the area.
Who owns Chapel Hill Media Group?
Chris Ehrenfeld
In addition to his leadership at Chapel Hill Media Group, Chris is recognized throughout the Triangle as a leader in business in the community where he lives and works, as evidenced by his numerous awards including Triangle Business Journal 40 Under 40, Inc 5000 fastest growing companies, TBJ Fast 50 and more.
Chris is an active leader in his community. Chris has served as the Chair of Chatham Education Foundation, Chatham Economic Development Corporation and Central Carolina Community College Foundation. Chris’s board memberships also include the Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce and the Research Triangle Regional Partnership.
During his free time, you will find Chris enjoying the beautiful outdoors of North Carolina with his family, which includes his wife Jana and their twin boys, Max & Mason. While Chris and Jana stay busy with their family and business endeavors, they still make it a priority to give back to the community through their non-profit, the BOLD Foundation. The family looks forward to many more years of continued philanthropy, happiness, and prosperity in Chatham County.
Mark Vitali
Mark has been an independent business owner and entrepreneur for more than 35 years. He joined Nationwide Insurance in 1993. He speaks around the country teaching business owners how to grow their businesses. His outside businesses include: commercial properties, construction, and the radio/ media business. In his downtime, Mark likes to travel the world and collect wine and watches.
Jim Kitchen
Both of Jim Kitchen’s parents dedicated their lives to education, teaching children in the public school system. To earn money to go to UNC, Jim worked hard as a busboy at the local Senior Center, had a paper route and mowed neighbors’ yards.
Jim’s entrepreneurial journey began when he was just 20 years old, when the en vogue thing to do at the time was to take a job on Wall Street. As an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina he learned how to create and grow companies.
Over the past 20 years Jim has advised and guided hundreds of UNC startups and local businesses, including bars, restaurants, real estate and construction businesses, consumer products, apps, and other tech companies. He has mentored founders and has been an angel investor in many ventures.
Jim has traveled the globe, been to space on the Blue Origin Flight and took a trip to the Mariana Trench but proudly makes his home in Chapel Hill.
Oh, and he also owns YoPo!
