Bill Albrecht has been named publisher of The Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com, now owned by GateHouse Media. He will be based in Akron. Albrecht will also continue to oversee the GateHouse Media Ohio group that has properties in Canton, Massillon, Dover/New Philadelphia, Wooster, Ashland, Kent and Alliance. GateHouse also named a new vice president of advertising, Kelly Tremaine, for the Beacon Journal/Ohio.com.

Tom Overton has been named publisher of the Osceola News-Gazette (Florida).

Tom Overton – Oscela News-Gazette

News & Advance (Lynchburg, Virginia) Publisher Robert E. MacPherson is retiring June 1 after a three-decade career in the newspaper business, and veteran newspaper executive Kelly Mirt will succeed him as publisher on that date. "We are excited to have a leader with Kelly's knowledge, experience and skills taking the helm of The News & Advance," said BH Media Regional Vice President Terry Jamerson, a former News & Advance publisher.

iPublish Media announced Malcolm McGrory has joined the company as senior vice president of sales.

Former Snohomish County Tribune (Washington state) Publisher Bill Bates has died at age 95.

Nick Coleman, former Pioneer Press and Star Tribune (Twin Cities) columnist, has died at 67.

E. Michael Pakenham, former Baltimore Sun book editor whose career in newspapers spanned nearly a half-century, died May 9 at the age of 85.

Frank McCulloch, a retired California newsman, has died at age 98. He worked as an editor with the LA Times, the Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Examiner.

Rome News-Tribune (Georgia) publisher Otis Raybon Jr. has announced his retirement, effective Dec. 31.

Michelle Mitchell will be GateHouse Media's new vice president sales for Florida West, reporting to Lana Champion, who is the company's new senior vice president of sales for the Southeast. GateHouse owns 11 daily newspapers in Florida, including the recently purchased Palm Beach Post, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the Lakeland Ledger, the Gainesville Sun, the Ocala Star-Banner, the Leesburg Daily Commercial, the Northwest Florida Daily News, the Panama City News Herald, the Jacksonville Times-Union and the St. Augustine Record.

TBC Media (California) has appointed veteran financial journalist John Cox to the position of business editor. 

Katie Duffey has been appointed editor of the Daily Reporter (Greenfield, Indiana). 

Tony Bernados was named the new president of The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia) and Chronicle Media. Bernados will be responsible for all facets of the day-to-day operations of The Chronicle and its portfolio of assets and will start in his new position June 5. 

Ron Ehrhardt is joining DCOS Automation as sales director-Americas.

Ehrhardt will be responsible for directing sales in North and South America. "Ron has spent over 30 years in the newspaper industry and has the product knowledge and connections we need to increase our market penetration in the Western Hemisphere," said Mattias Andersson, managing director of Sweden-based DCOS.

The News Media Alliance has elected Terry Kroeger, CEO of BH Media Group, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, as its chairman. Kroeger, who previously served as vice chairman, succeeds Michael Klingensmith, publisher of the Star Tribune (Minneapolis).

Brian Clutter has been named operations director of The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register (West Virginia). Clutter will oversee all aspects of the papers' advertising and production departments.

Vermont's oldest weekly the Vermont Standard has named Phil Camp Sr., a former Pulitzer executive, its new publisher

San Diego Business Journal publisher and president Huntley Paton is stepping down this summer to move to North Carolina for family reasons. Paton took over as head of the publication 20 months ago.

Brooks Johnson, longtime Gannett newspaper executive, has died at 70. Johnson joined Gannett in 1977 as advertising director at the Palladium-Item in Richmond, Indiana. He and the late Sue Clark-Johnson, his wife of 19 years, made a career in the newspaper business. They maintained deep ties with friends in the business and in the Phoenix area

Ashley Highfield, CEO of Johnston Press, has resigned after nearly seven years at the helm. CFO David King will replace him.

Chris Stegman, Gannett's top business executive in Wisconsin, has been promoted to national vice president of grocery for the company. In his new role, Stegman, who came to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as president in summer of 2016, will oversee the grocery category for Gannett, focused primarily on advertising and marketing opportunities with the larger supermarket chains in the U.S. 

The East Oregonian Media Group recently named Chris Rush as the regional publisher and revenue director of the East Oregonian, Hermiston Herald, Blue Mountain Eagle and Wallowa County Chieftain.

Matt Lindberg has been named managing editor of the Columbus Telegram, David City Banner-Press and Schuyler Sun (Nebraska). Lindberg begins his duties May 7. For nearly the past two years, Lindberg has served as the managing editor of the Montrose Daily Press in Montrose, Colorado.

Francesco Marconi has been appointed R&D chief and head of Media Science Lab for the Wall Street Journal. Francesco joins WSJ from the Associated Press, where he has been serving as strategy manager and co-lead on artificial intelligence.

Peter S. Yates, a veteran newspaper executive, was appointed publisher of The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Virginia). He replaces Rob Jiranek, who has resigned to pursue other opportunities.

The Association for Print Technologies (APTech) has named Sarah Markfield to the organization's Community Development team as director of business development. The newly established position will help lead the Community Development team's commitment to expanding and launching new offerings to support businesses throughout the printing industry value chain.

Paul Gaier, president and publisher of the Rockford Register Star and The Journal-Standard (Illinois), will assume additional duties as the new president and publisher of the Peoria Journal Star. Gaier replaces Ken Mauser, who resigned May 1 after 32 years of service to the Peoria community.

Vince Bodiford, president and publisher of The Monroe News, has been named publisher of The Daily Telegram. The Telegram, the daily newspaper of Lenawee County, Michigan, and The Monroe News are owned by GateHouse Media.

Dave Krieger, former editorial page editor at The Daily Camera (Boulder, Colorado), self-published an editorial entitled "Private equity owners endanger Daily Camera's future" on his Boulder Free Press blog and was fired, Westword reports. The Daily Camera's publisher had rejected the piece critical of owner Alden Global Capital, which also owns The Denver Post and has been lambasted by members of that staff, including in a recent editorial published in The Post.

Rebecca Poynter has been appointed publisher of The Idaho Statesman. Poynter comes from Gannett, where she led a group of Michigan newspapers. She succeeds Debra Leithauser, who left the Statesman in December to lead the communications department at Idaho Power.